Monthly summary – September 2019

Welcome to our monthly update for September 2019.

This provides a summary of:

1. the latest updates to our self-help information site for people with convictions
2. recent posts to our online magazine, theRecord
3. discussions on our online forum
4. other news and developments that might be of interest to people with a criminal record.

Have you stumbled across this? You can receive these updates direct to your inbox every month for free by signing up to our mailing list (make sure you choose to receive ‘news for people with convictions’)

Updates to our information site

Here’s a summary of updates that we’ve made recently to the information hub. There are links within each update to where you can find more information about the update. There are also links next to many of the updates, which links to threads on our online forum where you can discuss these with other people with convictions.

Work and volunteering

• Ban the Box employers – We’ve produced some new information using Business in the Community’s list of Ban the Box employers. The table provides not just the name and contact details of the employer but also sets out the point at which they may ask you to disclose your criminal record.

About criminal records

• Barring (Children’s Barred List and Adults’ Barred List) – We’ve updated this page to include details of how to find out whether you’ve been included on one or both of the barred lists.

News from Unlock

• Our support in numbers – We’ve put together an infographic setting out the details of the number of people we supported in 2018/19 via our helpline and online sites.

theRecord posts

Below are links to recent posts to our online magazine, theRecord. These are often linked to from the practical information that we have, to help give some personal experiences.

Success – Lets be inclusive not exclusive – a possible solution to reoffending – “I had a childhood that was plagued with crime, poverty, drugs, violence and adversity. This meant spending some time in care, school exclusion and heavy drugs use at an early age. I was convicted and sentenced to 18 months YOI at 17, twenty months YOI at 19, four months at 21 and then two years as an adult at 22 ….”

Struggles and stigma – Allow me to talk about my past and you might give me a better future – “I came out of prison after serving 3 months of a six-month sentence. To give you some background to my conviction, I was sent home from military service with combat stress. The military tried to help me by putting me on a six-week treatment programme but after a week it was agreed that my symptoms were far too complex for them to treat and so the decision was taken to send me home …..”

Success – Credit where credits due – opening a bank account with a fraud conviction – “I’d been in prison for almost 4 years when I became eligible to move to open conditions. As anybody that’s been through the system knows, it’s at this point that you can start to go on home leave, go home for a couple of days each month to re-establish links with your family and get a paid job which will hopefully better prepare you for your release …..”

Discussions on our online forum

Below are links to recent posts on our online forum. If you’d like to join in the discussion but are not currently a forum member, find out how you can join here.

Disclosing my offence to a gay guy or a straight female partner – Harry53 is looking for some advice around disclosing his conviction to a new partner. Has anybody experience of this?

Restraining order – good points of contact, resources, legal advice – Star is considering applying to have her indefinite restraining order varied. Has anybody been through this process? What advice would you give?

Other news and developments

Below are links to other news and developments that might be of interest to people with a criminal record. For more news, check out the news and media section of our main website.

New policy briefing – EU nationals, settled status and criminal records

We’ve prepared a new briefing which sets out our concerns about the EU Settlement Scheme in relation to those EU nationals in the UK that have a criminal record. Download the briefing here.

Update on research – The right to a fair future: understanding the influence of an early life criminal record on adult life courses

Following a request for participants earlier this year, Nicola Collett, a PhD student at Keele University has written a blog about how her research is progressing.