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For people with criminal records
For people with criminal records

Story Type: Struggles & Stigma

Struggling to find work with a life licence

Despite his conviction being almost 20 years ago, Ed explains how employers still judge him on the person he was then and not the person he is now.

 

 

In 1999 I was tried and convicted of murder. I had never been in trouble before and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I will never re-offend. A moment of complete and utter madness led me to doing something that I never thought possible.

In prison I put my time to good use and completed many offending behaviour and vocational training courses which I thought would help me to gain employment on my release from prison. How wrong was I?

It’s been 3 years now since I was released and apart from some badly paid agency work, I’ve still not been able to secure full time employment. Yet all I heard in prison was how I’d done my time, gained new skills and knowledge and how prisoners were given second chances – well I’m still waiting for mine.

I know that many people will struggle to understand why I did what I did. At the end of the day there is no worse offence than taking a person’s life even if you did it to protect your family. But I’ve served a considerable prison sentence and all I want now is to move on.

I don’t want to be a burden on the state. I want to work and pay my bills just like everybody else. But I can’t because people still judge me on the person that I was almost 20 years ago – is that right? I may be on a life licence but there are no restrictions on what job I can do or where I can work, so I’m pretty flexible. I’m fit and active and prepared to work hard, i just need that one person to give me a break.

I’ve got a great fiancee who’s fully supported me since we’ve been together and I’m incredibly lucky to have her in my life. She encourages and motivates me and we’d love to get married but because of the work situation it’s impossible right now.

I’m a strong person and try to keep positive but some days are harder than others. Although I have no intention of re-offending (I’ve spent too long in prison), I can understand why people do. If you’re not allowed to fully engage in society, then for many the only option is to rebel against it.

The courses I did in prison certainly helped me get my head in the right place and prepare me for release but what do they matter if you can’t get a job at the end of it? I heard somebody say that this was the equivalent of training a football team for the World Cup and then turning up to find there’s no football.

Well I’ve no intention of retiring from the game yet, I’m just looking for a great manager to give me a trial.

By Ed (name changed to protect identity)

 

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Life after receiving a conviction for a sexual offence

We’ve previously published stories which have demonstrated some of the positive ways in which people have moved on after receiving a conviction for a sexual offence, in particular ‘Functioning on a daily basis with a sexual offences order’ and ‘For better or worse – my relationship with a sex offender’. Greg’s story shows a very different experience.

 

I was convicted of possessing a small number (not that numbers are important) of indecent images of children in 2016, following a search of my flat in 2014. The 22 months in between were indescribable. When my case eventually reached court, I was relieved that I wasn’t given a custodial sentence but my life had pretty much ended anyway. You can’t be accused of such a crime, much less convicted, without it haunting you for the rest of your life.

At a snap I lost my job, my home, the majority of my friends, access to children in my family, any self-respect or self-esteem that I might have had and any respect that anyone had ever had for me.

I had 15 years experience of working with young people in paid and voluntary roles (the pictures relating to my conviction had nothing to do with any young person I worked with) without any allegations or inappropriate behaviour, because no such behaviour took place. I was passionate about working hard and doing the best job I could do.

Obviously that line of work – virtually all I had ever done – is closed to me forever now. I have so little experience in any other work that with the conviction, the lack of recent employment history and severe depression, anxiety and insomnia, I can’t see how I will ever work again.

Because I don’t work I have no permanent home, I stay in spare rooms with relatives. I don’t socialise – well maybe once every six months, but all that happens is that after a few drinks my situation comes up and my friends tell me to get over it and get a job.

I know 100% that I will never get involved in a relationship for the rest of my life because I have no intention of putting anyone through the process of finding out about me and I’m not about to volunteer myself for the subsequent constant rejection.

I had two main ambitions in life, which were to write a novel (or several), and to be more involved in politics, even though I had been active for most of my life in one way or another. Obviously, politics is another closed door for me now and if I wrote a novel and sent it to publishers even on the off-chance they accepted it, they would do background checks and refuse, and if that didn’t happen someone who knew me when all of this began would ring some newspaper or other and it would be hell.

So there is nothing left. I struggle to wake up, I carry out the basic things a human needs to do to exist and I drink and go to bed. This is all apart from the myriad appointments I have with probation, the job centre, mental health services, substance abuse etc.

I know there are positive stories on theRecord about living with a sexual offence and some people cope really well. I just have to say that there is another side to this too and when those pictures were found on my computer, I ceased to exist in almost every way.

The victims are of course the children in any kind of child abuse imagery – it can destroy their lives before they’ve even had a chance to live. So I post not for sympathy – I know none will be forthcoming anyway. I was 34 when all this began and have been passing time waiting to disappear ever since, knowing that I am no longer a part of society and never will be again.

By Greg (name changed to protect identity)

 

Useful links

  • Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
  • Information – We have practical self-help information on sexual offences
  • Personal stories – You can read more stories about this, under the tag sexual offences
  • Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to disclosure on our online forum.

Historic convictions – I’m letting them stop me from working because I’m too ashamed to disclose them

 

Disclosing details of your criminal record is never easy but some people find it more difficult than others. Monica’s story shows what steps she’s taken to avoid having to disclose to an employer and, although we totally understand her reasons for doing so, sometimes you just have to have the courage to speak up. 

 

 

I don’t want to tell you what you already know, but young people do stupid things. You know what they say;

“Your convictions will follow you around

You’ll never get a good job

You’ll look over your shoulder all the time”

All these statements are true, but for me, I got away with it – sort of.

I didn’t have a great start in life. There was limited guidance in my life, I was in care from the age of 2 and didn’t go to a great school, leaving with no qualifications. I made my way through life doing basically what I wanted to do. Fighting was part of my language, so I used violence to settle disputes and disagreements. This worked for me amongst my peers, but not when I used the same strategy outside in the real world. People immediately called the police and I ended up with a conviction.

I managed to find employment in the public sector.  Don’t ask me how but my professional body wasn’t informed of my conviction. The years passed and I became more and more successful. I’d learned to slow down my speech, was careful not to swear and tried to learn not to use my eyes to challenge people.

For 30 years I worked hard and did well for myself until the rules for employment changed and people in the public sector jobs that I was doing were required to have a criminal record check every three years. I handed in my notice and effectively retired, I couldn’t run the risk of being found out.

I set up my own company and was immediately employed doing the same sort of work as before. As I was self-employed I didn’t have to be checked and so my past never come to light. However, after about 7 years I found that the rules were changing again and when I started to tender for contracts, I’d often be told that I’d need a criminal record check.

That’s when I turned to Unlock. I’d never spoken to anyone about my conviction but I wanted to get back into the profession that I loved, so I was prepared to talk about the past to get the advice I needed to help me. I looked at their website, I looked at the background of the people employed by them and took the plunge and contacted them. It was strange to be open about my conviction, to be able to ask anything I wanted and to not be judged. The advice was good and relevant but not what I wanted to hear. If I wanted to go back into a paid role in the profession I loved, I would have to be honest and open about my past, legally it would then be up to each organisation to decide if they thought a past mistake, 35 years before, was relevant today.

I couldn’t do it, I wasn’t confident to disclose my conviction, I felt cornered. The decision was made for me, I left the world of work, a move I would never have made on my own. I would have worked until I dropped, work defined me but I’m just not brave enough to put myself in a position where I have to be judged again.

Although I’m now effectively retired, I did get away with not disclosing my conviction…I’m just paying for it now.

By Monica (name changed to protect identity)

 

Useful links

  • Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
  • Information – We have practical self-help information on disclosing criminal records to employers
  • Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to disclosure on our online forum.

Lessons in disclosure – just because an employer doesn’t ask the question, you’ll still be seen as dishonest if they find out you’ve got a criminal record

In 2015 I was sentenced to 16 months in prison for fraud against my employer.

I was 33 years old when I was convicted and the offence was completely out of character. Up until that point, I’d had a completely clean criminal record and had never had any dealings with the police or the courts.

Since my release I’ve worked really hard to rebuild my life which certainly hasn’t been easy. This began with applying for a really great job as a property supervisor with a company who let luxury holiday cottages. The interview went really well and I wasn’t asked any questions about my criminal record so I took the conscious decision not to disclose. After 3 months, the company told me that they were really pleased with my performance and offered me a promotion to senior property supervisor. I was delighted! Finally, I was back on my feet and felt like I had a purpose and value again.

However, my sense of elation didn’t last long. A short while after my promotion, an individual from my past took it upon herself to contact my employer and tell them about my criminal record. I was immediately suspended ‘pending an investigation’ and after a really unpleasant hearing in which I was essentially grilled about my background, my employment was terminated with immediate effect.

I was absolutely devastated but I wasn’t going to allow this to deter me from my commitment to rebuilding my life.

I applied for another job as a hotel receptionist and again, to my delight, I was successful. I’d practised how I was going to disclose my convictions and how I would explain that I posed no risk to the hotel or its guests. However, when the employer didn’t ask the question, I didn’t disclose.

I’d been working at the hotel for about a month when my previous employer contacted the hotel to tell them about my criminal record. Yet again, I was hauled in front of management and asked to divulge in full detail the circumstances that led to my conviction and details of the sentence I received. As you can imagine, it’s traumatic having to keep going back to that difficult time in my life.

Yet again, the hotel decided to terminate my employment based on my past.

I’m now unemployed and, on top of my criminal record, I now have two employment terminations to my name. This is incredibly detrimental to my ability to obtain work to support myself. Had either of these employers asked about my conviction, I would happily have told them but I find it really difficult to broach the subject myself. It just takes me back to a really hard time in my life and a time that I’d sooner forget about.

It seems a little unfair that although neither of the above businesses asked about my criminal record, my non-disclosure was held against me. I’d been able to demonstrate that I was a skilled and competent employee yet neither employer could see beyond my criminal record nor the fact that they thought I’d acted dishonestly.

It’s obvious to me that I must always volunteer the information regarding my criminal conviction from the outset (whether I’m asked about it or not). I just hope that there’s an employer out there that can look beyond this one event and give me a chance.

When so many people treat ex-offenders like this, is it any wonder that some will re-offend and return to prison as they struggle to find ways to support themselves?

Fortunately for me, I have a very supportive network of family and friends who pick me up every time I get knocked down; I also refuse to allow the small mindedness and spitefulness of people hold me back from rebuilding my life. Yes I made some wrong choices in the past but I just want to put that behind me and move on.

By Rachel (name changed to protect identity)

 

A note from Unlock: Rachel’s experience shows how, sometimes, there are exceptions to the golden rule of “you only have to disclose if you’re asked”. Generally, we don’t advise that people voluntarily disclose, but if you think that the employer will find out and change their mind, it might be better to be up-front and disclose, even if they haven’t asked you to.  

 

Useful links

  • Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
  • Information – We have practical self-help information on disclosing criminal records to employers
  • Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to disclosure on our online forum.

Why do Ofsted take so long in approving waivers for those who have been disqualified by association?

I’d like to tell you about my disqualification from the primary school that I’ve worked in for the past fifteen years.

In August last year, my 21 year old son was convicted of a sexual offence – arranging to meet a 13 year old girl and sending her explicit photographs. He received a suspended sentence, was put on the Sex Offender Register and told that he had to attend some courses relevant to his offence.

He wasn’t living with us when the offence took place but moved back home just before the court case started.

My family and I were devastated when my son received his conviction. We’re a decent family and have never been in any bother with the police before but the case was all over the local and national newspapers. It was, and still is, the most horrific experience I have ever been through.

As soon as we knew the result of the court case, I approached the Head of my school and explained the situation to her. She was really understanding and told me that the school would support me through this difficult time. It was at this meeting that I learnt about the need to obtain a waiver if I wanted to continue teaching and I immediately applied to Ofsted for one.

I’d always had a very good working relationship with both parents and staff at the school. As well as my teaching role I also managed a breakfast and after school club so I got to know the parents really well. The school told me that whilst I was waiting for my waiver to be approved, I could work from home. I helped with the school accounts, website management and anything else that was easy to do away from the school. This worked well for about three weeks and then the blow came. I was told that Ofsted were not happy about this arrangement and I was asked to return anything that belonged to the school and also told that I was not allowed on school premises. I was totally distraught. This felt like the final nail in my coffin.

The only good thing to come out of this has been that approximately four weeks after his conviction, my son started a new job. A family friend who runs his own business took him on. He knew all about my son’s conviction but was willing to look past it. My son’s doing really well at work and is trying hard to rebuild his life.

I, on the other hand, am still waiting for the results of my waiver. I had a horrific meeting with two women from Ofsted which took place in my own home. They grilled me about my son’s conviction and I had to tell them everything that happened – it was hell. They also asked about safeguarding at school, giving me details of different scenarios and asking me what I would do (it was as if it was my fault that my son’s offence had taken place). They said that they didn’t think I was aware of how serious the situation was because I hadn’t let my Head know as soon as the offence had taken place. As far as I knew, I had nothing to say at that time – my son might not have been found guilty.

We’re now six months on and I still haven’t heard from Ofsted. The Head of my school hasn’t been in touch – I don’t receive emails from her and don’t get invited to anything concerning staff that goes on outside of the school. I’m just totally being blanked. My union who have been representing me really don’t seem to be much use. They’ve told me that they haven’t been through anything like this before and they don’t know what to do. I even sent my union representative the links to Unlock’s website on Disqualification by Association to provide him with more information.

I regularly read the Unlock website and forum – it’s been a great comfort in some dark times. I really don’t think that people realise what impact a conviction has on a person’s family and how much it can affect their day to day life. As much as I loved having some time with my family without having to worry about money when things were very new and raw, I now feel as if I am being alienated. I rarely go out, especially on my own, I feel like I have the conviction and not my son.

I’m on the verge of getting a solicitor to help me as the worry and stress this has caused me and my family is really detrimental. I’m dreading the phone ringing telling me that I need to meet with Ofsted for a decision about my waiver. I really don’t think that I can handle it right now.

If Ofsted need me to have a waiver, then the very least they can do is to deal with the matter quickly or at least keep in contact so that I know what timescales I’m going to be working to.

By Cheryl (name changed to protect identity)

 

Editors note

We’ve since heard from Cheryl that Ofsted refused her waiver. However she is in the process of appealing their decision and we will keep you updated on her story.

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I am being punished for something I haven’t done – Insurance problems for family members

It was my first time in a court. My husband, Mark was on trial. It was his first offence. He was pleading guilty. We didn’t know how things would go.

We had been told to prepare ourselves for a prison sentence. We were not told how to do that. We had no idea what that would mean in practice. I felt sick to the stomach.

As I sat in the public gallery, I was so stressed that I could see the barristers talking but couldn’t take in what they said. It was as if I was in a different world. Then, it was the judge’s turn to speak. The sentencing statement went on for ages but the only bits that registered with me were the words ‘suspended’ and ‘that will be the end of it’. What aching relief!

Over the first month, a new normal of serving a suspended sentence emerged, including Mark’s weekly visits to the probation officer and getting used to restrictions on travel.

Every day since that day in court, I’d been counting off the weeks, longing for the time my husband’s sentence would be served. I thought that all he had to do was keep his nose clean for a few months longer, which shouldn’t be difficult and the judge’s words would come true – ‘that will be the end of it’. How wrong I was?

I was looking through some papers and noticed our household insurance policy was up for renewal. We’d been with this particular company for three years and had never had to make a claim, so I thought renewing the policy would be a formality.

Then something made me look at the small print. That’s not something I usually do. I noticed something about ‘if your circumstances have changed’. I then saw the bit that said “You must tell us if you or any person usually living with you has any unspent criminal convictions”.

Obviously, we didn’t want any mishaps so Mark rang the insurance company. He told them that he was serving a suspended sentence and told them what it was for. They said they’d get in touch within 72 hours.

Two days later, we received an email from them saying: ‘Your insurance will be cancelled in seven days’. They also said they’d be charging a cancellation fee. The cheek! They didn’t say why the policy was being cancelled, so Mark rang them again. The woman at the end of the phone explained that it was ‘company policy’. Why it was ‘company policy’ she didn’t, wouldn’t or couldn’t say. We thought we’d have to pay more in premiums, but we didn’t expect to be refused.

As we’d always had a joint policy, Mark asked if we could insure our house in my name. The insurance company said that it would make no difference. Because of his conviction, they considered Mark an uninsurable risk, and I was guilty by association.

A couple of hours after the phone call, the company emailed us with an online customer satisfaction survey to complete. Totally crass!

The whole thing is so unfair. I have done nothing wrong. I had nothing to do with Mark’s offence, and I am being punished. That is not justice.

We needed to get the house and the contents insured in a hurry, so we immediately started searching on the internet for ‘ex-offenders insurance’. We came across a Guardian article that had a list of companies that are prepared to insure ex-offenders and their families. Mark rang one, told them the details and got the cover we needed. It is more than four times the annual premium we were paying with our previous insurers, but at least we’re covered.

Another problem is that this will go on for years. Although his suspended sentence is counted in months, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act counts Mark as having an ‘unspent’ conviction for ten years. He is obliged to disclose unspent convictions or any insurance will be invalid.

When he raised the issue with his probation officer, they said that he was lucky: most of their clients don’t own property to insure. In a way, maybe we are. We cannot afford not to insure our house. We certainly couldn’t afford to lose everything. We will find the money for the higher premiums. But it does seem that society imposes additional punishment on an offender in the name of rehabilitation.

The worst of it is, nobody knows about it until it is too late. The judge didn’t tell Mark this would happen. His probation officer didn’t tell him this would happen. It’s in none of the literature we got from the court.

If I had just gone ahead and renewed the policy without reading it thoroughly, we’d have carried on blithely thinking that we were covered when, in fact, we weren’t. If the house had then been destroyed by fire, we would have been ruined. We would have been homeless. We’d have lost everything.

People should know that a direct result of getting a criminal record – even a fine for a public order offence at a demo – is that the insurance industry regards them and their innocent family as an insurance risk and that many companies will not insure them.

On the day Mark received his verdict in court, I was so relieved and thankful to hear the judge say ‘suspended’. But they were so wrong when they said that serving the sentence would be the end of the matter. For me, and the many innocent family members like me, it feels like it will never end.

By Jane Roe (name changed to protect identity)

This post originally appeared in the The War Cry magazine (copyright of The Salvation Army) and is reproduced with permission and thanks.

Please note: Jane refers to her husband’s conviction taking 10 years to become ‘spent’. It’s unclear exactly what length of suspended sentence he received, but since the rules changed in 2014, that period should have reduced significantly because of changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. 

Useful links

  • Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
  • Information – We have practical self-help information on insurance for people with convictions on our Information Hub.
  • Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to insurance from people with convictions on our online forum
  • Policy work – Read about the work Unlock is doing on ensuring fair treatment by insurance companies.

I’m hoping that the law doesn’t destroy my future – Pushing for changes to the filtering process

In support of your current campaign in the Supreme Court this February, I would like to describe my case which is an example of how the law for individuals with more than one conviction falls foul of expectations when it comes to human rights and what’s fair. I have been trying to pursue a career in finance, but have been dismissed due to the two minor convictions I have. This has led me to live in constant fear of not being able to land a role in my chosen industry and now most certainly in the advisory segment of the business which is regulated by the FCA.

This problem is all because I have two minor convictions. The first was in 2004 when I was 17 years old for criminal damage to a phone box for which I received a fine and community service. The second was in 2012 when I was 25 years old for common assault after an altercation one evening between myself and another gentleman. I was informed that the common assault conviction was ‘protected’ (eligible for filtering) however, because I have two minor convictions they will both always show on my DBS criminal record check.

This has led me to feel very uncomfortable when filling out applications for roles in the financial industry and in some cases I have had to explain my convictions prior to criminal record checks, often leading to roles not being landed.

At the moment I am studying very hard for exams that will lead to regulated positions in the finance industry. These roles require standard DBS checks and therefore I would need to disclose my two minor convictions. This makes the process very difficult and will often mean that an employer will not wish to proceed with my application.

When will this nonsense stop! Even if the law changes for minor convictions, having to wait for over 11 years for it to be filtered is ridiculous. Justice has been done, I’ve paid the fine and more than suffered for my mistake.

I regret both instances. I wish I could turn back the hands of time to change the situation but unfortunately I can’t. I’ve done my absolute best to move forward and build a career but truthfully it’s not myself holding back my progress but these two minor convictions. When is the law going to change so that I can apply for a job without having the stigma of disclosing a criminal record. These convictions are not relevant to the jobs that I want to do but an employer will obviously chose the candidate without the conviction and mask it under the fact that the other candidate was stronger for the role.

I plead that the law does not destroy my future as it has many others who simply want to just get on with life.

Finally, I’d like to thank the volunteer that I recently spoke to when I rang the Unlock helpline. He provided me with more sound advice than any legal entity or online party that I could have found.

By Dennis (name changed to protect identity)

 

Useful links

  • Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
  • Information – We have practical self-help information on filtering and financial services sector 
  • Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to job centre agreements and sanctions on our online forum
  • Our policy work – Read about the policy work we’re doing on this issue

Just because an employer doesn’t ask about criminal convictions don’t assume they won’t find out – especially if you’re under MAPPA

sex-offences-actI’d like to bring to everyone’s attention the issues you may encounter if you’re not entirely clear about the types of restrictions or conditions that exist on your licence or the input that other organisations may have which you might not have been made aware of. This is my story.

I recently started a new job eight months after I was released from prison. I know from reading posts on the Unlock forum that it’s difficult to get a job with a criminal record and, if you have a conviction for a sexual offence, like I do, then it’s even more so. I thought I’d done well to find a company that didn’t ask about my criminal record so I didn’t disclose it.

The job was going well until for some reason, my boss decided to Google me. I’m not sure what led him to do so, perhaps it was something he did with every new member of staff or maybe he’d been tipped off about my conviction. Needless to say, the newspaper report he read didn’t present me in the best light and he decided to do some further digging about me.

He immediately chose to ring the local police station and was put in touch with my supervising officer. Without speaking to me first, my supervising officer told him the details of my conviction and the fact that I’d spent time in prison. The first I knew of this conversation was when my boss called me into his office and told me:

I know everything about you. The police have told me what you did and where you’ve been’

I was immediately suspended whilst my boss considered what he would do with me.

The next time I met my probation officer, she told me that she’d been contacted by the police and that they were concerned that I’d breached my registration requirements. She told me that the police would arrange to visit me to discuss the matter further.

As soon as I got home I started to look through the details of my notification requirements. I checked my Sexual Harm Prevention Order and also my licence and I couldn’t see anything that set out the need to disclose my conviction to an employer it they didn’t ask me about it. I was confident that I’d done as much research as I could and I believed that the police had unlawfully disclosed my conviction to an employer. I was ready to have a reasoned argument about it.

I always worry about any police visit but I was fairly confident that the situation would be sorted out once I’d had a chat with the officer concerned. I figured that the police had the same duty to abide by my licence/SHPO conditions as I did.

My confidence left me very soon after the police officer arrived. She started to explain that her decision to disclose details of my conviction were nothing to do with the SOR, SHPO or my licence conditions it was as a result of being supervised by MAPPA. I’d heard of MAPPA whilst I was in prison but only in the context of people with violent offences – that wasn’t me.

However, she told me that all registered sex offenders are subject to MAPPA arrangements – unfortunately that did apply to me. The MAPPA arrangement apparently means that the police have a duty to consider whether it’s necessary to disclose information about an individual to a third party in order to protect the public and safeguard children. She explained that having heard about the type of work I was doing, she believed that the public may be at some risk. Hence her decision to disclose.

She told me that normally she would have given me the opportunity to disclose the conviction myself but, as my boss was on the telephone and very concerned about the risk I posed, this had not been possible.

So it seemed that in this case, the police hadn’t really done anything wrong. Yes they probably should have given me the chance to disclose my conviction myself but in this case the outcome would probably have been the same. My boss had already found out about my conviction and was desperate to find more out about me. The police officer told me that it wouldn’t always be necessary for her to disclose to a third party, it would very much depend on the job. However, if I find another job that doesn’t ask about my past and I don’t disclose, I’m worried about how this will be viewed by the police and probation. The last thing I want is to end up back in prison.

I’ve not heard from my boss yet about what he’s going to do. However, whatever happens, I’ve decided the best thing for me to do is to work on my disclosure so that I’ll feel more comfortable and confident about disclosing my conviction in the future. Knowing where I stand will no doubt stand me in good stead for whatever lies ahead.

By Wayne (name changed to protect identity)

 

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The ongoing impact of my husband’s offence – being disqualified by association

Disqualification-by-Association-2When I was 39 weeks pregnant, I was told by my employer (a school) that, as a result of my husband’s criminal record, I was ‘disqualified by association‘ and would be suspended from my job as a teacher until such time as I was granted a waiver which would enable me to continue working. Although I was given forms to complete, I wasn’t given any other information by my local authority or Ofsted. No one seemed to know how to deal with the matter, or how long the process would take.

At my next antenatal appointment my midwife noticed that my blood glucose levels had spiked which I imagine was as a result of the stress I was under. The prospect of losing my job and quite possibly my house meant that I felt unable to look after my baby and in this fight or flight mode, I was rejecting my unborn baby.

As a result of my husband’s conviction four years previously, I suffered from post traumatic stress symptoms and paid for private counselling to help me to understand that I was not responsible for what happened and that I was not to blame. As soon as I was disqualified, I immediately took on the blame and all those years of work in therapy were redundant.

The PTSD symptoms I suffered were mainly related to the invasion of my house by the police – I suffered terrible flash backs. The result of my disqualification was to bring all those symptoms back after 4 years, at the most vulnerable time in my life, when I was due to give birth. The disqualification process was like another police investigation for which I was the focus and the invasion of my privacy felt exactly the same as when my husband’s original offence had taken place. I decided that the only option was to start counselling again.

The investigation by Ofsted took weeks and for a lot of the time I heard nothing. Then, whilst on the maternity ward and in the early stages of labour, I was contacted three times on the telephone by Ofsted. They left no message and when I called them back in a blind panic, nobody could give me any information and they didn’t seem to know who had been trying to contact me. The birth of my child was overshadowed by waiting for someone from Ofsted to call me back to let me know if I had a chance of keeping my job and home.

The stress, PTSD and the secrecy surrounding the investigation caused me difficulties in bonding with my new born daughter. I was extremely distressed and the focus of the distress was this investigation. I went to the doctors and was prescribed medication. I felt unable to discuss the reason for my distress with the midwives or health visitors as I felt the fact I was being investigated as to whether I was a danger to children would mean that social services would get involved and also investigate me.

Finally, I was given some information from Ofsted about how the investigation would play out. I was told I needed to have a face to face meeting with an Ofsted Inspector. At five days old, one of my daughters first visitors was an Ofsted Inspector who sat in my home and went through such personal and traumatic details with me to make sure I was safe to be around children.

Having this traumatic event dragged up after 4 years had a massive impact on my marriage. It broke down and we separated. Again, having an impact on my daughter in the first year of her life. Luckily my husband and I believed that our marriage was worth fighting for and went for counselling with Relate.

Ofsted sent me a number of emails to my hotmail account which contained some very sensitive information. They asked me to give them specific details of my husbands offence and I was really worried about the security taking into account the method of contact. They also sent me a letter which apparently had details of his offence contained within it which got lost in the post. Obviously this was a real concern to me especially due to the nature of his offence.

It didn’t matter who I spoke to at Ofsted, nobody at any level seemed to know what was going on or could give me any information. Due to the massive trauma this caused to me and my family and countless others, I feel there needs to be very clear guidance and information for everybody involved. Knowing what was going to happen to me and some idea of time frames would have at least alleviated some of the stress.

I understand that what my husband did was wrong but we have both paid the price for his offence. He was fully investigated by the police and they deemed him not to be a danger to society. We spent a lot of time, effort and money rebuilding our lives to the point where we felt able to have a baby only for this to happen to us.

The thing that is most upsetting is that I did not actually have to go through any of this as I was not one of the teachers covered by this legislation so………. It was simply a lack of clarity in the guidelines which caused this to happen to my family at such a vulnerable time. The whole process has had a huge effect on all areas of mine and my families life. I understand that this legislation is supposed to protect children but it has actually caused harm to my own child at a most critical time of her life and development. Nobody spotted this at the beginning and at no stage has anybody apologised for putting me and my family through this.

By Louisa (name changed to protect identity)

 

 

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Food for thought at the food bank – An old sexual offence getting in the way of collecting food

box-of-foodI’ve just been released from prison having completed two years of a four year sentence. The offence I was convicted of happened when I was 14 years old. I’m now 31.

During the past 17 years I’ve never been in any trouble with the police. I’m married to a wonderful lady, we have a son and I’ve worked hard to provide for both of them. However, due to my conviction being for a sexual offence, I’m on the sex offenders register for life and can’t apply to come off it for 15 years.

Like many women who find themselves alone when their husband/partner goes to prison, my wife struggled to cope both emotionally and financially whilst I was away. My son developed anger issues and was constantly getting into trouble at school. You wouldn’t believe how guilty I felt. I knew I’d done wrong but my wife and son weren’t around when my offence happened yet they were also being punished for it.

I couldn’t wait for my release date, to be back home with the family and to start looking after them again. I knew it would take a while to completely get back on my feet and, in the short-term, my wife and I have been visiting our local food bank to help us out. You can’t imagine what a difference a box of food makes and I don’t know what we would have done without this organisation.

After a recent visit to the food bank, I received a call from my Public Protection Officer saying that the food bank had received a complaint from a member of the public who had seen me there. My Public Protection Officer told me that the only way to deal with this would be for me to meet the head of the food bank and have a conversation about my conviction with them. I feel bad enough about having to use the food bank without having to tell them that I am on the sex offenders register. Does the fact that I did something wrong years ago, for which I’ve been punished, mean that my family and I aren’t allowed to eat? Having to have the conversation with the manager wasn’t a pleasant experience but I’ve managed to convince the manager that I’m no risk to anybody using the organisation and I’m pretty sure that she understands the situation.

Yesterday I received a call from a local employer about a job I’d applied for. I’d disclosed that I had a conviction and the details of it. The young man on the phone told me that he’d checked with Head Office to ‘see whether they could employ a sex offender’. Guess what I was told? ‘Don’t bother coming in for an interview’.

As you can imagine, I can get pretty low at times. I accept that I did something terrible when I was a young man going through puberty. I deserved to be punished and I’ve served my sentence. The person I was then is nowhere like the person I am today.

I count myself lucky that I’ve got a fantastic, supportive partner but I just want to be left alone to be a father, a husband, a provider and a protector.

By Duncan (name changed to protect identity)

 

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  • Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
  • Information – We have practical self-help information on convictions for sexual offences.
  • Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to this issue on our online forum

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