Story Type: Your Stories

A glass ceiling? Good enough for a job, but not for a promotion

by Mary

In November 2009 I was dismissed from the post of a Council Principal Librarian. Although I had had an unblemished professional record since 1975, I became the victim of bullying and harassment by a jealous colleague who was acting up in the role of head of service. I was accused of having books at home that I hadn’t issued – books which I was using for work purposes to prepare for family learning outreach service. The Council took out a private prosecution against me and, on the advice of my solicitor, I fought this unfair prosecution and insisted on fighting it through to Crown Court. But I was convicted of Fraud and Theft in January 2010. I was dismissed from my post two months before this verdict.

I spent 3 years trying to gain employment, but had several offers retracted when the Council sent in a bad, damning reference. I made prospective employers fully aware of my background and the circumstances of my conviction. In the light of my explanation and excellent references from previous employers, and an account of my court case, I was offered my current job as a Librarian by a local Trust in July 2012. I have been praised for my performance in my job and have received straight ‘A’s in my assessments.

About 6 weeks after I started, I received a telephone call from a reporter who told me that they had received an anonymous letter about my conviction. This can only have come from someone at my previous employers, the Council. I know this because the letter contained information that only the Council’s HR Dept. knew. The newspaper published an article, which was an exact reprint of what had appeared in the local press at the time of my conviction and about which I had made my current employer fully aware.

I was mortified by this article but, at the time, my employing Trust were supportive. My boss briefed our Press Office about the issue and gave out a statement saying that they are an equal opportunities employer and had considered all of the facts when they appointed me. They also offered me counselling. The only feedback the paper received about the article was very positive for the council, saying that it was to their credit that they had given me a chance. They could easily have fired me, but they didn’t.

Then, in June 2013, because things seemed to be going so well, I applied for promotion. But my application was rejected outright, without the chance of an interview, purely because my conviction was unspent. I was told by the Chief Executive that my application was by far the best they had received, but I was also told that I would be an embarrassment to the Trust and that I couldn’t be trusted.

I’m an honest and hardworking person, and I have proved it. My conviction, for taking books home to work on, was purely driven by malice. The Police weren’t interested. It was a personal vendetta continued with anonymous letters to the press. As a result, I have a permanent record for dishonesty and have hit a ‘glass ceiling’ where I cannot progress in my career as a result of an unspent conviction.

‘I’m going to move on now’

I last wrote here about 9 months months ago. Since then there has been a change. New amendments to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act are coming into force this month. Since March 10^th, I no longer need to tell many potential employers, insurance companies or other interested parties that I have a record.

This is a huge relief. For me, it’s a massive change. It means I’ll be able to apply for job like stacking shelves in the Co-op or work in an airport. Seventy percent of all jobs now require a disclosure. Now I can apply for far more of them. And get insurance to be a plumber: what’s possible now in the world of self-employment is far greater too.

In many ways, 36 years after my conviction, I now have the right to be treated much like any other citizen. That’s very important to me because that’s just how I want to feel, just like any other citizen. Now the challenge will be to adapt my ingrained ways of thinking about myself, and take opportunities that were previously barred to me.

But let’s not forget that these changes don’t effect everybody. People who’ve been sentenced to more than 4 yrs. are still caught in the same old net. As a society, we are still obsessed with the long past, and with our belief that it is the best predictor of future behaviour. The Government are changing the legal limit on digging into the past lives of others, for such things as insurance and employment purposes. But the changes haven’t gone far enough. There is still a great deal of disproportion in the system. Why should someone sentenced to four years be treated as a whole different category of human to someone who’s served three? What we have is an arbitrary cut-off point; what we need is a system that takes age and maturity much more into account.

As a society, we have a right to expect people to behave better as they mature and grow older. But, again, what we have now is an arbitrary cut-off point at 18, when we get the right to vote. Everyone knows people mature at different rates, and that, often, the pinpoint accuracy of sentencing to reflect exactly the nature and seriousness of the crime is subject to all kinds of vagaries, from the politics of judiciary to the colour of the convicted’s skin.

As we move ever closer to towards a pan-European criminal record system, and the interconnected and international nature of policing and surveillance methods, there is an opportunity to revise these weaknesses and build a system that still protects the public and the employers, but give better opportunities to those who sort themselves out and go on to live more decent lives. It requires three ingredients:

1) The time during which a conviction is unspent and before which full rehabilitation can begin should be linked to both the sentence handed down and the convicted person’s age at the time of the offence. Simply adding their age to the sentence in years gives a much fairer system. E.g. An 18 yrs old sentenced to 3 yrs gets a rehab period of 21yrs, after which time the record is expunged completely, the offences become spent in half that time, 10.5 yrs. Whereas a 40 yrs old getting three years would have a rehab period of 43 yrs and a spent period of 21.5yrs. A 28 yr old getting 14 yrs would have spent conviction after 28yrs and everything expunged after 42 yrs, by which time they’ll be 70. Doesn’t that seem fair enough? The police and courts would retain records for life, and pervious conviction would still be factored into any future sentencing, but those who don’t offend again get to die with a clean record.

2) That employers do not ask about a job applicant’s criminal record until after all the interviews have been completed and they have decided on their favourite candidate. They should never need to ask applicants they were never going to employ about their record. If the chosen candidate has a record that makes them unsuitable, then they are not offered the job and it goes down the line to the second best candidate. I completely accept that an employer has right to know about convictions – but only of their employees. Until you become an employee you are just a member of the general public, and you should have a right to keep your record private. The box on job application forms which asks about criminal records should be banned.

3) Compassion. As a society we often define ourselves by what we hate and won’t tolerate, and that all seems natural and unavoidable. We also define ourselves by our compassion, or lack of it. If you refuse to forgive, you make a prisoner of both yourself and the other, because both become stuck and neither can move on. Everyone has had their struggles, and if they acting out badly during that time, can we not let rest in peace after thirty years? The French call it ‘the right to forget’. Let’s move closer to that.

I’m going to move on now.

Working for the NHS

by Nigel

I have convictions for violence (GBH from 8 years ago and a more recent one in 2010) and have recently applied for an IT Position in one of the NHS trusts.

The post is primarily away from patients and hospitals but may occasionally require going in to sort out IT problems, and it involves a DBS check. I did declare the unspent conviction on the original application as there was a section asking this.

I went for an interview, and nothing was mentioned regarding CRB/DBS checks or anything to do with my record. I received a phone call with an offer of employment, and was nervously waiting the dreaded DBS check in the paperwork.

When it came, I completed this fully and truthfully, and ten days later all checks have come back to HR and I have been given the go-ahead to start. I am just waiting on a start date now. This is an NHS trust and I am not sure if other trusts will have different procedures, but it’s good news for me at least and maybe gives others a bit of hope.

Setting the record straight

by Gail*

I am writing to thank you for the advice l received from you which has effectively given me a new lease of life. I was sentenced to 3 years in prison for a one count conviction of Money Laundering in 2007. I was released on tag after and that was that. In 2010, I successfully got a job as a Support Worker and subsequently a Senior Support Worker with a Housing Organisation. I however was called in by my managers who informed me that following a DBS check, my version of events is questionable because my CRB states that I was involved in drugs. It would appear that the generic term for Money Laundering is now drugs? Irrespective, and due to a major reshuffle in the department anyway, I was made redundant.

I then started applying for other jobs, which l knew l was fully qualified for, and even though l say so myself, l interview well. Anyway, I didn’t get two jobs and l was really cut up about it, so l contacted one of the bodies l applied to. It turns out the fact that l was involved in laundering the proceeds of “drugs” was a real hiccup for them. I then called you. You gave me some advice, and gave me the details of who to contact at the DBS. For future reference, my issue was that my offence was Money Laundering. My CRB read “Laundering the proceeds of drugs for another” The man l spoke to sent me out some forms to fill in. He then wrote me back acknowledging the receipt of the forms and advised that he had sent my complaint to the police and they will advise me of the outcome.

That was two weeks ago. Yesterday, I got a response from them advising that my complaint had been upheld and that they will be reissuing me a new DBS with the amended wording. The wording has been amended to “Assisting another to retain or control the benefit of criminal conduct”.

This is a great result for me because not only does it remove the drugs implication for me but it also doesn’t define or label “Money Laundering”. I can now go out there and work, hold my head up high knowing that my past is not tagged to me. Don’t get me wrong, I am not denying what happened. It did and l held my hands up to it. What isn’t fair is that someone can make an arbitrary decision to use unwarranted colourful language to potentially ruin someone else’s life and hamper their chances of employability and moving on.

Junior James; A different deal

by Richard, Editor of theRecord

Junior James is a fascinating man, a ‘larger-than-life’ character who oozes energy and enthusiasm. He’s gone from being a busy, but never happy, drug dealer to a NOMS ‘Service User of the Year’ via a spell inside. He made best use of his time in prison by taking advantage of every training and education opportunity he was given, and is now committed to helping others break out of a criminal lifestyle. However, when going through all this, he became aware of one of the major shortcomings with what is on offer for prisoners and was recently quoted in The Voice on-line as saying that it would be particularly useful for courses on entrepreneurship to be available.

Now, ‘entrepreneur’ can mean any number of things in reality, from the likes of Richard Branson and the ‘Dragons’ in TV’s den to someone running a hot-dog stall at a festival or setting up a shelter for the homeless . So I rang him to ask him what he meant: “Being self-employed, mate. That’s the crux of it. It’s all very well giving training courses and helping people getting qualifications, but if you’ve got a record, no-one’s gonna want to employ you, so you’ve got to do it yourself.” And, by and large, he’s right. As we chat we agree that there are a few enlightened employers out there, but not many. We agree that what people need is to learn how to run a business either for just themselves or to employ others. And anyone who’s tried it will tell you it’s not all plain sailing and counting your money. A very high proportion of new businesses go under in the first three years and there’s a lot to learn and a lot at stake. And preparation and knowing what you’re getting yourself into is key to success.

So, keen make best use of his time, put right past mistakes, encourage other not to get involved in dealing and to put his money where his mouth is, Junior took to writing. He first started in prison, showed a few pages to a few mates, got some good feedback about this wit and his style and so carried on. He writes about his life and the way he used to live in in a way that gets to the truth of the paranoia, the fear and the stress that is so often overlooked by young people who see only the money, the status and the bling on offer with a coke-dealer’s trade. He’s funny, direct and real and he’s working on his third book now. The first two, Different, Parts 1 & 2, are available on his website: www.juniorjames.co.uk. Check him out, he’s different.

Six month sentence or life?

by Lucinda Neall

Let me tell you about Luke.

Luke has been a volunteer youth leader for the last three years at one of the youth clubs I’m involved with. He’s great with the kids, a reliable member of the team, and probably would have been selected as chairperson if he hadn’t already been running a football club almost singlehanded. He’s a thoroughly decent guy who cares about young people and wants to give them opportunities – very empathetic, easy to talk to, good fun. Maybe that’s just his nature, but it’s probably got something to do with his life experience too: he was bullied at school, he became an angry teenager – in fact he ended up doing six months in a detention centre. So Luke can empathise with youngsters who aren’t finding life easy. But he came through, got a job and it wasn’t long before he was asked to keep an eye on the apprentices at work.

Luke got married, had children, but sadly his wife died of cancer and he found himself bringing them up on his own. Oh, and did I tell you his son has ADHD and was eventually sent to a special school, so Luke also knows all about dealing with special needs.

As you can imagine Luke didn’t come out of school with many qualifications, so it was amazing when he decided to do a degree as a mature student. And once he graduated he started job hunting and asked me to be one of his referees. It was not difficult to write a great reference for him when he applied to be a support worker at a home for people with learning difficulties. Nor was I in the least bit surprised to hear he had been offered the job, subject to a DBS check.

What did shock me a few weeks later though, was when he told me the offer had been withdrawn because of his criminal record – because of what he had done when he was 17 and 18 years old. You see there’s one thing I haven’t told you about Luke, which is that Luke had just celebrated his 50th birthday. And he is being told he is not suitable to work with people with learning difficulties because of things he had done as a teenager over thirty years ago!

I have written to the organisation involved to question their recruitment policy, but that is not enough, because this sort of insanity is going on all over the country in the name of safeguarding. Instead of using a bit of intelligence, common sense and discretion when faced with DBS information, HR departments are using a blanket tick-box approach. We need to get this story out there so that those who are recruiting start questioning their policies, instead of covering their backsides, and putting some humanity into Human Resources policies.

As Luke put it, “I did something wrong as a teenager and was punished for it. I don’t expect to be punished for the same thing again 30 years later.

Thanks to Lucinda Neall for permission to re-publish this piece. The original is available here.

Scarred for Life: The Retention of Criminal Records and the Lack of Rehabilitation

By Ivan Marazion

I write this article as someone who, in my younger days, had issues with addiction. Like many people who fall into addiction, I also fell into petty crime and in my late teens was convicted of theft and burglary. I must take responsibility for my actions, but I must also protest at still being deeply affected by this over 17 years later. It’s important to mention that I have not been convicted of any crime since.

In 2005, after spending many years in active addiction, I entered a drug and alcohol treatment centre. This was the beginning of a new life for me. After getting clean, I made a decision to go back into education and gained a degree from a top university. I then took a teaching qualification and started working abroad as a teacher. During this time, I constantly felt like a fraud, unable to disclose my previous convictions as I would have never have been employed if I had. As an overseas English teacher I could only earn half what I could’ve earned had I been able to work as a government schoolteacher, abroad or in the UK. But this is impossible as I will never have a clean DBS check. Prior to teaching I was interested in studying law so made enquiries with the Solicitors Regulation Authority – only to discover it was unlikely I would be able to work in this field either. These are just two examples of where I’ve been stopped in my tracks, unable to move forward with my life. I could cite many more; and every time the feelings of disappointment and anger, at myself and at the system, were totally crushing. I began to feel that everything I had worked hard to achieve was pointless.

In my experience, most people have done something which could have earned them a criminal record, but have been lucky enough not to get caught; whether this was setting off a firework in the street, getting into a brawl or simply a stupid act motivated by peer pressure. How often do we hear about the politician who smoked dope but didn’t inhale? My point is that we all have pasts. Surely someone who has taken responsibility for their past actions should be allowed to rehabilitate fully and not be punished for the rest of their life? Should people like me just accept our lot and enter unchallenging, mundane, soul destroying employment or perhaps claim benefits and sit around in our underpants watching Jeremy Kyle? I have worked hard and struggled to become a better person; to educate myself, to try and find worthwhile employment and lead a fulfilling life. People who have done their utmost to rehabilitate should be allowed to do just that. It can’t be good for the individual or larger society that such a large group of people are held back in this way. The constant feelings of being ‘less than’, or being a fraud and the worry of being found out if you haven’t been totally upfront about your past, are degrading and can be mentally and emotionally crippling. These feelings of degradation do very little for ones self-esteem and sadly for some can lead to a vicious circle of further crime and substance abuse. My choice, and the choice for many, is this: lie and risk being found out because there’s a system in place that’s likely to expose them sooner or later, or be up front and risk rejection.

Now and then a glimmer of hope appears, most recently in the form of the new filtering process brought in earlier this year. It was exciting to think, just for a moment, that in some circumstances I may not have to reveal myself as a second class citizen and a criminal. Sadly, my joy was short lived when, after sifting through the myriad of offences and circumstances which were exempt from the filtering process, I noticed that the system would not benefit me as I had multiple convictions. Anger rose up in my body before collapsing in on me in the all too familiar form of regret and disappointment!

I was asked what name I wanted to use when this article was published; did I want to use my own or a pseudonym? After much consideration I’ve decided to use a pseudonym because I’m not proud of having criminal convictions and, sadly, people make immediate negative judgements if a person has convictions – despite any reparative steps they may have taken. Unfortunately, the current system aims to expose people like me unnecessarily, resulting in many currently law-abiding people being scarred for life.

There is only one conclusion to come to: the system needs to be changed in order to prevent ruining the lives of those who have already paid the price for their crimes.

Don’t give up

By Elaine

I was 19 when I was convicted for theft from my employer. I received 200 hours community service. I couldn’t give a precise reason why I had stolen the money, it was many factors and this was a very low time for me. Thankfully I had a supportive partner, who is still with me.

Trying to get a job became difficult. At first I didn’t want to try as I was ashamed, and people certainly judge you. After time I knew I had to, otherwise it would always hold me up in life. I had quite good qualifications from school and knew I was capable of a decent job. However, completing applications felt like a bit of a waste of time as I had to declare my conviction and I knew I wouldn’t get a response, which I didn’t.

I started to look more at the small personal adverts and rang one. I got a part time job doing telesales and it felt good to be contributing and working with others. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the importance of self worth. This led to the company referring me to someone who employed me on a self employed basis, thankfully no questions were asked and so this worked fine for about 18 months. My lucky break came when my brother recommended me to his employer and I got a full time admin job. I was so grateful and told the employer about my conviction after I’d been there a few months. I stayed there for about 8 years and after that it became so much easier to get a job, especially once my conviction became spent. I’ve gone on to have a job with Barclays, Citizens Advice and now the local council. Thankfully the new Disclosure rules are so much fairer for people. We all make mistakes and I’d simply recommend to people not to give up.

Been held back for 2 years from reaching my dream

For the past 4 years my life has been on pause. I have been heavily relying on the reform to be put into place since 2012 when my goal was to become a Royal Marine Commando in the Royal Navy.

I messed my life up by crashing my car into the centre of an island and the courts slammed me with a 2 year driving ban which I could cope with, 240 hours Community service which is a bit heavy in my opinion and a small fine which I paid immediately after walking out of the courtroom. At the time I was in Full time University and working as a shift manager in a food production company. Being a student I had no escape I had to work in order to live as I can’t depend on family and a student loan was not enough. This unfortunately meant I was too physically exhausted to attend community service and breached 3 times. At the time I did not know how badly this would affect my career opportunities later on in life and haunts me day after day. I got sentenced to a 4 weeks suspended sentence for 12 months and 60 more hours unpaid work (i had 12 hours remaining to complete and my community order would be done).

After a few months I had finished my unpaid work and wondered what to do because I dropped out of university as I could not afford it and I was still unsure about my future, I was underweight, sometimes didn’t eat for near on 2 days and lost two jobs due to my convictions.

I went to my local Navy Careers Office and told them my situation, they told me to get a print out of my offences and conviction so immediately I went to court and bought original documents of my convictions and dropped them into my careers office. They said driving offences are at the discretion of the recruiting officer and they deemed me a suitable potential marine, passed my medical examination and Interview with flying colours even adding I am what they are looking for in a Royal Marine.

After my Interview he looked at my convictions and seen I had a suspended sentence and this became the downfall of my career as a Royal Marine before it had even started. He said there was no way on this earth I would ever be accepted in to the royal navy unless it was spent. He looked at the date at which my conviction would be spent and it is 2019. I will be in my late 20’s when my conviction is spent which is not at all a good time to join the marines.

After soaking that up and wondering where to turn next I joined the Royal Marines forum and looked at the rehabilitation of offenders act thread, which had a link to your website. At first it put a huge amount of hope into me and I was back on my training waiting for the reform to commence in spring 2013, after that didn’t happen I was a bit unhappy but November wasn’t too far away and gave me more time to dedicate to my training and preparation.

November reform has now been cancelled and I must say I am absolutely gutted I cannot move on from that night that totally ruined my life, I am not a bad person, I am polite and respectful to everyone. I do not Drink, smoke or take drugs and seen as an upstanding person who has self reliability, I have depended on myself from the age of 15, being from a normal working class family I have never had the luxury of being looked after financially by mum and dad, if my shoes have holes in them I had to do my paper round, save up and buy some new ones, that’s how my family are to prepare me for the ‘grown-up’ world.

The government need to immediately change the rehabilitation of offenders act not just for normal civilised people who cannot follow their dreams due to a split second accident/mistake but also for people who are bad but want to change, give people another chance to redeem their lives and prove they can be better, we all make mistakes but it is how you bounce back and overcome the down times and improve as a person.

We don’t need to be followed around by a demon stopping us from enjoying the fine qualities of life and the opportunities we have. Being in the Royal Marines is my dream, I will risk my life for queen and country.

By Carl

Transition – You never truly fail until you quit

My journey of transition unwittingly began as I lay face down at the banking of the Thames surrounded by a group of armed officers after having failed miserably in my bid to evade capture after a 5 hour armed siege.

What then ensued was a series of hearings to determine my plea of guilt which thankfully, owing to the overwhelming forensic evidence linking me to the firearm, saved me from the humiliation I would have had to endure had I have opted for a trial.

However, what followed had been far less palatable, a specified period of 15 years under the then quite novel IPP ruling which at the time had been the largest single term of its kind.

Prior to that point my life had been one of conflict with society where I tended to orbit in an environment outside of society’s realm as opposed to wanting to assimilate with it.

However, I was now faced with having the monumental task of ploughing my way through what in effect was the equivalent of a 30 year sentence.

Thankfully I had the presence of mind to utlilise my time as productively as the system would allow and began using education as a means of liberating myself out of my previous lifestyle choice.

I began by studying law, receiving a distinction in Prison and Human Rights Law and for the first time began to see the role which parliament had set out for what law was to achieve and strangely began to develop a slow but meaningful respect for it.

Add to this a couple of NVQ level 3 qualifications in counselling coupled with the beginnings of a journalism diploma, which sadly I had been unable to finish, I was now faced with a whole new proposition.

As a result of the new found understanding I had of law I launched my own appeal had my sentenced reduced by half and significantly lowered my risk to a point where after 7 years I was now manageable in open conditions.

During this period I began volunteering at Unlock, and within weeks of me being there I attended The House of Lords as part of the drive to launch Unlock’s online disclosure calculator.

This really impacted upon me and was the beginning of the broadening of my social landscape as it was under the auspices of Unlock that I really began to develop as I was now privy to all sorts of interesting third sector and criminal justice news which would simultaneously stimulate, inspire and at times appall me.

Having said this what it did provide me with was the rumblings of my very first remit statement for an initiative that I went on to launch. Thankfully my altruistic fervor hasn’t suffered as a result of the hard work I have had to endure being a small practitioner in a landscape which overwhelmingly favours the primes. In fact quite the opposite.

I think If there is a lesson I could impart from my own experience of change it would certainly be my new found understanding that you never truly fail until you quit.