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For people with criminal records
For people with criminal records

Type: Advice Update

What’s new from ACRO Criminal Records Office?

Unless you’ve travelled abroad and needed a police certificate or applied for a subject access request (SAR) to help get a better understanding of your criminal record, you may never have come across ACRO Criminal Records Office (ACRO).

They have just published their annual report for 2016/17 showing an annual income of almost £13 million and we thought it might be useful to highlight some relevant information from that report.

Travelling abroad

If you’re looking to move abroad or require a visa to visit certain countries (for example the US), you will probably need to apply for a police certificate and in 2016/17, ACRO received 131,560 applications. The majority of the certificates had no conviction information disclosed however 12,796 (almost 10%) showed ‘live’ convictions and 7,875 (6%) showed ‘no live trace’.

A survey undertaken by ACRO highlighted that 88% of respondents from Embassy’s and High Commission’s etc. stated that Police Certificates were an important component in their decision as to whether to issue or deny a visa. Therefore, being very clear about what’s on your certificate and knowing how to disclose it to an immigration officer could have a significant impact on your chances of success.

Convictions received overseas

As at March 2017, it has been possible for the UK to exchange criminal record information with 25 out of 27 EU member states via the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS).

In 2016/17 there was a 22% increase in the number of notifications sent to ACRO which related to UK nationals who’d received a conviction overseas. Of the 12,336 notifications received, 7,064 resulted in conviction information being added to the Police National Computer (PNC) – 1,531 were for violent offences and 325 related to sexual offences.

In October 2016 ACRO were notified that a UK national who had received a conviction for a sexual offence in Cyprus was returning to the UK. ACRO informed the local police in the area he would be returning to who contacted the gentleman at home to arrange a risk assessment and consider possible ways that he would be monitored in the community

Deletion of criminal record information from the PNC

For the last two years, ACRO has been responsible for coordinating the record deletion process on behalf of all police forces in the UK. In 2016/17, 1,512 people applied to have their records deleted from the PNC. Of these, 479 were successful, 10 had part of their records deleted, 494 were refused and 266 applications were not eligible. The deletions related to police intelligence (sometimes referred to as additional information) and in some cases, DNA and fingerprints.

If you’ve had an enhanced DBS check done in the past and the police have chosen to disclose additional information, then it may be worth considering making an application to have it removed, especially if it’s had an adverse effect on your ability to get a job or join a college or university course.

For more information

  1. For practical self-help information – More information is available on our police certificates, convictions obtained overseas and disclosure of police intelligence on enhanced checks sections
  2. Questions – If you have any questions about this, you can contact our helpline.

Monthly summary – August 2017

Welcome to our monthly summary for August 2017.

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 just 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 the updates that we’ve made recently to the theInformationHub. 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 link to threads on our online forum where you can discuss these with other people with convictions. 

About criminal records

  • Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPO) – We’ve produced some new information which sets out the circumstances whereby a Court would give a SCPO and examples of the conditions that it may contain.

Work and volunteering

  • Disclosing a conviction you don’t believe you’re guilty of – We’ve written an advice post detailing ways of disclosing your criminal record if you don’t believe you’ve done anything wrong.

Travel

Prison issues

  • Working for an outside employer while still in prison – We’ve updated this page which includes a Victims Levy Calculator to help you work out how much of your wages will be deducted when you start working outside of the prison.

For family members of people with convictions

  • We’ve developed a new information page bringing together links to information, resources and useful contacts which may be helpful to family members of people with convictions.

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 – Getting permission from probation to return overseas to my husband and family – “To say that I’ve had the year from hell is an understatement. At the beginning of the year I was convicted of a white collar crime and given a suspended sentence and 300 hours of unpaid work. Up until the time I was arrested, I’d been living with my husband 5,000 miles away from the UK but whilst awaiting my court appearance and sentencing I hadn’t been allowed to leave the UK …..’

Struggles and stigma – Struggling to find work with a life sentence – “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 …..’

Success – Overcoming my lack of confidence to get my dream job – working as a teaching assistant – “Ever since I can remember I have loved teaching, forever holding pretend classes and showing my younger siblings how to do things …..’

Discussions on our online forum

Below are links to recent posts to 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.

Post Brexit impact on travelling to Europe – Normallife has expressed his concerns about the ability to move and live in Europe when we leave the EU. Is this something that you’re worried about? Let us have your thoughts.

Confused – Peter wanted some advice on changing his probation officer and taking his complaint to the Probation Ombudsman. Do you have any advice you can offer? 

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.

Basic DBS checks are coming soon – find out more

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is introducing basic criminal record checks for people in England and Wales. Basic checks disclose unspent convictions but not ones that have become spent. This replaces the service previously provided by Disclosure Scotland. Find our more information here.

 

How do you disclose a conviction you don’t believe you’re guilty of?

The majority of our information around disclosing to an employer assumes that you will be declaring a criminal record for which you have accepted some guilt.

And as a charity, Unlock focuses on supporting people who have accepted responsibility for their actions and are now looking to move forward with their life.

But, how do you go about disclosing something which you don’t believe you’re guilty of?

Many are aware of how difficult it is to find a job if you’ve got a criminal record with 75% of employers admitting to discriminating against applicants on the basis of a criminal record.

However, if you’re fortunate enough to be offered an interview and the chance to explain your criminal record, employers will want to see that you’ve taken responsibility for your conviction and demonstrate that you’re not going to make the same mistake again. This is hard to do if you believe you haven’t done anything wrong in the first place.

If you try to put yourself in an employer’s shoes (some of whom have limited experience of the criminal justice system), stating that you didn’t do the thing you’ve been convicted of may lead them to believe that you’re just not prepared to face up to what you’ve done or not ready to accept any responsibility for your actions.

Option 1 – Accept responsibility

Some people who believe they’ve been wrongly convicted choose, for the purposes of disclosing to employers at least, to accept the fact that they have a conviction when seeking work and, recognising the above, present themselves as acknowledging their guilt.  This is where our main advice on disclosing to employers will be important.

For those who admit their guilt to something, but not the technical offence they were convicted of, it may be better to simply accept responsibility.

Option 2 – Stick to saying you’re not guilty

Some people want to convince an employer that they haven’t committed the offence they’ve been convicted of. If this is you, you need to bear in mind the challenges with this so you’ll need to think carefully of the best way of putting this across. If an employer will be doing any formal criminal record checks then you’ll need to explain what will appear on any certificate as well as giving some background as to the circumstances surrounding your arrest and conviction.

As you’re disclosing, remember you’re doing so to get a job, not to convince the employer that you’ve been wrongly convicted. Concentrate on demonstrating why you’re the best person for the job, not what’s wrong with the criminal justice system.

Ultimately, it’s a difficult choice

As a charity Unlock believes that, ultimately, people need to accept the situation that they’re in and move forward. All of our experience of working with individuals and employers shows that a key way that people overcome the barrier of their criminal record is by taking responsibility and ownership of the past and making it clear to employers that history won’t repeat itself. That said, the reality is that there is undoubtedly people who have a criminal record who have been convicted of things they didn’t do. Ultimately, it’s a difficult (and very personal) choice.

For more information

  1. For practical self-help information – More information is available on our disclosing criminal records to employers section
  2. Questions – If you have any questions about this, you can contact our helpline.

Basic DBS checks are coming soon – find out more here

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is introducing basic criminal record checks for people in England & Wales. This replaces the service previously provided by Disclosure Scotland.

This is a significant development for both people with criminal records and employers in England & Wales, so we’ve developed a new landing page dedicated to basic DBS checks as a one-stop-shop for the latest information, advice and updates. It’s been written primarily for people with convictions, but with employers and others in mind too, covering things like:

  1. How to get a basic check
  2. Should the check be sent to the applicant or the employer?
  3. What are eCertificates & eResults?
  4. Our advice for individuals
  5. Our advice to employers

Basic checks are a type of criminal record check that can be used by employers and other organisations, for example when they are recruiting staff. They can also be used by insurance companies in validating claims. Basic checks show any ‘unspent’ criminal records (as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974). Once a conviction or caution is ‘spent’, it no longer shows on a basic check.

Why is this important?

  1. It’s been a long time coming – The introduction of basic checks has been in the business plan of the DBS since 2002 (back when it was the CRB, the Criminal Records Bureau).
  2. It’s highly likely to mean an overall increase in criminal record checks – The DBS is anticipating around 1.7 million basic checks in the first year. This compares to just under 1.2 million in 2015/16 when it was done by Disclosure Scotland.
  3. It means criminal record checks will be available online – The basic DBS check will be available in both paper form and online. The setting up of an online account (for both applicants and organisations) will allow access to what are referred to as “eCertificates”.
  4. It makes the type of DBS check being done even more important – Employers often refer to a role “involving a DBS check”. Up until now, reference to “a DBS check” could be taken as code for meaning a standard or enhanced check, which meant the disclosure of cautions and convictions, even once spent. Now, with the DBS doing a basic level check, it’s even more important that employers explain what type of check a specific role involves to make sure that applicants clearly understand what they need to disclose.
  5. It’ll hopefully reduce ineligible checks – We’ve been cautiously encouraging the introduction of basic checks as a key part of how to reduce the numbers of employers carrying out levels of checks (i.e. standard or enhanced checks) for roles that are not eligible for them.

What is happening and when?

From 1st September 2017, the DBS will begin processing basic criminal record check applications.

There will be a transition phase between 1st September and 31st December, where basic checks will still be available from Disclosure Scotland too. After the 31st December 2017, basic checks will no longer be available to applicants in England & Wales from Disclosure Scotland.

To start with, the basic check service from DBS will be open to a small number of large registered organisations. This will be followed by an online process for individuals, expected to be from 1st January 2018.

Disclosure Scotland will continue to process basic check applications for people in Scotland.

We’re waiting for more information from the DBS about the exact timescales, and once we have these, they’ll be on this page.

We’re expecting the DBS to publish its own online guidance on basic checks soon. Once it’s available, we’ll link to it from here.

For more information

The information in this post is likely to develop over time. For more information, and the latest details, visit our information page on basic DBS checks.

 

Does a member of your family have a criminal record? Want to know how this will affect you?

Hot off the back of today’s report by Lord Farmer setting out the importance that maintaining good family relationships plays in relation to the rehabilitation of people in prison, yesterday we published new information for the family members of people with convictions.

Unlike the other information and advice on our site, which is aimed at people who have a criminal record themselves, this new information deals specifically with issues relating to criminal records as seen through the eyes of family members of those with convictions.

For more information

  1. For practical self-help information – More information is available on our families of people with convictions section
  2. Questions – If you have any questions about this you can contact our helpline.

 

Do you want to travel to the US? Have a look at our updated information

The most popular section on our information site is our “travelling to the US” one, and our helpline receives many enquiries from people with a criminal record looking to travel to the US.

In 2015 over 4.9 million people visited the US from the UK. A significant number of these will have some form of criminal record. Many will have successfully applied for a visa whilst others will have been able to travel under the Visa Waiver Program because they didn’t need to disclose it. Some will have decided to take the risk and not disclose.

So we’ve spent quite a bit of time re-looking at the details we have on our information site on this, to make sure that we’re doing our best to clearly set out the situation and help people find answers to the questions they’ve got.

What have we done? We’ve updated our existing information with a new information page specifically for travelling to the US, and we’ve then created four separate (but linked) pages which will hopefully make it easier to find what you’re looking for:

  1. Do I need a visa?
  2. Travelling without a visa
  3. Applying for a visa
  4. Will I get a visa?

For more information

  1. For practical self-help information – More information is available on our travelling to the US section
  2. Questions – If you have any questions about this you can contact our helpline.

Moving on: What can I do about information that’s reported about my offence online?

This month, we’ve written another article for Inside Times ‘Through the Gate’ section which focuses on dealing with information that’s available about you online.

A copy of the article can be found below.

As you prepare to leave prison and start considering applying for jobs or housing, you might also have to think about the risk of an internet search revealing the details of your criminal record.

Although official criminal records are not available online, if there was any media interest in your case then it’s likely that information about you can be found from newspaper articles. We regularly hear from individuals whose employers have carried out ‘Google’ searches as a way of informally checking their criminal records. Even work colleagues and new partners will be able to find out about your past online and let’s be clear – not much printed about you in the media is going to make good reading!

What can you do about the so-called ‘Google-effect’?

In May 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that individuals should be able to request the deletion or removal of personal data published online where there was no compelling reason for it to remain. This is often referred to as ‘the right to be forgotten’. Following the ruling, Google (and other search engines) launched a system whereby individuals could request that information about them is removed from search results.

The evidence so far has shown that they will normally refuse your application all the time your conviction is unspent (under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974). That means you’ll have to wait at least a couple of years after release – for example, a 12 month prison sentence given to an adult becomes spent 4 years after the end of the full sentence.

Once spent, we would certainly recommend that you make an application to have the links removed. Even at this point, you’ll still need to outline why you believe the information about you is:

  • Irrelevant – You might want to highlight how it’s no longer necessary for you to disclose your conviction for the types of job you’re applying for; how you’re not a high profile figure and how you’re not a danger to the public. If you can, include evidence of how you’ve changed since your offence.
  • Inappropriate – This might include setting out the length of time since you were convicted; the effect it’s having on you and your family; how it affects your future job prospects and how it is generally having a disproportionate affect on your life.
  • Outdated or not in the public interest.

Other way’s of dealing with the problem

Regardless of the new system, many people with convictions continue to experience difficulties because of their convictions being printed online. This is especially so if you’ve just left prison.

One option you might want to consider is changing your name. Although this won’t get you away from your criminal record (for example, if an employer did a criminal record check then it would still appear if it’s unspent), it does prevent people from getting access to information that they wouldn’t otherwise be allowed to.

Another option to think about is trying to flood the internet with alternative, positive stories about yourself to ‘force down’ the reports that relate to your conviction. This could be something as simple as posting comments about articles you’ve read on different websites or being a bit more ambitious and starting a ‘blog on a topic that you’ve got an interest in.

What is Unlock doing to help?

Even once it’s spent, success in removing links to the information isn’t guaranteed. We’ve seen many cases refused. So we’ve been working with a law-firm specialising in this field to advise people with spent convictions on a ‘no win no fee’ basis. We’re taking a small number of claims forward, and the aim is to get a presumption that once it’s spent, it should be removed.

In the meantime, we’re working with employers to make sure that they don’t rely on information that can be found online, and instead encouraging them to have recruitment practices which give applicants the opportunity to explain their past in their own words.

 

Monthly summary – July 2017

Welcome to our monthly summary for July 2017.

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 just 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 the updates that we’ve made recently to the theInformationHub. 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 link to threads on our online forum where you can discuss these with other people with convictions. 

About criminal records

  • Disregards and pardons: Removing historical convictions and cautions for consensual gay sex from criminal records – We’ve updated this page to provide figures from the Home Office giving a breakdown of the number of disregard applications received since 2012 and details of the numbers which have been accepted or rejected.
  • Barring (Children’s Barred List and Adult’s Barred List) – Following an increased number of calls to our helpline from people who are being considered for barring by the DBS, we’ve reviewed this page to make it easier to navigate.
  • DNA retention – We’ve added some new links on this page to the National Police Chief’s Council guidance on the deletion of records from National Police systems.
  • Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBO) – As a result of a Freedom of Information request made by the BBC, we’ve set out details of the number of CBO’s currently in place and which police forces they were issued by.

Work and volunteering

  • Are there advantages of disclosing your criminal record to your jobcentre/work programme provider – We’ve written an advice post which sets out the advantages of voluntarily disclosing details of your convictions if you’re not asked to do so.

Motoring offences

  • Hiring a car if you have a criminal record – We’ve produced a new, short information page on how a criminal record can impact on your ability to hire a car.

Criminal Justice System

  • Complaints about probation – As a result of changes to the Probation Service in 2015, we’ve incorporated some additional information to this page on making a complaint about a Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC).

Quick links

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 – A long criminal record doesn’t have to stop you succeeding – My experience of working with young and vulnerable adults– ‘What can I say about my childhood – it wasn’t great to be honest. I was the middle of three kids, all born within 4 years of each other and my mum was a typical caring woman whilst my dad was a real disciplinarian (probably due to his having served in the army for many years) …..’

Struggles and stigma – Life after receiving a conviction for a sexual offence– ‘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 are 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 …..’

Success – Banking on a new start – advice on opening a bank account with a criminal record– ‘For anybody that’s ever been to prison, you’ll know that all the time you’re there you lose all sense of personal identity and become a number for the duration of the stay …..’

Discussions on our online forum

Below are links to recent posts to 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.

Welcome to theForum – Let’s be sociable! Introduce yourself – We’re really keen that our forum becomes an active online community. So whether you’ve only just joined or been a member for years, we’d like to know a bit more about you and what you’d like to get from the forum. Tell us about yourself.

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.

Summer 2017 Newsletter – What we’ve been up to

We’ve published our summer newsletter which provides an update on the news from Unlock in the last 3 months. A copy of the newsletter is available to download.

Some examples of people we’ve helped

We’ve written up some examples of people with convictions we’ve helped to overcome some of the barriers put in their way due to their criminal record. Read the case studies in full here.

Blog – Eastenders, DBS checks and decriminalised offences

Christopher Stacey’s latest blog looks at whether the supermarket in Eastenders broke the law in doing a DBS check and why a historic decriminalised offence was disclosed on his certificate.

New research about the impact of criminal records on women trying to exit prostitution

The charity nia, has just published its report ‘I’m no criminal’ which examines the impact of prostitution-specific criminal records on women seeking to exit prostitution. Read Christopher Stacey’s comments here.

Are there any advantages to disclosing your criminal record to your jobcentre/work programme advisor?

If you’re not asked about your criminal record then, legally, you don’t need to disclose any unspent convictions, but in our opinion, withholding this information means that your advisor may not be able to provide you with the best information, advice or service.

So, are there any other benefits in choosing to disclose?

The role of the jobcentre advisor is to support you back into employment. They will often have a good idea of the recruitment practices of local companies and how ‘friendly’ they are towards people with convictions. If your advisor has a good understanding of any potential problems you face in getting back into work (for example, an unspent conviction), they’ll be better placed to help you. You could even use this as an opportunity to test out your disclosure technique on your advisor.

Some companies have blanket bans on recruiting people with any unspent convictions, some ban people with certain types of offence. Failing the criminal record criteria isn’t going to secure you a job with these types of employers but, if you’ve not disclosed your conviction to your advisor and they believe you’ve got the relevant skills and experience, they’ll expect you to apply.

What if your conviction is spent?

For many jobs, you don’t need to disclose spent convictions. If these are the jobs you’re focusing on, you could choose to make that clear to your advisor in terms of your job search.

Some jobs, for example a cleaner in a school, are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and mean that you’ll need to disclose both spent and unspent convictions (unless it’s filtered). If you’re not comfortable in disclosing a spent conviction then, providing they know about it, your advisor can steer you away from applying for these types of jobs.

What else should you think about?

By voluntarily disclosing your criminal record, you’re placing a lot of trust in your advisor. However all advisors are bound by job centre confidentiality policies and the Data Protection Act.

Most advisors will welcome your honesty – it will make their job much easier and will hopefully help you both to establish a good working relationship.

If you choose to disclose your spent conviction and you’re only applying for jobs covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, make sure that your advisor knows that it’s for information purposes only and that there are only certain jobs where you’d need to disclose it.

For more information

  1. For practical self-help information – More information is available on our support getting into work, looking for (and keeping) employment and volunteering and disclosing to employers sections.
  2. Questions – If you have any questions about this, you can contact our helpline.

Will my criminal record cause me a problem if I want to hire a car?

With the summer fast approaching, you may be thinking about hiring a car to head off on your holidays. But, how likely are you to run into problems if you have a criminal record? We’ve just produced some new information which will hopefully clarify this for you.

Car rental companies in the UK are legally required to check your full driving licence before they will allow you to hire a car. So if you have an unspent motoring conviction it’s likely that you’ll find it more difficult to hire a car from one of the larger car hire companies.

It’s much better news if you have an unspent non-motoring conviction as very few hire companies will ask about these. However, we’d always recommend that you check the small print of any hire agreement or insurance documentation.

More information

  1. For practical information – More information on hiring a car if you have a criminal record, motoring offences and insurance
  2. To discuss this with others – Read and share your experience on our online forum
  3. Questions – If you have any questions about this you can contact our helpline.

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