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For people with criminal records
For people with criminal records

Type: Unlock General

The Longford Prize 2016

What a night!

Attending the annual Longford Lecture at Church House, Westminster last night, it was a huge privilege to receive the Longford Prize 2016 on behalf of Unlock together with my Co-director Christopher Stacey.

The Longford Prize ‘recognises the contribution of an individual, group or organisation working in the area of penal or social reform in showing outstanding qualities of humanity, courage, persistence, originality and commitment to diversity’. Unlock was joint winner with The Shakespeare Trilogy.

Presenting the award Lord Longford’s daughter Rachel Billington was joined on stage by Kevin McGrath of the McGrath Charitable Trust who generously donated prize money of £5,000, shared between the winners. The award itself had been commissioned by the Trust from one of is former Longford Scholars, Ben Levings, now forging a successful career as a carver and stonemason, who designed the award. Rachel commented, “Made of stainless steel, glass and Yew, the detail on the statuette represents the lock indicator found on UK prison doors. The award represents, Ben says, the door unlocked, transparency and reflection – some of the things that he felt are celebrated by the Longford Prize and the work of those who receive it.”

It has pride of place in our office today.

award-3

What further added to the joy of the occasion was the first person to come and offer his congratulations. None other than Bob Turney, who was one of Unlock’s founders back in 1999 and a patron of the Longford Trust. Bob beamed as he shook our hands saying “I am so proud! It’s fantastic to see Unlock win this prize. You’re doing a brilliant job!” Having re-established contact with him he’s keen to be kept up-to-date with our work.

A good friend to Unlock over the years, former Director of the Prison Reform Trust, Juliet Lyon was also honoured when she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for her commitment to those on the margins of society. A well-deserved recognition.

PRT’s new Director, Peter Dawson, too offered his congratulations saying that one of the things he really admired about Unlock was that we were willing to do “the boring stuff” – “stuff that nobody else wants to do but what is SO important”. He summed it up pretty well!

 

By Julie Harmsworth, Co-director

Are you disqualified from acting as a charity trustee or senior manager?

The Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 means people with unspent convictions for specific offences, as well as those on the sex offenders register are automatically disqualified from acting as trustees or senior managers.

As a charity that exists to support the efforts of people with convictions in moving on positively with their lives, and as an organisation which itself seeks to recruit trustees and leaders who themselves have convictions, we are concerned about the impact of this. Ultimately, we think that the changes brought in by the 2016 Act are disproportionate and an ineffective way of protecting charities.

You are likely to be affected if you:

  • have unspent convictions for dishonesty-related offences, deception-related offences, money laundering or terrorism-related offences

or

  • are on the sex offenders register.

We’re gathering evidence from people who are impacted by the disqualification rules.

What we need from you

If you have are automatically disqualified from acting as a trustee or senior manager because of your criminal record and have been (or will be) affected by the rules in some way, contact us at policy@unlock.org.uk using the subject header ‘Call for evidence: CC disqualification’.

Please include:

  • Your name
  • Contact details (email and telephone) and how you’d like us to contact you
  • Details of your criminal record
  • Information on how the disqualification rules have affected you – did you have to give up a position you were already in? Have you applied for a position but been turned down by the charity?
  • Have you applied to the Charity Commission for a waiver – and were you successful?
  • What you think should change
  • Whetther you would be willing to take part in publicising this issue (this is for our reference, we won’t share your details with others)

Any information you provide will be kept in line with our confidentiality policy. Any personal information provided to us will not be shared externally without your consent.

Find out more about how we handle your data.

New briefing on the Charities Act 2016 – disqualification of senior managers and trustees with convictions

In 2017 we expect the new disqualification powers under the 2016 Charities Act to start.

These powers allow the Charity Commission to disqualify people (i.e. prevent them) from holding senior management positions, or from being a trustee of a charity, if they have certain criminal convictions – and a new waiver application process.

Unlock, Clinks and the Prison Reform Trust pushed for changes to the legislation, and we continue to work with Charity Commission and government on how these new powers might impact people with convictions, the charity sector, their current and future employees and trustees.

Both voluntary organisations and people with convictions need to understand the impact of this legislation; that’s why we will be producing guidance in early 2017. This new briefing, published jointly with Clinks, summarises what the disqualification is, some of the issues we have with it, and what we’re doing to support both people with convictions and the charity sector.

We’re keen to hear from people who will be personally affected by the changes when they come into force. Take a look at our questions to help understand if you’re affected, and how to get in touch with us.

You can find out more details about the work that we’re doing on this issue on our dedicated policy page.

Two national awards for our peer-run helpline

We’re delighted to announce that our helpline picked up two awards at the national ‘Helpline Awards 2016’ held in London last Friday (4th November).

We came 2nd in the ‘Helpline Impact’ award category, and Debbie Sadler, our advice manager, came 3rd in the ‘Employee of the Year’ category.

two-awards
Debbie Sadler (Advice Manager) and Christopher Stacey (Co-director) collecting the awards

Commenting on her award, Debbie said:

“There’s such a strong field of amazing helplines and employees, so I’m incredibly proud to be awarded 3rd place as helpline employee of the year. It’s great to be involved in Unlock – it’s such a fantastic organisation. To be recognised in this way for doing a job that I feel so passionate about is the icing on the cake.”

The award for impact recognises the significant increase in numbers of people contacting us directly and using our websites for information/advice. It also reinforces the efforts the team have gone to in the last couple of years to underpin the helpline by following up with people and tracking outcomes that follow from our support, so that we can demonstrate the impact the helpline has.

These awards show the unique role that our helpline plays in providing information, advice and support to people with convictions. The awards build on findings of an independent evaluation that we published earlier this year. We wouldn’t have won either of these awards without the small but fantastic team of staff and volunteers that we have.

Finally, we’re grateful to the charitable trusts and individual donations that help us to run the helpline as an independent, non-government source of support to people who are looking for confidential advice in overcoming the effects of their criminal convictions.

More information

Monthly update – October 2016

We’ve just published our update for October 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This months update includes:

  1. Some updated information on spent and unspent convictions and employment law
  2. Details of some legal remedies which may be available to anybody affected as a result of having their spent convictions published online
  3. A personal view of becoming a teacher with a criminal record
  4. Details of a trial we’ll be running during November to extend the opening hours of the helpline each Wednesday until 7pm.

 

The full update 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. other news and developments that might be of interest to individuals with a criminal record

 

Read the October 2016 update in full

 

Best wishes,

Unlock

 

Notes

  • All previous updates can be found in full in the ‘Latest updates‘ section of our Information Hub
  • For more self-help information, please visit unlock.devchd.com/information-and-advice/
  • If you have any questions about this information, please contact our helpline
  • If you’ve been forwarded this email, you can sign up to receive these updates directly by clicking here and selecting to receive ‘News/updates for people with convictions’
  • If you have found this information useful, please leave us your feedback and/or consider making a donation.

 

Westminster Hall debate about DBS performance

Yesterday there was a Westminster Hall debate, brought by Helen Hayes MP, about the performance of the Disclosure and Barring Service.

In particular, Ms Hayes highlights:

There are harder cases, including my constituent who is an ex-offender and has found it very difficult to find work. In May 2016, he was offered a job that he was keen to take up. He contacted me about the delay in processing his enhanced DBS check. Despite my office contacting the DBS a number of times and receiving assurances on three occasions that the case had been escalated, my constituent is still waiting for his DBS check more than five months later and the rare offer of employment has been withdrawn. When people are doing their very best to do the right thing and to turn a corner in their lives and move on, it cannot be right that the Government are placing an unnecessary barrier in their way.

You can read the debate in full.

Justice Committee inquiry into youth criminal records – have your say!

We’re pleased that, after joint efforts by Unlock and the Standing Committee for Youth Justice (SCYJ), the Justice Committee has launched a short inquiry into the system governing the disclosure of criminal records in relation to offences committed by people when under 18 years old. Given the Committee’s recent inquiry into young adults in the criminal justice system, the Committee also welcomes views on whether the regime governing disclosure of such criminal records should be extended to apply to records of offences committed by older people, for example up to the ages of 21 or 25.

The inquiry is an opportunity to build on the work we’ve been doing with the SCYJ as part of the ‘Growing up, moving on’ campaign, which was launched in April 2016.

It’s also a good opportunity to explain the disproportionate impact that criminal records have on people that obtain them in early adulthood, and to make the case for this to be reflected in the way disclosure laws operate.

In particular, the Committee welcomes written submissions on:

  • The appropriateness and effectiveness of the statutory framework applying to the disclosure to employers and others of criminal records relating to offences committed by people when under 18 years old
  • whether that framework and the way in which it is operated in practice strike an appropriate balance between protection of employers and the public, on the one hand, and the rehabilitation of people committing offences when young, on the other hand
  • the effects in respect of the disclosure of such records of changes made in 2013 to the filtering of offences from criminal records checks and in 2014 to rehabilitation periods.

The deadline is Friday 11th November 2016.

What can you do?

It’s important that as many individuals and organisations put forward their evidence, comments and experiences on the disclosure of youth criminal records. This is the best way to help the Committee to understand the extent of the issue.

In particular, we think it’s extremely important that the inquiry receives evidence from those people with personal experience of having a criminal record from when they were young. For those who find that it continues to hold them back, or created a significant barrier to them moving on, these personal stories can help MP’s on the Committee to understand the problem and identify what needs to change.

We’re in the process of putting together a response, so if you’re planning to submit evidence to the Committee, please let us know and send us copies of the evidence you submit. Email policy@unlock.org.uk.

 

Further information

Details about the Justice Committee inquiry are on the Parliament website.

Details about our policy work on rehabilitation periods.

Details about our policy work on filtering.

Look what we’ve done! 

You can see all we achieved in 2015/16 in our annual report.

Why we are here

The world is increasingly complex for anyone with a conviction. It can leave many people hopeless and despairing of ever re-building their lives. The law around disclosure is complicated and inconsistent. There are fewer and fewer sources of advice. Use – often unfair use – of the DBS is snowballing. It gets harder to maintain personal privacy in an online world. Unlock gives people practical help to deal with the everyday challenges of living with a criminal record. We also lobby for fairer systems – changes to make a big difference to many people.

What did we achieve in 2015/16?

In 2015/16 our staff of five:

  • campaigned for fairer job-recruitment practices
    • we produced helpful guidance
    • we queried the use of badly-worded forms
    • we challenged employers who used  the wrong level of criminal records check
  • gave information to hundreds of thousands of people via our Information Hub (nearly 900,000 unique visits).
  • engaged with thousands more people with our Disclosure Calculator, Forum and e-magazine (theRecord).
  • helped more than 4000 individuals to get the information and advice they needed via our Helpline.
  • trained 162 professional practitioners – helping them to help others understand about criminal records.
  • gave face-to-face information to dozens of people in prison.
  • supported 14 volunteers (including serving prisoners) to become Helpline Assistants and gain valuable work experience.

All this has made a profound difference to individual lives.

“When I first got in touch with Unlock I was very low, but they gave me the emotional support and encouragement I needed. I had felt very isolated but knowing that someone else was there who knew what I was going through kept me going. I don’t know if I’d be here today if it wasn’t for Unlock.”

“… the information I’ve received off Unlock has been invaluable and has gone a long way to making me feel like my life isn’t ruined! The helpline is amazing; always well-staffed and every single person I spoke to was informative, helpful, reassuring and most importantly, non- judgemental.”

2016/17
This year is even busier! With the need for our work ever-expanding, we estimate over 6000 people will use our Helpline and we’ll receive over one million visits to our online resources.

We would like to thank you anyone who has helped us in the last year, and if you would like to continue help us and remain independent we are grateful for any donations.

Trial for November – the helpline will be open until 7pm each Wednesday

Our helpline is the forefront of the direct support that we provide, and since we launched it in 2008 it’s only ever been open during normal office working hours.

As part of providing information, advice and support for people with convictions, we’re always looking at ways to improve and make it more accessible.

We have decided to run a trial of extending the opening hours of the helpline.

So for November, we’re going to keep the helpline open until 7pm each Wednesday. Given the way the days fall in November, it means for 5 weeks we’ll be open on Wednesday until 7pm. The dates n November this will apply to are the 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th.

As a team, we’re going to split the extra working hours between us and crucially, we’ll keep a track on the number of calls we receive and try and find out why people have called us at that time. That should give us a good sense of whether there’s any demand in the future and what benefits it brings to those that call during those times.

Help us raise awareness

It’s now important for us to raise awareness of this trial so that people know they can call us on these dates after our normal 4pm closing time. That’s why we’ve written this post, and we’ll be tweeting using the hastag #unlockhelpline – help us spread awareness as best as you can.

After the trial, we’ll reflect and post an update on here to let you know how it went and what we plan to do next.

We want to make sure that our website is as helpful as possible.

Letting us know if you easily found what you were looking for or not enables us to continue to improve our service for you and others.

Was it easy to find what you were looking for?

Thank you for your feedback.

12.5 million people have criminal records in the UK. We need your help to help them.

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