We’ve published a summary of the recent updates we’ve made to our Information Hub in April.
You can read the summary on our Hub here.
Type: Unlock General
New project – Fair Access to Employment
We are delighted to report that Unlock has been awarded a three-year grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation that will enable us to deliver a programme of work that will challenge the discrimination faced by people with convictions in getting employment.
This marks the beginning of a significant area of work for Unlock, enabling us to focus on addressing a number of key issues that combine to unfairly exclude so many people from moving on in their lives.
Building on our track-record of working with Government, employers and other sectors, our approach will aim to ‘support and challenge’. It will also play to Unlock’s strengths as an independent advocacy charity in holding organisations to account and speaking truth to power.
Commenting on the news, Christopher Stacey, Co-Director at Unlock, said “We know from people with convictions that finding and keeping employment is the biggest problem they face as a result of having a criminal record – often many years after they were convicted. This project will enable us to actively challeng some of the unfair treatment that people with convictions face, as well as supporting employers and others involved in recruitment processes, to make sure that people with convictions are treated fairly.”
“Our focus will be to make sure that employers understand that the people we’re encouraging them to open their doors to are those that could be potentially fantastic employees, yet at the moment they’re missing out on these people because of the policies and practices that they have in place. We’ll also be doing a lot of work to improve and challenge processes used by employers to carry out criminal record checks, such as the Disclosure & Barring Service and Disclosure Scotland.”
More details about the project are available at unlock.devchd.com/policy-issues/employment-discrimination
Sign up to receive project updates here (selecting to receive ‘news on our Project – Fair Access to Employment’)
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Notes to editors
- Press/media
- Unlock is an independent award-winning charity, providing trusted information, advice and support for people with criminal convictions. Our staff and volunteers combine professional training with personal experience to help others overcome the long-term problems that having a conviction can bring. Our knowledge and insight helps us to work with government, employers and others, to change policies and practices to create a fairer and more inclusive society so that people with convictions can move on in their lives. Our website is unlock.devchd.com.
- Esmée Fairbairn Foundation aims to improve the quality of life for people and communities throughout the UK both now and in the future. They do this by funding the charitable work of organisations with the ideas and ability to achieve positive change. The Foundation is one of the largest independent grant-makers in the UK. They make grants of £30 – £35 million annually towards a wide range of work within the arts, education and learning, the environment and social change. They also operate a £26 million Finance Fund which invests in organisations that aim to deliver both a financial return and a social benefit. Their website is www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk.
Latest updates to our self-help information site – March 2015
We’ve published a summary of the recent updates we’ve made to our Information Hub in March.
You can read the summary on our Hub here.
Read the latest posts and stories on theRecord – January to March 2015
We’ve published a roundup of recent articles that have been posted on theRec0rd, our online magazine for and by people with convictions.
Government response to disqualification of trustees
Today the Government has responded to the Joint Committee report on changes to the disqualification of trustee – their response can be downloaded here.
Looking beyond re-offending: criminal records and poverty
Christopher Stacey argues that rehabilitation for the convicted must mean proper access to opportunities.
To read his recently published article for Criminal Justice Matters , please continue
Financial Inclusion Commission report published
Today, the Financial Inclusion Commission has published it’s report.
Unlock provided oral evidence and written evidence to the commission.
The report makes a series of recommendations, including on banking, insurance, savings and credit.
The report highlights how:
- Nearly two million adults in the UK do not have a bank account
- Financially excluded people pay a ‘poverty premium’ of £1,300 each year
- An estimated two million people took out a high-cost loan in 2012 as they were unable to access any other form of credit
- Up to 8.8 million people are over-indebted
- 13 million people do not have enough savings to support them for a month if they experienced a 25% cut in income
- 50% of households in the bottom half of the income distribution to not have home contents insurance
- 15 million people report one of more signs of financial distress
- Having the whole population of the UK making full use of the world’s most advanced financial services systems makes economic as well as social policy sense.
Our contribution to this work is to ensure that the specific issues surrounding criminal records are considered. In particular, our evidence focused on the way that criminal records are treated by insurance companies, as well as the difficulties people can face opening a bank account.
Finally, ‘enforced subject access’ becomes a criminal offence
From tomorrow, 10th March 2015, a practice known as ‘enforced subject access’ becomes a criminal offence, as section 56 of the Data Protection Act comes into force.
As we originally reported in an update to our Information Hub in June 2014, this is an important step in making sure that employers and organisations don’t take part in the unsavoury practice of requiring individuals to provide a copy of their police records through their rights of subject access.
Today, to help people understand what this means in practice, we’re:
- Publishing brief guidance for individuals on our self-help Information Hub
- Providing a news update for employers, as well as brief guidance for employers and organisations
- Highlighting the technical guidance that the Information Commissioners Office has published.
Christopher Stacey, Co-Director of Unlock, said; “Subject access is an important right of individuals to be able to obtain copies of their own criminal record. However, ever since the Data Protection Act came into force, there has been clear evidence of unsavoury practices where employers and others have abused this right by requiring individuals to use this route as a way of checking an individuals’ criminal record, which is a clear abuse, and bypasses the official disclosure regimes which have safeguards built into them.”
“The criminal offence that comes into force will finally give the Information Commissioners Office the tools that they need to deal with the problem. We’ll be monitoring the practices of employers and organisations, and where appropriate, we’ll be challenging those organisations. We also look forward to working closely with the ICO, so that this type of practice can be stamped out. We’re encouraging anybody who knows of practices like this to get in touch with our helpline”.
Employers – New criminal offence; make sure you check your recruitment processes!
Tomorrow, the 10th March 2015, a new criminal offence of ‘enforced subject access’ comes into force, which employers and organisations need to be aware of.
This news has implications on the recruitment processes of employers and organisations. In particular, it has an impact on those that ask individuals to obtain a copy of their police record, for example as part of the recruitment process.
To help to understand the practical implications of this news, and what employers should do, we’ve produced a simple guidance leaflet which explains this in more detail.
We have also produced guidance for individuals with convictions. A link to this, and more background information, can be found in our main news piece.
If you have any questions about this as an employer, you can contact us for advice.
Latest updates to our self-help information site – February 2015
We’ve published a summary of the recent updates we’ve made to our Information Hub in February.
You can read the summary on our Hub here.
