Newsletter
Summer 2019
- Introduction from Chris
- News at Unlock
- Policy & campaign work
- Project: Fair access to employment
- Information updates
- Personal stories
- Support for individuals
- Support for providers & practitioners
Introduction from Chris
Welcome to our summer 2019 newsletter, where we round up what we’ve been up to in the last couple of months.
Following on from the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year about the criminal records regime, we continue to work hard and hope that the government will soon announce its next steps.
We've also continued to work on a number of important areas, and we've got a couple of publications being published in the next few weeks so do keep an eye on our website and social media for details of these.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading in this newsletter more about what we’ve been up to – if you’re interested in getting involved, find out how you can help us.
Best wishes,
Christopher Stacey | Co-director
News at Unlock
Volunteers Week 2019 – A shout out to Unlock’s volunteers - Volunteer Week is celebrated between 1st and 7th June every year. It’s a week in which the UK celebrates volunteers and says thank you to them for the contribution they make. The week hopefully also raises awareness of the benefits of volunteering. Volunteers are essential to the delivery of the support Unlock provides, and the skills and passion of our volunteers means that a small organisation like ours can make a significant impact given our size. Unlock’s advice manager, Debbie Sadler, said: "One of the most rewarding parts of my job is having the privilege of working with an amazingly diverse and talented group of people. I spend my time ensuring that our volunteers are happy, well-trained and feel supported in their roles whilst developing skills that will be useful to them outside of Unlock – hopefully they’d agree that’s what I do." In 2018/19, our office-based volunteers gave 4,229 hours of their time to provide information, advice and support to people with convictions; they responded to 70% of the enquiries that our helpline received. Our team of home-based volunteers have carried out a wide range of research and content writing tasks. Their ability to convey information in a clear, concise and logical way combined with their IT and digital skills has been invaluable to us. Read more.
Volunteering opportunities at Unlock - We're looking to add to our amazing team of volunteers, particularly in supporting the running of our highly-regarded confidential peer-run helpline. Find out more about the vacancies, and how you can apply.
Work with Prison Reform Trust on barriers to employment for people with different conviction - Unlock and Prison Reform Trust are investigating employers attitudes to people with different conviction types. We know that people with a sexual offence or arson convictions find it more difficult to secure employment. While some convictions may make someone unsuitable for certain jobs, there are many more jobs where conviction type is irrelevant. We will work with employers and others to find out what measures could increase opportunities for employment for different groups, and test the idea that stigma can be reduced by raising awareness of the facts. Find out more here.
Policy & campaign work
Latest updates about our policy and campaign work
Appointing a trustee with a criminal record: reflections of a successful applicant and charity - We've published the blog on the lived experience of a charity working within the criminal justice system that was recently successful in getting a waiver from the Charity Commission for a Trustee applicant that was “disqualified” because of their criminal record. The blog has been written by the charity itself (including input from the charity’s chief executive and the individual that needed to get a waiver to become a trustee), but the details have been anonymised where necessary to protect the identity of the individual and charity concerned. Read the blog here.
University admissions: what’s changed? - Following UCAS’ decision to remove the question about criminal convictions for all applicants, universities had to consider if, when and how to collect this information. UCAS still ask applicants to regulated programmes – for example medicine or teaching – to declare criminal records. Having worked with UCAS and universities for some time, we felt this was an important opportunity to support universities to develop fair admissions policies for applicants with previous criminal records. This blog details the work we have been doing in the last year or so, what we have learned so far and our plans for future work in this area, and has been written to coincide with the recent UCAS Admissions conference, at which our co-director Christopher Stacey appeared. Read the blog here.
Report backs tax breaks to employers that recruit people with convictions - Our co-director, Christopher Stacey, commented on a report published by Onward, Unlocking a Better life, which recommended that government should deliver on the manifesto commitment to give employers a national insurance tax break to employers who recruit people with convictions. Read more.
Fair access to employment
News relating to our work to support employers and challenge discrimination
Bloomsbury Institute breaks new ground with ban the box for staff and students - Bloomsbury Institute in London is the first higher education provider in the UK to adopt Ban the Box principles for staff as well as students, a move that could encourage other universities to follow suit. Read more.
Asking for self-disclosure during recruitment – is it necessary? Asking applicants to self-disclose criminal records information is seen by most employers as part and parcel of the standard recruitment process. Whether it’s a tick box on the application form or part of pre-employment checks, asking has been the norm. The advent of the GDPR means employers need be clear about the purpose of self-disclosure – is it necessary? This post reflects on the role of self-disclosure in recruitment and sets out three principles for best practice.
Using a spent conviction to revoke an employment offer breaches data subject rights - This post provides details of a case that we dealt with recently which involved us making a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office. Read more about the case.
Case study – Professional bodies should ensure any questions they ask about criminal records are clear and not misleading - Our helpline was recently contacted by an individual who wanted to highlight a question being asked about criminal records by a professional body on their application form. The individual believed that this question was potentially very misleading as it asked: “Have you ever received a caution or conviction for a criminal record?” Read more about what we did.
Information updates
Below is a summary of the updates we’ve made recently to our self-help information site. The full details of each month's updates can be found by following the links for each month.
In April, we published advice on what employers see when they use the DBS Update Service, and we updated our data protection guidance to include a section on taking a case to court if you believe that an employer or other organisation has breached your information rights.
In May, we published advice on asking organisations to delete your criminal record data and we updated our information on travelling to China.
In June, we published new information to help people wanting to travel to the US by listing 80 of the most common UK offences and identifying those which, in our opinion, would be deemed to be a Crime Involving Moral Turpitude and therefore meaning you need to apply for a visa before travel.
Personal stories
Below are links to some of the new posts to our magazine, theRecord. You can comment on them by following the links. Interested in contributing? Email therecord@unlock.org.uk.
Successes
Struggles and stigma
Support for individuals
Latest news about the support that we provide to people with convictions.
In the last 3 months:
- There were over 292,000 visits our information site
- We received over 2,000 enquiries to our confidential, peer-run helpline
- Our disclosure calculator had over 10,000 uses
- Our online forum had 137 new posts.
Some examples of people we’ve helped - We've published case studies of some of the people we've helped in the last couple of months. These are:
- Katie – Understanding my rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) helped me keep my job
- Hilary – Having the confidence to challenge a Public Protection Officer’s decision enabled my son to find employment
- Gerry – Excessive interventions by the police and probation can affect an individual’s ability to move on with their lives
- Alan – Successfully making representation to be placed on a council’s housing register
Support for providers & practitioners
News relating to the support we provide to service providers and practitioners
New dates - Book now for our criminal record disclosure training on 24th September and 26th November - Our popular ‘criminal record disclosure’ training workshops continue. Book online here.
Help us!
- If you like receiving these emails, please consider making a donation to Unlock so that we can carry on being an independent charity for people with convictions.
Notes about this email
- This email provides an update of the news at Unlock in the last few months. It's sent to everyone who's on our public mailing list, and we hope it's a useful way of keeping up to date with what we've been up to.
- Looking for advice due to your criminal record? Please contact our helpline.
- General questions about this email? Please email admin@unlock.org.uk or call 01622 230705.
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