Unlock, the leading charity for people with convictions, has today published new research which highlights major problems in the way that insurance companies deal with the criminal records of people applying for home insurance. The charity looked at the approaches of 42 high-street insurance companies and found that two-thirds failed to make it clear to

An article in the Independent reports that families of offenders face higher premiums and even flat refusals when it comes to getting insurance. The article quotes a report by Unlock, which revealed that 37 per cent of the calls made to its helpline related to insurance. It also revealed a startling issue; that many families of prisoners and

As part of the House of Lords Select Committee on Financial Exclusion, we have submitted written evidence, focusing on financial exclusion issues where a criminal record per se causes a problem. Download: Unlock’s written evidence to House of Lords Select Committee on Financial Exclusion You can find out more about the Select Committee on the Parliament

Last month, the Financial Conduct Authority published an occasional paper on access to financial services. I fed into this work, particularly focusing on the issues people with convictions face in accessing insurance. So it was good to see the authors include an especially challenging section of the report focused at a lack of buy-in to

Back in late January, we took part in a briefing event for the insurance industry on criminal convictions and insurance. In our day-to-day work, and especially through our helpline, we regularly come across examples of poor practice by insurers. Whether it’s a poor understanding of when convictions become spent, insurers insisting that spent convictions need

              Mainstream home and car insurers have a blanket ban on people with unspent convictions – these kinds of policies are unfair and sometimes illegal To many of the 1.2 million people convicted in court each year, it comes as a surprise to find that if they try to

We’re pleased to see that the Association of British Insurers has produced guidance for insurers which clarifies the position for insurers after section 56 of the Data Protection Act 1998 came into force earlier this year. For far too long now, some insurance companies have relied on dubious practices when dealing with claims, relying on

RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) have published an article in their ‘Outside In’ magazine, which explains the work that Unlock did with RBS to open up access to basic bank accounts for people in prison before release. You can read the article here.

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

The letter below was originally published in the July 2014 edition of Financial World. It can be downloaded here. Unlock the system I read with interest the June FW article by Denis MacShane on prisoner access to financial services. Sadly, his experiences of bank accounts and insurance are not uncommon. Opening even a basic bank account provides access to

Unlock has now come to the end of a landmark 9-year project in developing access to basic bank accounts for people in prison before release. We are pleased to publish a report on this work. It reflects on the progress that we have made, and sets out a number of recommendations to the National Offender Management

Denis MacShane, former MP and former prisoner, argues in a feature for this months’ Financial World magazine, that the financial services industry needs to do more to help discharged prisoners reintegrate into society. Thanks to Financial World, you can download the specific article here. The two main issues that Denis raises are that of bank accounts and