Fair Access to Employment
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VIEW ALL -- 31/07/2020in Eligibility, Employment discrimination, Ineligible checks, Latest, News & Media, News on policy issues, Stop ineligible checks
New report highlights potentially hundreds of unlawful criminal record checks by employers each year
Unlock, a national advocacy charity for people with criminal records, has today published Checked out?, a report on so-called ‘ineligible’ criminal record checks, submitted by employers and processed by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 allows some criminal records to become spent after a crime-free ... - 09/07/2020in Childhood criminal records, Employment discrimination, Latest, News & Media, Policy successes, Press releases and comment, Way DBS work, What DBS disclose
Government responds to Supreme Court ruling with plans to change criminal records disclosure regime
Responding to government plans to change the criminal records disclosure regime to address the Supreme Court judgment in the case of P and Others v SSHD & SSJ (the ruling on the filtering system and the disclosure of criminal records), Christopher Stacey, co-director of Unlock, said: “We welcome the government’s intention to fully comply ...
Our website for employers
There's a talent pool of over 11 million people that you might be overlooking. People with criminal records make good employees. Make sure you're not missing out. Recruit! is a website from Unlock that supports UK employers to recruit people with convictions and helps them to deal with criminal records fairly.
Overview of project
Find out more about the work that we're doing to support employers to recruit people with convictions and challenge employment discrimination.
Our approach to employers
This page explains our approach to employers as part of this project.
Supporting & challenging employers
We are working with employers to develop and implement fair and inclusive policies and procedures that support the recruitment of people with convictions.
Stopping unlawful checks
We are challenging employers who breach the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act by carrying out unlawful criminal record checks or unlawfully take into account spent convictions.
Pushing for improvements to how the DBS works
We are working to ensure criminal record checks operate fairly for people with convictions, and are tightened so that employers are unable to carry out ineligible checks.
Project contact
This project is overseen by Christopher Stacey, Co-director of Unlock. Click above to find contact details.
Latest news
Read the latest news relating to our fair access to employment project.
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Ban the Box
Ban the Box is a campaign that calls on employers to remove the 'tick box' from application forms. Find out more, and how it can help you as an employer.
Send us bad practice
We’re on the look-out for evidence of bad practice by employers with regards to the policies and processes that they have in place for job applicants with criminal records.
Supported by
We're grateful to the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for their support of this work