New report highlights impact of criminal records on women

While women overall are less likely to have a criminal record than men, those women who do are more likely to face barriers when accessing employment according to the report, “Angels or witches”: The impact of criminal records on women, published today by Unlock.  Read the full report Read a summary The report, which brings together the voices and experiences of women

Co-director Chris to move on from Unlock and join Clinks

After 12 years at Unlock, and over seven years as co-director, Christopher Stacey will be leaving the charity at the end of January to take up the role of Director of Support and Development at Clinks.   Mark Rowe, Chair of the board of trustees, said:  “Chris has been a terrific colleague and asset to Unlock, and has made

Pardons for historic gay convictions: a call for evidence

It is quite rare for any government to admit to some historic wrongdoing, and even more so to take some concrete efforts to tackle it. When the government announced that it would be creating a process for gay and bisexual men to have their certain convictions removed from the record, this was a unique opportunity

Unlock and Nottinghamshire Youth Justice Service collaborate on resource for young people with convictions

We are pleased to publish a new resource we’ve created in collaboration with Nottinghamshire Youth Justice Service. The booklet, produced for young people and the professionals supporting them, is designed to help a young person understand when they need to disclose their convictions, and how to do so. Download the booklet Christopher Stacey, Co-director of
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Unlock wins ‘outstanding national organisation’ at CJA Awards

Last night we were delighted to win the award for ‘Outstanding National Organisation’ at the Criminal Justice Alliance awards.  The online awards ceremony celebrated the amazing work of inspiring individuals and organisations working across the criminal justice system, in what has been a particularly challenging year. It was an honour for Unlock to even be nominated alongside such

Government announces date when planned changes to criminal record disclosure rules will take effect

The government has today confirmed that planned changes to the rules on filtering will come into effect on Saturday 28 November. After years of campaigning for change, and after many months of holding the government to account on the implementation of the changes, the news was confirmed in a letter to Unlock from the Home
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Criminal records webinar Wednesday 2 December

Do you deal with criminal records in your work? You might be helping people with convictions who are applying for jobs, or working in recruitment/HR and making hiring decisions or carrying out DBS checks.   If any of these apply to you, book a place and join us on Wednesday 2 December for our webinar on understanding

Scottish Government Reforms criminal record disclosure

The Scottish Government has passed a significant reform to their criminal records regime. The Scottish system is separate from the one that applies in England and Wales, and had fallen behind the rest of the UK after Westminster made significant updates in 2014.   The reforms that Holyrood have now passed make for interesting reading. The Scottish reforms, which come

Criminal records: a comparison between England and Israel

We know that in the UK, people with criminal records can face stigma, discrimination and barriers which prevent them from being able to move on from their past and make a positive contribution to society. These barriers most commonly relate to employment, but people with convictions can also find themselves locked out of volunteering, access

Open letter to Ministers Victoria Atkins and Chris Philp

Back in July, the government responded to a Supreme Court ruling from January 2019, requiring changes to the filtering system. This week these changes have finally gone through parliament – but we have learned that there will be a delay of several months before they are signed into law, ostensibly due to time needed for

‘Anchoring, everlasting, uncertainty, resilience’: Researching the impact of criminal records acquired in youth

Nicola Collett, a PhD student at Keele University, is currently researching the potential influence of a criminal record acquired between the ages of 10-25, later on in adulthood. Here she blogs about some of her findings so far. Almost three years into my PhD I am spending much of my time surrounded by scribbles, highlights
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Unlock’s response to Ministry of Justice plans to make reforms to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

Commenting on today’s announcement (16 September) by the Ministry of Justice on plans to make changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the disclosure of criminal records, Christopher Stacey, co-director of Unlock, said:  Unlock very much welcomes and supports today’s announcement by the Justice Secretary that disclosure periods for criminal records will be reduced. If these
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