Reflections of an Unlock helpline volunteer

The first week of June is Volunteer Week – when charities across the country say thank you and showcase the amazing work of their committed volunteers. We asked one of our brilliant helpline volunteers to share their experiences of working with us. In this blog our volunteer (who we’re keeping anonymous to protect their privacy)
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Introducing our new CEO: Angela Cairns

We’re delighted to announce that experienced charity leader Angela Cairns will be the charity’s new Chief Executive, and will take up the role on Monday 17 May.   Angela joins Unlock after five years as CEO of the criminal justice charity Shannon Trust. She has worked in the voluntary sector since 2002, supporting people to bring about

Our Spring 2021 newsletter

Today we’ve published our Spring 2021 newsletter. The newsletter provides an update of the news at Unlock in the last three months, and we hope it’s a useful way of keeping up to date with what we’ve been up to. Read: Spring 2021 newsletter Previous newsletters are available online here. You can receive future newsletters direct

Happy 21st Birthday Unlock!

This year Unlock celebrates its 21st birthday, which we’re marking on the same day we publish our ambitious new strategic plan for 2021-26. Alongside the new strategy, we’re launching our new strapline: ‘for people with criminal records‘. We’ve chosen to do this because – although a subtle change to our language – we believe it’s

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 on International Women’s Day by Unlock.  Read the full report Read a summary The report, which brings together the voices and

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