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

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

Criminal records webinar 21st October 2020

    Do you deal with criminal records in your work? You might be helping people with convictions who are applying for jobs, or you might be 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

Taxi! New guidance for licensing authorities recommends exclusions for even minor convictions

In July 2020 the Department for Transport published new guidance
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Monthly update – August 2020

We’ve just published our update for August 2020. This months update includes: New information to address some of the issues people face in telling a partner, family member or friend about their criminal record. A personal story from an individual who, as a victim of domestic violence, received a conviction but, has gone on to

Advising with Conviction workshop – Online training 25th November 2020

We are pleased to announce a new date for our popular Advising with Conviction workshop. Due to Covid-19, this will now be an online event. We are also continuing to take bookings for our in-house training for organisations that are looking to run training for groups of staff. Advising with Conviction – Full-day training workshop

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 period. This means they are no
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Case study – Julian – Extra costs and the possible loss of a job because my records didn’t show I’d paid my compensation order

In 2009 Julian was convicted of ABH and received a community order together with a £1,000 compensation order which he paid immediately. After waiting the 5 years for his conviction to become spent (this was prior to the changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act in 2014) Julian applied to Disclosure Scotland (who were responsible
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Case study – Toby – Failure of the system to amend a restraining order has led to the loss of several jobs

Toby contacted our helpline for some advice regarding a restraining order which he’d received in 2010. He explained that he had originally been given an ‘indefinite’ order which his solicitor considered to be excessive. An application was made to the Court to amend the order whereupon it was changed to 2 years. Since then Toby
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Criminal records webinar on 16th September

    Do you deal with criminal records in your work? You might be helping people with convictions who are applying for jobs, or you might be 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

Reforming the criminal records disclosure regime – Have you a sentence of over 4 years in prison?

We’ve published an updated briefing on reforming the criminal records disclosure regime and we want to hear from you if you have a conviction that can never become spent. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) means that most convictions can become spent after a period of years. Changes implemented in 2014 (through focused mainly on
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Case of Lauren

Case of Lauren – consecutive sentences can never become spent Lauren contacted us for help understanding when her convictions would become spent. She was convicted of two separate offences related to the same incident, all dealt with in the same court proceedings. She was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for cultivating
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