In the 1960s, when Richard was 16, he was found in possession of a small amount of cannabis. He was prosecuted for possession and given a one-year conditional discharge. As a student a few years later, Richard got into trouble again and was convicted of taking an item of food from a warehouse where he

Together with the charity Transform Justice, Unlock has launched the #FairChecks movement to help push for a fresh start for the criminal records system. Our outdated criminal records regime is holding hundreds of thousands of people back from participating fully in society. Even a minor criminal history can produce lifelong barriers to employment, volunteering, housing

Looking back over the last couple of months, we’ve written up a few examples of the people we’ve helped. We hope they give a good idea of how we help people. However, more importantly than our role, we think that these examples show how people with convictions are able to overcome some of the barriers

Our helpline was contacted by a lady who was extremely concerned about a form her daughter had received following her university application. The lady explained that her daughter had applied for a teacher training degree and had been asked to confirm that nobody she lived with had any unspent convictions which would mean that she

Harold recently contacted our helpline for some advice after his local council refused him a taxi licence due to the non-disclosure of his historic convictions. He explained that as his convictions were from 30 years ago, he’d assumed that they were spent and therefore didn’t need to be disclosed. Immediately he became aware that his

Sheila contacted our helpline for some advice after she’d booked a family holiday to America. Sheila explained that after completing the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) form which had been approved, she started to worry that she should have disclosed her husband’s criminal record from 2011. Stories she’d read online seemed to suggest that

Toni recently contacted our helpline for some advice around what she needed to disclose when applying for a job as a teaching assistant in a school. One of her main problems was that she was unsure of the exact details of her conviction. We advised Toni to apply for a subject access request (SAR) from

Charlie contacted our helpline for some advice around disclosing his criminal record. He explained that he’d been working in a warehouse through an agency but had been asked to apply directly to the employer for a full-time, permanent role. The company had told him that they would be carrying out a basic criminal record check

We’ve just published our update for December 2019. This months update includes: New information on travelling to Russia with a criminal record. A personal story highlighting how an individual was dismissed from his job after his employers unlawfully became aware of his 31 year old criminal record. A link to a discussion on theForum around

We’ve published our priorities for government in 2020. We are calling on the government to commit to five priorities to bring about a fresh start for law-abiding people with criminal records. For 20 years Unlock has, as an independent charity, provided a voice and support for people who are facing stigma and obstacles because of

We’ve just published our update for November 2019. This months update includes: Examples of templates which can be used to challenge an ineligible check being carried out by the Disclosure and Barring Service. A link to a survey asking users of our Information Hub for their thoughts and opinions about the site. A personal story

We’re delighted that one of Unlock’s long-standing helpline volunteers, Simon, was shortlisted for the Helpline Partnership’s ‘Helpline Volunteer of the Year’ award. On hearing the news, Simon said: “I’m delighted to have been shortlisted for the Helpline Partnership ‘Volunteer of the year’ award. As much as this is recognition that the work I do for