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

We’ve just published our update for October 2019. This months update includes: An update on the new costs of all Disclosure and Barring checks. A personal story highlighting Lucy’s success in getting a newspaper to remove an article relating to her conviction. A link to a discussion on theForum around a probation officer’s insistence that

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

We were recently contacted by an insurance broker who wished to place an advert on our online magazine, theRecord. In line with our standard procedures, we reviewed the insurer’s website to ensure that they were a reputable company and able to help people with convictions. Although the organisation were offering a range of products suitable

We were recently contacted by an individual who wished to highlight some out of date information which he’d seen on the website of a courier company in relation to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. In an FAQ on their careers website, the company had posed the following question: “What’s is meant by an unspent

We were recently contacted by an individual who raised concerns about a misleading question and statement around criminal record checks on a music schools application form. The majority of roles being advertised by the music school were teaching roles which would be eligible for an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check. However, neither the question

Darren contacted our helpline after a job he’d been offered with a local council had been withdrawn following receipt of an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check. Although Darren’s convictions were all spent (from 30 years ago) and minor, as there was more than one, they were not eligible to be removed (or ‘filtered’) from

Terence received a conviction for a sexual offence when he was a teenager; he’s now in his 40’s. He contacted our helpline recently seeking advice around an issue he was having with social services. Terence explained that he had recently started a relationship with a lady who had two children. However, they had been forced

Davina contacted our helpline as she needed some advice around an application to university. She was applying for a nursing course which would require an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check but she was unsure whether her conviction for common assault from 2015 would be disclosed on her DBS certificate. We explained to Davina that

Yuki contacted our helpline for some assistance regarding an application her husband had made to travel to Australia. When booking flights to visit her family in Australia, Yuki didn’t think that her husband’s old conviction from 25 years ago would present a problem. However, when applying for his e-visitor visa he’d read that as part

Brinley recently contacted our helpline following a job offer as a business development manager with a commercial cleaning company. On his first day in the job Brinley was surprised to be asked to give his consent to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check as he’d assumed that they would only be carrying out

Pippa recently contacted our helpline as she needed some disclosure advice prior to completing a job application form. Pippa explained that she was applying for a job as a teaching assistant in a local school but couldn’t remember the date or the details of her conviction. She was therefore worried about giving the school incorrect