Decade-old criminal record disclosures? The need for reform

With the disclosure of old and irrelevant criminal records in the spotlight, Christopher Stacey looks at how the system is unfairly holding people back Over four million jobs every year involve employers requesting an enhanced criminal record from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). Although these were originally for roles that involve close contact with
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Blog – ‘Through the gate’ services are failing to support people leaving prison into employment

‘Through the gate’ services are failing to support people into employment. That’s one of the conclusions in a report published last week by HM Inspectorate of Probation and HM Inspectorate of Prisons into the ‘through the gate resettlement services’ that were introduced in 2015 and run by newly formed ‘Community Rehabilitation Companies’ (CRCs). Right from

Case of Jimmy – Job centre simply passing on people that are looking for help finding work

Jimmy is unemployed and claiming job seekers allowance. He’s been unemployed since his conviction 3 years ago. He was given a suspended sentence for offences involving violence. Since then, he’s been trying to find work but has received very little support from the job centre. When he first signed on, he was told that he’d
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Government “exploring” incentives for businesses that take on ex-offenders

Today the Work and Pensions Committee has published the Government’s response to its report on the support for ex-offenders leaving prison, which indicates that the Government has accepted the case made for many of the Committee’s recommendations and is looking for ways to take them forward, including considering a range of ways to incentive employers to
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New ’10 things about criminal records’ guide for employability professionals

February 2019 update – We have done some work to update the original guide and have now published a version 2 of the guide. People with criminal records make up a sizeable proportion of the unemployed population – 33% of Job Seekers Allowance claimants have received a criminal record in the last ten years. For

Government should consider a statutory “ban the box” for all employers and improve the support to people released from prison

The leading charity for people with convictions has welcomed a report published today by the Work and Pensions Committee which calls on government to drastically improve the support provided to people released from prison and do more to encourage employers to recruit people with convictions. Christopher Stacey, Co-director of Unlock, said: “Today’s report shows that
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Ministry of Justice Employment Strategy – Feed in your views

We’re pleased to see that the Prisons Minister, Sam Gyimah, is developing an employment strategy and exploring ways to increase the number of employers giving opportunities to people with convictions. We’re keen to ensure that the strategy is informed by both people with convictions and employers, so we’ve written details about the opportunities for you
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We give evidence to Parliament Committee on support for ex-offenders

Today Unlock, alongside Working Chance, Clinks and Revolving Doors Agency, gave oral evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee inquiry into the support for ex-offenders. We were invited to give evidence following our written response to the inquiry. At the session, Christopher Stacey, Unlock’s co-director, responded to questions focused on employment support, job centre staff and the
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Support for ex-offenders Inquiry – Unlock response

We have today published the written response we have submitted to the Work and Pensions Committee Inquiry into the support for ex-offenders. Background In March 2016, the Work and Pensions Committee launched an inquiry into the support for ex-offenders Download: Written response from Unlock to the Work and Pensions Committee Inquiry  Our response can also be
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Unlock in prison!

In February 2016, we were invited by Plias Resettlement to visit Wormwood Scrubs and Pentonville prisons to present workshops on criminal records and disclosure (they deliver the National Careers Service contract there). The aim was to look at the ongoing effects of a criminal record, how this can affect a person’s ability to reintegrate into

Website for employers – Release of Beta version of Recruit!

Today, we’re pleased to be releasing a Beta version of Recruit!, our new website for employers. With the strapline “supporting the fair treatment of people with criminal records”, Recruit! is website that supports employers to recruit people with convictions and deal with criminal records fairly. The aims of the site are to: Promote good recruitment