Looking back at 2017 – A month-by-month review of our work and criminal record developments

With the Christmas break almost upon us and 2017 coming to an end, it’s a good time to reflect on the last 12 months work of the charity and the developments relating to criminal records. Once again it’s been an incredibly busy year for Unlock, with lots of positive news and progress to report. We’ve

Blog – Is ‘sealing’ criminal records the best way to help people turn their lives around?

The latest blog by Christopher Stacey looks at David Lammy’s recommendation to ‘seal’ criminal records and explains why it’s a good idea and how it could work. Read it here.
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Blog – EastEnders, DBS checks and decriminalised offences

The latest blog by Christopher Stacey looks at whether the supermarket in EastEnders broke the law in doing a DBS on Derek? And why did a historic decriminalised offence show up on his disclosure? Read it here.

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

Blog – My top 4 priorities for the next government

People with criminal records – An untapped talent pool that has been ignored for too long There are over 10.5 million people in England & Wales with a criminal record, and many find themselves treated unfairly and unnecessarily held back in life because of their past. Government has a role to play in finding solutions.

Looking back at some key moments in 2016

With the Christmas break almost here and 2016 coming to an end, I wanted to write a short blog to reflect month-by-month on our work over the last 12 months. Overall, it’s yet again been an incredibly busy year for Unlock with lots of positive news and progress to report. We’ve had an addition to

Blog – Why we’ve launched a website for employers

There’s a talent pool of over 10.5 million people that many companies are overlooking. People with criminal records make good employees. This new website that we’re launching today helps employers to make sure they’re not missing out on the diverse skills and experience of people with criminal records. With over 750,000 unfilled job vacancies in

Insurers are not following good practice when dealing with criminal records

Last month, the Financial Conduct Authority published an occasional paper on access to financial services. I fed into this work, particularly focusing on the issues people with convictions face in accessing insurance. So it was good to see the authors include an especially challenging section of the report focused at a lack of buy-in to

We must encourage and support employers to recruit people from prison

Whilst government announcements last month to reform prisons and improve prisoner education are welcomed, much more needs to be done to encourage and support employers to recruit people with a criminal record. Employers like Timpsons and Greggs have shown that people with convictions can make fantastic employees and that there is actually a business as
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The way insurers lock out people with court convictions is bizarre

              Mainstream home and car insurers have a blanket ban on people with unspent convictions – these kinds of policies are unfair and sometimes illegal To many of the 1.2 million people convicted in court each year, it comes as a surprise to find that if they try to

Breakthrough or cosmetic? Prime Minister supports ‘banning the box’

Quite understandably, David Cameron’s speech on Monday was applauded for being the first one dedicated to prison reform by a Prime Minister in over 20 years. Interestingly though, as he set out his ‘agenda for a revolution in the prison system’, one of the things that caught Unlock’s attention appeared towards the end of his

Looking back at some key moments in 2015

With the Christmas break almost upon us and 2015 coming to an end, we wanted to write a short note to reflect on the last 12 months. Yet again, it’s been an incredibly successful and busy year for Unlock with lots of positive news and progress to report. We’ve continued to expand the information, advice