Nacro comments

Nacro welcomes the Justice Committee’s report of its inquiry on Young Adult Offenders and supports the Committee’s recognition of the distinct needs of 18-25 year olds in the criminal justice system. Speaking of the report, Jacob Tas, Nacro Chief Executive said: “We applaud the Committee for its recognition that young adults up to the age…

Earlier this week, a senior HR adviser of a large national employer contacted me. She had just completed interviews for an office-based sales role she was recruiting for and the preferred candidate had disclosed a motoring conviction. She wanted to know whether the conviction was ‘spent’ or ‘unspent’; I advised that the conviction would not…

You are an HR Adviser for a Local Authority and part of your role is to oversee recruitment for trainee teacher placements within a primary school. Peter Foster is in his final year of his PGCE (post-graduate teaching qualification). He has successfully completed a number of placements at various primary schools during the course of…

Responding to the Joint Inspection Report by HMI Probation on Accommodation of homeless 16 and 17 year olds working with Youth Offending Teams, Nacro’s Director of Housing, Joanne Drew, said: “The report outlines a concerning lack of suitable accommodation for vulnerable young people in our communities. When a young person is caught up in the…

Jacob Tas, Chief Executive of Nacro, said: “As Ministers enter their new government departments, we wish them well. It will be a challenging time for any Minister operating across Health, Justice, Education and Housing. Some immediate decisions will be made that impact Nacro, our service users and the communities we work in. These include: the…

Nacro chief executive, Jacob Tas, today welcomed government announcement that it will fund the roll out of liaison and diversion service across England by 2020. “This is momentous news. Liaison and diversion is a critical early intervention. It works to address, at the earliest opportunity, the complex problems that so many people in the criminal…

You work in the HR department of a university. You arrive at your desk one morning to find an email from an anonymous source, containing a link to an online newspaper article from the Warrington Post. The article is dated February 1998 and details how a 28-year-old male, Alan Michaels, was convicted of the manslaughter…

Nacro wholeheartedly welcomes the Laming review on the life chances of children in care. Too many young people in the care system come in to contact with the criminal justice system. Too often this is unnecessary and can be responded to in less harmful ways. Nacro’s own research on looked-after children concurs that too many behaviours…

Nacro wholeheartedly welcomes the announcement of prison reform, says Nacro’s Chief Executive, Jacob Tas. Inspection report after inspection report tell us that the system isn’t working. Despite the hard work of many people working in custody, they are rarely places of rehabilitation and can be defined by inactivity and hopelessness. The changes announced are welcome. Autonomy…

News of the Prime Minister’s proposed changes to the care system is very welcome, particularly news that the Queen’s Speech will legislate for a care leavers covenant. The Prime Minister is right to say that too many care leavers are let down by a system which fails to break the cycle of disadvantage that starts…

Speaking on the Home Office Crime Strategy published today, Nacro chief executive Jacob Tas, said: “We welcome the government’s focus on crime prevention announced this morning. It is very positive that preventing crime is prioritised and connected to the Prime Minister’s Life Chances agenda. “We are pleased that the Home Office has prioritised opportunity, the…

Commenting on the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s research on social mobility, Josh Coleman, Education Principal, at Nacro said: “This research is an important piece of work. There has been a forced separation of academic and vocational education since the 1950s and, for the first time, this tracks disadvantaged young people through their education…

As thousands of young people across Britain await their GCSE results today, Nacro calls on local authorities and schools to work with them to identify any young people for whom mainstream education has not worked.

Nathan* is 28 years old. He was released from prison in September 2013 having served 18 months of a 3-year sentence for Burglary (Domestic). It was his second conviction for Burglary and his 10th conviction overall. Nathan is estranged from his mother, having left home at the age of 14. He suffered mental health issues…

Nacro argues that vocational education should be the pinnacle of our education system.

Next week, Nacro, together with the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, and supported by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), is launching an essential new publication for employers, ‘Recruiting Safely and Fairly: a practical guide to employing ex-offenders’. Over 10 million people in the UK have a criminal record. That’s over…

By Working Chance

This blog illustrates why it is important for employers to consider disclosure statements when interpreting criminal record information. For many years criminal record information has, legitimately or otherwise, been shared with employers and organisations. Criminal record information can be obtained legally from Disclosure Scotland, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) or from the individual to…

An example of a ‘strong’ disclosure. In our previous blog, What not to say when making a disclosure, we provided an example of what a ‘weak’ criminal record disclosure might look like. Using some of the elements of that disclosure we are now going to highlight how the disclosure can be improved so that the…

It was exactly one year ago today, on the same date that the changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA) came into effect, that the government announced its intention to implement section 56 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). This makes it a criminal offence to require a person (or a third…

In my last blog I looked at the case of Vanessa George; a nursery worker who systematically abused young children in her care. While offences of this nature are always shocking, there was something about her being a female, a mother, an upstanding person within her local community, a popular member of staff; she didn’t…

An example of what may be considered a ‘bad disclosure’. In our previous blog, I have a criminal record. What more can I say? we provided you with helpful tips and hints on how to prepare a written criminal record disclosure. To illustrate how important it is to get disclosure right, we have provided an…

The key factors that can lead to a failure in safe and acceptable behaviour in the workplace. You’ll probably remember the 2009 case of nursery worker Vanessa George (VG), who was handed an indeterminate sentence after pleading guilty to a string of child abuse offences committed against young children in her care. A married mother…

10 million people in the UK have a criminal record. A minimum of 20% of the working-age population has at least one conviction. And these figures are pretty conservative. They don’t include, for example, all foreign nationals who might have an overseas criminal record that has not been recorded in the UK. My point is…

We have previously mentioned Jack* and Katie*, two people with very different experiences of the recruitment process and employment. Their experiences differ for one reason – disclosure. You will see from our previous blogs that our position is clear: you should disclose your criminal record at the point at which you are asked to declare…

Sharon* contacted me via our public helpline with a problem faced by millions of people in the UK. She was applying for a job and was required to make a criminal record declaration on the application form. “They won’t touch me with a bargepole once they hear about my convictions”. “Hang on a minute” I…

Last week I was contacted by Owen* via the public helpline who was applying for a job with a large, well-known national organisation. He had recently spent some time in prison and was explaining to me how difficult he was finding trying to turn his life around on the outside. Applying for work was a…

With approximately 200,000 police cautions being issued each year, what effect, if any, will the Ministry of Justice’s proposed changes to the current system have? Changes to the current cautioning regime are being piloted in three police areas: Leicestershire, Staffordshire and West Yorkshire. The pilot scheme began on 3 November 2014 and is expected to…

Chris Proctor has recently joined Nacro as one of the Resettlement Advice Service’s legal officers. Legal officers offer legal advocacy support to individuals and training and advice to employers and organisations on matters relating to criminal records. Upon joining Nacro I was surprised about the complexity of the law around criminal records. Despite my background…

Nacro has reiterated the vital role quality education plays in the rehabilitation of offenders, following a speech yesterday by the new Ofsted National Director for Further Education and Skills, Matthew Coffey, highlighting recent findings that showed no prison achieved an outstanding rating for its education and training provision. Speaking after the Ofsted event at Wormwood…