Thursday 10 August 2006
Charities and communities are denying those with a criminal record the opportunity to turn their life around through volunteering because of poor disclosure practice according to a new guide by Volunteering England and Nacro.
The guide, Involving Ex-offenders in Volunteering, reveals that although a quarter of the whole UK population of working age has been convicted of a criminal offence[1] just 7.5% of disclosures indicate the applicant possesses a criminal record. This implies that approximately two thirds of potential recruits are avoiding applying for roles where disclosures are involved – even though they may not be relevant to the post in question.
Christopher Spence CBE, Chief Executive of Volunteering England, said: “It’s clear from the findings that although very few people are banned from volunteering, many people are put off getting involved because of concerns about how they will be treated by organisations that become aware of their past offences. Such discrimination results in the ex-offender’s social exclusion, in addition to reducing the organisations’ potential pool of volunteers”
Paul Cavadino, Chief Executive of Nacro, said: “The safety of service users is paramount; but the vast majority of potential volunteers who have a criminal record pose no risk to children, young people or vulnerable adults and have a positive contribution to make. It is important that potential volunteers who are ex-offenders are treated fairly and not penalised for having committed an offence with no relevance to the role for which they are applying.”
The guide also reports that:
- The involvement of ex-offenders as volunteers is an equal opportunities issue. Failure to adopt volunteer recruitment and retention policies that incorporate ex-offenders is discriminatory.
- People who go two years without reoffending are generally no more likely to offend again than those without records.[2]
- Thousands of people call Nacro’s resettlement helpline a year for guidance on disclosure for paid and voluntary positions. They are embarrassed by their past offences and unwilling to put themselves in a position where they could be discriminated against.
- Disclosure checks used in isolation are not an effective tool for identifying all people who could pose a risk to children and vulnerable adults and should form just one of an organisation’s policies and processes on volunteer recruitment and involvement (which should also involve face to face meetings, taking up references, trial periods and supervision sessions).
If you would like to receive a copy of the publication, please contact Nacro’s media office on 020 7840 6497. A PDF version of the publication is available to download from this web site.
Case study:
Paul, 19, who recently won the Nacro National Volunteer of the Year Award, joined Nacro’s sport in the community project in East Manchester when he started to get involved in antisocial behaviour. He claims that volunteering has given him the opportunity to turn his life around and improve his confidence and skills.
“When I was a bit younger, I didn’t really care about what trouble I got into. But volunteering showed me the damage I was doing, and has allowed me to put something back into the community. I advise the young people I come into contact with through Nacro to not go down the road I went down. I hope I can help them before it’s too late.”
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Notes to Editors
- (1): Home Office (2002), Breaking the Circle: A report of the review of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act , Home Office: London and Suff R (2005), 'Checking out the activities of the Criminal Records Bureau', IRS Employment Review 483, pp42-48
- (2): Nacro (2006), Getting Disclosures Right: A review of the use and misuse of criminal record disclosures, with a guide to best practice and assessing risk, Nacro: London
- Involving Ex-offenders in Volunteering includes information on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, a code of practice, information on assessing risk, and a sample policy statement. Download a PDF copy free at www.volunteering.org.uk
- For more information on Volunteering England, and to arrange interviews, call Cat Dean on 020 7520 8932 oremail cat.dean@volunteeringengland.org.For out of hours press enquiries, contact Sonya Roberts on 07952 128057.
Volunteering England’s aims are to increase the quality, quantity, contribution and accessibility of volunteering throughout England; secure and support an England-wide network of quality volunteer development agencies, promoting and enabling volunteering and community involvement; undertake research, policy and development activity; and provide grants, support and advice to sustain and develop volunteering. It understands the term volunteering to include formal activity undertaken through public, private and voluntary organisations as well as informal community participation.
