Hi Hola,
I am pleased you managed to find a path through the mind field of disclosure to gain employment.
In the end I think success is depending on various factors e.g. attitude of Probation, PPU etc.
I did find from 2015 onwards that if the agency did not check then the Client would; or would follow up. I was mainly applying for consultancies and "Blue Chip" company roles.
This was for both contract and perm roles. I had various types of offers that were rescinded when I was asked a question that meant I had to disclose.

Re agencies, it was hard not to be too vocal, as I did find that even though I was assured no record of my disclosure to them would be retained, I found it was.



Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope is for tomorrow else what is left if you remove a mans hope.

I had both experiences.  I had to disclose to my last perm employer when going to court as I plead guilty, and 8 working days later had been processed through their complete disciplinary procedures to be dismissed for gross misconduct -   I was lucky in that I could move away, and was supported by my wife working. So I went self-employed as an interim manager.  My probation officer directly said I only had to disclose if asked and I never was.  It was 8 years ago now and from memory I think only 2 of many agencies I registered with asked the ' have you ?', and I just said no, which I felt was a risk worth taking as if they were really serious the company using my services would have done a DBS check, which again, probably because the roles were only temporary never happened.  So I would really recommend this route if you have the experience to make this work
Hope this helps

Hi Mr W,
I believe you are correct when describing the route you have took. Rightly or wrongly I just wanted to clarify that the "self employment" does have; in some scenarios, can have the same issues as direct employment.

I am glad it is/has worked for you.

Take care

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope is for tomorrow else what is left if you remove a mans hope.

The websites that you refer to, such as People Per Hour, Upwork etc are not run in the same way as a freelance contract, obtained through an employment agency. In the IT world, contractors always have to go through an agency, (I used to be contractor and we used to refer to the employment agencies as our 'pimps', ha ha) and it is the agency that usually requires disclosure.

But thanks to the gig economy, you can now go direct to the employer for work, cutting out the agency and the need for disclosure.

I understand where you're coming from and you're probably right in terms of face-to-face or 'in person' working. However, I'm talking about these online platforms where people all over the world use them and you're creating yourself a 'work from home' job which is what I've been doing. Signing up to the sites there's no checks, when bidding for the jobs there are no checks and it has nothing to do with the ppu whatsoever. It's quite refreshing with having a disclosure-obsessed ppu.

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Fighting or Accepting - its difficult to know which is right and when.

Hi

Because you’re self-employed, freelance, sole trader etc you don’t have to give any information at all about your criminal record. .

I was a IT/Project/ HR contractor before my offence; Ltd Company.

I am afraid that though some employers may not ask, out of 2000+ applications for contract roles, only a couple of agencies or businesses did not ask; those that did not and offered me the contract did later when the HR paperwork was being undertake and the offer was rescinded!

My PPU kindly offered to speak to the businesses but as I explained, with contract roles they as a rule want someone quickly and do not have the time or inclination to go through that additional process.

Know that quite often it is not just the business owners perception of us it is also their other employees and customers that has to be taken into account. 

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope is for tomorrow else what is left if you remove a mans hope.

Quite often the phrase self-employed is thrown around when people with convictions talk to probation etc about employment going forward. Although improvements are being made with “ban the box” etc, attitudes towards criminal records are still quite contemptuous. Even if conviction A has absolutely nothing to do with jobs in industry B, it can still leave you with a bad taste in your mouth if you’re unsuccessful.
But “we are where we are,” so, turning to online platforms such as People Per Hour, Upwork and others can be a lifeline. Because you’re self-employed, freelance, sole trader etc you don’t have to give any information at all about your criminal record. After you’ve signed up, you’re as eligible as everyone else in winning jobs, instantly giving you more chance than face-to-face jobs to win work.
Through this you can make contacts, hopefully, turn one-off tasks into continuing clients while building up your own confidence while using and improving your skills and building up a profile to prove you can do what you say you can rather than just saying you can.
The work may not be ‘exactly’ the skills you want a career in, but you might find there are lots of tasks out there that you are capable of doing, applying your skills to tasks. An example is airline cabin crew of a travel company who make announcements to the passengers could do voice-overs for clients’ podcasts because they’ve had voice training. It's that flexible thinking about your skills you have that can, hopefully, bring some success.
In some cases clients just need people to do ‘stuff’ because they don’t have time or simply don’t have *that* skill themselves. So tasks that person A may find “easy” person B (the client) wouldn’t know where to start. I’ve worked with people all over the world, so there’s not a shortage of work out there, but sometimes the pay isn’t quite what I’d like either.
I’m not saying this is an easy, perfect or even long-term solution, but it’s certainly something that can work now until things change in the future. I hope this helps.

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Fighting or Accepting - its difficult to know which is right and when.

Most, if not all my skills. All relate to IT in some fashion. I am more experienced in the hardware side of things as opposed to the software, which I have delved into a little bit over the years (some programming, 3d printing, 3d modeling) but do not yet feel confident in these skills to make a career from them. That is why I am seeking out further training but everywhere I go now just seem disinterested. They claim it is nothing to do with the conviction but yet why bring it up at all if that was the case? I wonder.
I would be very interested to read what advice you can give in regards to selling my skills online, would definitely give me something new to think about and possibly something else to work towards.

Daedalus, it might depend on the conviction and/or the sentence. A minor offence with a short sentence, for example, I’d have probably been able to keep some of the jobs I've had in the past. I might have got away with not telling them if it wasn’t particularly relevant to the work too. As it was, my conviction was more serious. I took some advice from an employment lawyer but, being honest, I think on most occasions it’s just pot luck with the odds not in your favour. I resigned before facing a disciplinary. However especially these days, everyone's situation is likely to be different.

Dan, I also have been turned away from those supposedly helping those with convictions. It’s incredibly frustrating and can empathise because you think: "If they won't help me, who can!?". It gets even trickier when you blindside them with ‘building sites are not for me’. A serious and urgent discussion needs to be had, especially with so many jobs available right now, when the hunger for work is there but pieces of paper from years ago are holding us back. I can only suggest trying to sell your skills online, happy to help if I can on another thread or whatever.

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Fighting or Accepting - its difficult to know which is right and when.

Although my experiences are not in an employment setting, I have made numerous disclosures to training firms which have allowed me to join up between 2017 and 2020. However this year when I tried to sign up for voluntary work to help me get more experience to help me look for actual work. I was rejected when I openly disclosed, (with out being asked if I had convictions) I have contacted other providers who might help me with employment and training, but they have all rejected me despite their websites stating that they help those with convictions and simply pass on names of other places in which have already rejected me.

Now I am at a loss in what to do next and feel I will live the rest of my days on benefits because of the stigma those face with having convictions.