The conviction is spent and my SHPO has been dismissed 5 years early with the police consent but still Google and the ICO say there is still a public interest reason for not unlinking my name to theses vigilante sites! 

The only thing I can think is that if you are still on the SOR they're using that as their justification. It doesn't tally with what the previous commissioner said, but I doubt they're losing any sleep over that.

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If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)

So... life seems to be going from bad to worse. I have applied for a number of jobs, got to the final stages of a few, but always seem to suddenly get dropped - its become apparent my 'history' is getting around. My former employer is giving a 'factual reference' (basically stating my role and dates worked), but I believe (with no proof, sadly) they are 'unofficially' passing on the conviction information. So from an emotional point of view... I'm quite messed up.

Financially, my savings are disappearing and in a few months I wont be able to pay my debts. My debts aren't huge, and were more than manageable when I was working. My mental health has completely gone down the toilet - I am fortunate my family are supportive, however they shouldn't be required to support me either emotionally or financially. 

I was reading in the press about someone convicted of an offence who was "let off easily" being given a community sentence... people really have no idea. There is nothing easy having to deal with this for the rest of your life.

If it were your conviction that was the issue, then why did they let you go through to the later stages of the process? Why not just bin your application straight away?

I am applying for jobs which I don't have a requirement to disclose anything. The issue is, there seems to be people out there that are causing issues for me.

One thing I have found - and I don't know if others have found similar - that when I was disclosing in the box, often they would progress you almost ignoring 'the box', but come back to it at a later stage. I did find that odd. I am aware that many companies systems withhold personal information until an offer is to be made, so I assume it's in an attempt to minimise discrimination.

Time and time again over the years, I have been told "you should run your own business" "go self employed". This is something I have looked into and participated in various courses to learn more. I have decided that this path just is not for me for a number of reasons.

1. To make my business known, I am to heavily rely on social media to "spread the word". Facebook being the popular choice for many businesses, their policy states that no sex offender can use Facebook and if found, will be removed.
2. I am unlikely to set up shop in my local area on the off chance someone who I am known too, can easily spread word making it almost impossible to attract customers.
3. The lack of experience over all, I have many skills but hardly any hands on experience.

To keep myself busy I have applied for many training courses, some I was accepted in to, others I was not. The sad part is that those I was rejected from were for those offering guaranteed interviews with a high probability of getting the job. This is why I am currently fighting to have my SHPO discharged entirely. (court date soon, but I am not hopeful it will go the way I want but may likely get amendments)

What you are going through right now in terms of finding work, has been the one thing I have avoided for my own mental health. Being constantly rejected over and over again does nothing for any one's mental health even with out convictions getting in the way.
I am mentally the strongest I have ever been, when things become tough sometimes its just best to let go, embrace life for how it is and notice what positives you have still going in life, give yourself time to work the problem and find solutions, more importantly keep doing the things you enjoy and have fun doing.

If you need more to do to help pass the time and to keep your mind busy, look around for courses you can do. While you are unemployed, looking into improving your skills, I have recently been working on my Math (which I passed) and I will probably keep on working on it including my English. This is also "getting me out there" and socializing. I understand the fear of meeting someone who may know you and could say something, but you have to put that in the back of your mind.

As for your finances, are you currently receiving benefits? or are you purely living off your savings?

Steadfast - There's a ban the box list that Unlock updates, and a couple of other links that might be helpful:
https://unlock.org.uk/advice/ban-the-box-employers (There's a list there that also explains the latest time to disclose too)
https://www.ex-seed.co.uk/recommended-companies.html
https://www.personnelchecks.co.uk/latest-news/job-with-a-criminal-record

With regards to being told to 'go self-employed'... It is advice, but it is a bit of a get out because they know it's not easy to do that. Especially if people don't have the skills that we do.
Re: Facebook, I'm on there, police know. As long as there is nothing on your SHPO about social media, your username is registered, there's nothing stopping you being on there. I have to say, I've never used it for self-employed stuff though, it's just all noise and stupid videos now. LinkedIn is probably a better way to go and the police should certainly not have a problem you being on there.
Building everything from scratch takes time, you need clients and reviews, I've been at it for a few years now and only have some reviews. I sell my skills, so that's something I'm able to do from home on a computer though. It's not going out and doing garden landscaping for example. It's hard and no quick path to becoming a millionaire but it keeps money coming in *right now* and helps the ever-increasing outgoings. Is it sustainable forever? Probably not / maybe depending on what it is you do, but it means I can fill that gap on my CV since my life blew up. It's also worth mentioning when your mental health takes a kicking, there's no paid time off, which then adds to the stress because if you're not working, you're not earning, and that's just as true without a criminal record.
As for 'guaranteed interviews', a course I did earlier this year also 'guaranteed' an interview, a few of us were a bit annoyed that it didn't happen. Plenty of smiling faces, pointing towards job ads, confidence building and help with the CV, but no interview. The people on that course were just 'normal' people, by which I mean no criminal record, just job seekers. So there are people out there struggling too who don't have the barriers we do.

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

Hi
Many will know my "line" about applying for roles over the years then offers rescinded when disclosure is made. Sometimes it is the HR rules; not they could show me were it was stated in the "Terms and Conditions" but my experienece has show me there is always a line that covers "everything".
Sometimes it is laziness; BAE for example, the hiring PM wanted me, knew of my offence but didn't care as the project needed my skill set and said they could justify me in the "security assessment". However the extra effort required of them in the end turned into a "can't be bothered" attitude; their words not mine so that was the end of that.

I know I walked away from every interview knowing I had maintained my self esteem and integrity no matter the result. I was not searching for "pity or forgiveness", in fact quite the opposite; I just desired to show that a "label doesn't define the character of an individual!"

As we all know, there is no single path we can all follow to gain whatever we define as a "successful outcome". That does not mean that we should not follow a well worn path; we just need to have the self belief to turn onto a new path if that feels "positive".






Society suggests I must let go of all my expectations but I disagree, as whilst I have a voice, I have hope.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope is for tomorrow else what is left if you remove a mans hope.
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This forum supports these words, thank you Unlock and your contributors.

Unless you have changed your name, isn't there going to be a problem with promoting yourself through Linkedin, or any social media platform? If they can find you on there, then they can google your offence too.

The other potential issue, is that if you work in a relatively small industry, where everyone knows everyone else, then word about your conviction will soon spread and employers will blacklist you.

You can register another name with the police and use that online without changing it by deed poll.
As one ppu said to me, unironically, "You can call yourself Father Christmas if you like, as long as we know about it."
Obvs, it depends on what type of work you're looking for. I've been building that alternative name up with freelance stuff online. Again, with the self-employed/freelance stuff, no checks etc and using a generic profile picture if one is needed.
The scary bit was giving out bank details, because it's a different name, but nobody has asked why it's different so far. Or work through platforms like Upwork etc the money goes through the platform and I do self-assessments every year.
The things we have to put up with just to live a law-abiding life and constantly dodge bullets, it's insane, but I couldn't think of a different way to get away from the Google effect and be able to refer to my old jobs and experience without fear.
In my case, because I had an odd name: Old name plus company I worked for = newspaper, newspaper, newspaper. New name and company = nothing and my LinkedIn looks a lot better.
I realise it's trickier for in-person jobs but if you have to deal with the Google effect, that will come with its own barriers anyway whether you're called Father Christmas or not.

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