If you come into contact with criminal justice services (police, courts, probation or prisons) we want to offer you the best support we can, to help you to understand the processes and what support is available to you as a care leaver.
Page contents
- Sharing you are a care leaver
- If you are a victim of crime
- If you come into contact with the police
- Court appearances
- If you are working with probation
- If you are in prison
- Resettling into the community
Sharing you are a care leaver
It is really important that you tell the professionals you come into contact with, that you are a care leaver. This can mean that additional support and consideration is given to you and your personal adviser (PA) can support you with this too.
If you are a victim of crime
Sadly, you may be a victim of crime. As a victim of crime or someone who has witnessed a crime, there are things victims can expect from the police and criminal justice service. Your PA can support you with reporting a crime to the police and advise you on what support is available to you.
The Code of Practice for Victims of Crime outlines what happens from when a crime is reported to what happens after a trial, if there is one.
If you have contact with the police
Tell the police you are a care leaver and speak to your PA.
If you live in and commit a criminal offence in Surrey, you could be eligible for the Checkpoint Plus scheme.
Checkpoint Plus is a deferred prosecution scheme, which means you may not need to go to court. If you are eligible, conditions are set by the police after speaking to you and your PA, allowing you to work on what led you to commit a crime and reduce your risk of reoffending. This means you would avoid a criminal record and be able have additional support to help you.
Other police forces in England may have similar schemes, so remember to tell the police you are a care leaver and speak to your PA.
Court appearances
If you need to attend court, your PA will advise you to speak to a solicitor and will offer to attend court with you.
What the court can decide
If you are found guilty and convicted of a crime, the court will have a range of options that they could decide on:
- A court fine: they may ask you to pay money to the court.
- There are different ways to pay a court fine. You will need your case reference number to pay this. You can pay online with a debit or credit card at Courts and Tribunals through the Gov.uk website. You can also pay by telephone with a debit or credit card.
- In some circumstances, the court can agree to payment by instalments from benefits. The maximum that can be taken is £5.00 per week.
- A community sentence: this could include:
- some form of rehabilitation, either through engaging in specific work with a specialist agency or probation (such as drug rehabilitation)
- community payback through unpaid work (such as clearing rubbish, removing graffiti)
- A restorative justice outcome: the court can give a community sentence and a fine.
- Detention in custody: the court can decide to give a custodial sentence. This means you would stay in prison until your release date
If you are working with probation
Your PA will offer to support you at your first probation appointment and with your consent will work with you and your probation worker to make sure you are well supported to successfully complete your community order, licence or unpaid work.
Probation offices in Surrey:
Guildford
College House, Woodbridge Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 4RS. Telephone 01483 534701
Staines
Swan House, Knowle Green, Staines, Surrey, TW18 1AJ. Telephone 01784 4593
Redhill
Allonby House, Hatchlands Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 6BN. Telephone 01737 763241
If you are in prison
If you are a care leaver aged 25 years or under and are in custody, we can support you. Our custody offer means your PA will -
- Make contact with the prison to arrange a legal visit.
- Ensure that your landlord or housing provider are made aware that you have been detained in custody.
- Support you to notify your place of education, training or employer, with your consent, that you are detained in custody and your expected date of release. They will support you to see if you will have the option to return after you are released from custody.
- Will visit you whilst you are in custody and will continue to do so when you are living in the community. They visit you every 2 months as a minimum up until the age of 21 and in line with your pathway plan post 21.
- Have regular contact with staff in custody who can support you; This may include the prison's care leavers lead staff, your offender manager and your personal officer.
- Hold prompt pathway planning meetings and discuss prison plans – with your consent, prison staff and probation practitioners will be asked to contribute to your pathway plan.
- Arrange financial support for you to be able to keep in touch with your family and significant people in your life and to be able to purchase essential items.
- Encourage you to take part in the education, training and employment activities offered in prison or specific programme in your prison plan, to support your life after custody and a successful resettlement back into the community after your release.
- Attend and contribute to any further planning meetings to prepare you for release and support your resettlement plans, this usually begins to happen 12 weeks before your expected date of release.
- Work with you to identify the most appropriate housing option for you after your release from custody. They will support you to understand your housing options housing and complete a duty to refer for a housing officer to be allocated and support you.
- Ensure that you have seasonally appropriate clothing upon your release.
- Support you with accessing photo ID whilst in custody.
If you need some extra support when you are in the community and have care and support needs, with your consent an Adult Social Care (ASC) referral will be made.
On your day of release, your PA will offer to collect you and support you to get to your housing and probation appointments.
Following your release your PA will support you to make a benefit claim.
Resettling into the community
Your criminal record may impact on aspects of your identity. The information is retained on the Police National Computer (PNC). Your record is not publicly accessible and cannot be viewed without your consent.
Employment
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA) allows most convictions to become 'spent' after a set period of time. This means the person does not have to disclose it and that discriminating against someone because of a spent conviction may be unlawful in many circumstances.
Many jobs are covered by the ROA making it unlawful for an employer to refuse employment or dismiss a person because of a spent conviction. There are some high street employers who actively support the employment of those with convictions to help them turn their lives around and reintegrate with society.
A prospective employer can apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate. This will show any current and spent convictions. Some employers make a DBS check a condition of employment, especially if the future employee is to work with children or vulnerable people.
Education
Colleges and universities may ask you to disclose your criminal record as part of the application process, particularly for courses in areas like nursing and teaching. However, for many courses the ROA still applies and you would not need to disclose any spent convictions.
Buying insurance
A great deal of insurance companies do discriminate against people with unspent convictions by charging higher premiums or refusing cover. This is the case even if the convictions do not seem directly relevant to the policy being applied for. For home insurance policies you should also take care to declare, if asked, whether anyone living at the address has an unspent conviction as this might result in any claim being rejected if the insurance company has not been informed.
Traveling abroad
Some countries have entry restrictions. You may have to apply for a visa. If a particular country requires a visa for you to travel, you need to look at whether there are any questions about criminal convictions, or whether having a criminal record makes you ineligible to apply for a visa. It may be a case of making enquiries to the relevant country's embassy. Secondly, if you are on licence, it will normally be a condition of your licence that you cannot travel abroad, and you will therefore need to seek permission from probation before doing so, otherwise you risk breaching your licence.
