Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses
Publication Date: 23 September 2009 (Archive)
While not wishing to respond to each part of the consultation NIACRO would like to make comment on the particular issue of clarifying responsibility for carrying out suitability checks for permanent recruitment relating to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (NI) Order 2007.
Before we make comment it would be useful to provide some background information on our particular interest in this consultation.
The Jobtrack employment programme is run by NIACRO and supported by PBNI and NIPS. It aims to progress individuals into the labour market through employment focused interventions. We engage over 600 unemployed adult offenders per year.
Jobtrack is based on research that demonstrates a link between unemployment and offending. By supporting offenders to increase their employability skills and learn how to access the labour market, our activities contribute to an overall crime reduction strategy.
The partnership model also enables Jobtrack to attract significant European funding into the Criminal Justice System, which adds value to both the Prison Service Resettlement Strategy (NIPS) and PBNI Community Sentence Management scheme.
It is challenging work. Our clients are disproportionately concentrated in the significant long term unemployment categories.
– Almost 80% are long term unemployed.
– More than 50% fall into the very long term unemployed category (2 years plus.)
– And 46% have been out of work for three years or more.
The educational background and qualifications of this group are low and the majority of offenders engaging in the services are assessed as either medium or high risk of re offending.
In addition, there is a proven tendency for employers to be worried about recruiting individuals with convictions. Moving our clients towards positive employability outcomes is therefore a substantial task.
Jobtrack is based on an innovative model of intervention that incorporates:
? Individual case work and support in the management of offenders.
? Individual and group work with employers.
? Linking and brokering opportunities within local communities through existing Community Safety partnerships.
? A service across Northern Ireland, which is linked to the 3 prisons and all Probation Board offices.
? Mentoring support and a range of other motivational techniques.
We also seek to undertake policy comment and stakeholder engagement, to address legislative and/or recruitment practices, making sure individuals with a conviction receive fair consideration.
NIACRO, through its employment advice line, has already evidenced increasing negativity from employers, employment agencies and businesses to applicants and employees who have convictions. We anticipate this situation will be further compounded with the introduction of provisions relating to the Vetting and Barring Scheme in October 2009 and the provisions relating to registration and monitoring in July 2010.
Employers may not fully understand the requirements of the legislation and are likely to assume that anyone with a criminal record cannot be employed in a regulated or controlled activity. This is likely to lead to the existence of the ISA being used to avoid having to take on ex-offenders in the first place.
NIACRO wants tighter regulation and accountability in transferring responsibility to the employer as opposed to the employment agency. This would increase the opportunity to challenge those employers who make unfair recruitment decisions. At present, many people who experience unnecessary discrimination from businesses and agencies find it difficult to obtain any satisfactory resolution to their challenges.
Many of the employers we work with are not familiar with vetting procedures and will need to be supported through their new responsibilities. NIACRO recommends that DEL introduces comprehensive support and guidance to employers regarding key vetting legislation and bodies, namely the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (NI) Order 2007 and the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) Order (NI) 1979 (amended 1987, 2001, 2003 and 2009) and Access NI procedures.
NIACRO trust that the comments included in this response are useful and would welcome the opportunity to explore any issues further with you.