Provide information for any employee with a conviction. Having gone through your recruitment process your new colleague will already have a sense of your company culture and your openness to people with convictions. However, giving them more detailed information around the support that is available and where to go if they have any future fears or concerns is important. You may wish to give them some guidance about keeping their conviction confidential and what to do if another colleague discovers the fact or even decides to “out” them as having a conviction.

Explain the company’s policy on disclosure. It is important that you are clear publicly on your stance on whether disclosure is require for specific jobs and the legal duty to disclose unspent convictions when/if asked. However, you should include whether or not disclosure is required and to whom, if a colleague is convicted subsequently to them being employed. A statement on your website can be linked to in a job ad and can also be included in your Recruiting Ex-Offenders Policy. Define a website and job advert statement on recruiting people with convictions

Explain your confidentiality policy. Information around criminal convictions is very sensitive information and must be stored appropriately. You should let your new colleague know how any disclosed information will be handled and stored, and who has access to it. We would ensure that it is held separately from routine HR folders and access is limited to those who absolutely need to know. Review the security, expiry, and data management of criminal conviction information

Explain who the employee can go to for advice and guidance. If you have decided to appoint an Inclusion Champion within your organisation, providing their contact details and explaining their remit would be a good start. However, you may also have a single point of contact within HR who can deal with any internal issues which need to be addressed. Appoint an Ex-offender Inclusion Champion

Provide details of other organisations which can offer support if needed. If you have decided to outsource elements of your recruitment process around disclosure to a trusted specialist partner organisation, you may find that they can offer further specialist advice and guidance to any colleagues with convictions. There are many specialist advice sites with free information which may help colleagues who have a conviction. These address issues from legal points to more general advice such as travelling abroad, varying tag times, when a conviction will become spent and understanding any restrictions. See: Home - Unlock and We See Your Future, Whatever The Past | Nacro

Do you have an ex-offender workplace Inclusion Champion?  Introduce them so the new employee knows there is someone to turn to. Appoint an Ex-offender Inclusion Champion