FairChecks ambassador speaks of support received from Forward Trust after prison – and is now an employee
William Garnier, Housing and Resettlement Trainee at Forward, has featured in a new video on behalf of The FairChecks social movement, led by Transform Justice and Unlock, and funded by the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, calling for new legislative measures to improve the criminal records disclosure system in England and Wales.
In this new video, William talks candidly about his time in prison in which we explains how his addiction led him into a life of crime.
"After the 20th interview, I was sure I would never be employed again."
— FairChecks (@FairChecks) July 1, 2024
When FairChecks ambassador William was released from prison, all he wanted to do was build a stable life. But the criminal records system held him back.
🔗Check out his story here: https://t.co/lLLnQG9CAF pic.twitter.com/g7R6XTf9dT
Since his release from prison, William explains how Forward helped him become a volunteer before taking on the role of Housing and Resettlement Trainee.
“When I was in active addiction, I wasn’t my normal self…”
“Through my lived experience, I managed to get a voluntary job with The Forward Trust.
“So I was assisting people with housing issues…and a full time job came up as a resettlement and housing officer, I had a full on interview, like an hour long interview which I’d never had before.
“A month later they got in contact with me and tell me I’ve got the job! And I’ve been here since October (2023).
“I think that we’re probably trailblazers in that field of hiring people that have made mistakes in their lives.”
Forward has a number of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and William is part of our Lived Experience ERG, which support colleagues across the organisation in a range of ways – from improving our recruitment processes to in-house developments, including training and awareness sessions for staff. ERGs are led and developed in conjunction with our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team.
Read the article on the FairChecks website:
If you are interested in applying for a role at Forward please view our volunteering pages and/or our work for us pages.
About FairChecks
FairChecks is a movement calling for a fresh start for the outdated criminal records disclosure system in England and Wales, with a mission to make criminal record checks fairer so that everyone can contribute their talents to society.
FairChecks do this by building support for change, empowering affected individuals to take action, and persuading the government to act.