Manifesto updates

Originally published 20 March 2024, by Kirsten Elliott

We’ve updated our manifesto - here’s an explanation of the changes.

1.5 Recruiters must not require candidates to account for periods of time outside of employment or education.

We have called this out in the past: essentially it’s none of any employer’s business if someone has taken a break, for whatever reason. Some people will have reasons that relate to protected characteristics such as disability, for some it will be private family matters such as a bereavement. The question has always been unnecessary, but given the disruptive and traumatic impact of the Covid pandemic on many of our lives it is cruel.

In the past this question has been used by some employers as an indirect way of asking about time in prison, which brings us on to the second addition:

1.6 Recruiters should follow the Principles of Fair Chance Recruitment on recruiting people with criminal convictions, including reconsidering the need to ask about criminal convictions, and following rehabilitation and data protection legislation.

The brilliant charity Unlock has done extensive research into the experiences of people with criminal convictions and developed the Principles of Fair Chance Recruitment. Their  practical guidance for recruiting people with criminal records is an amazing resource.

2.4. Salaries must conform to the Real Living Wage or (if within Greater London) the London Living Wage, as set by the Living Wage Foundation.

We’ve added the sentence “This includes apprenticeships and traineeships” to the end of our explanation for this point. Apprentices and trainees need to be paid enough to live.

6.17. Applications must not require unnecessary information or ask for the same information multiple times.

We have often called out employers for asking for a CV AND a cover letter AND an application form. As candidates, we’ve also experienced having to supply information utterly irrelevant to suitability for the job (GCSE results and past employers’ addresses, for example). It’s disrespectful to candidates’ time and very, very annoying. It’s inequitable too, as it’s likely to disproportionately impact people who need more time to provide written information, such as those with certain disabilities. 

9. References

This is an entirely new section, but an important one: the process of getting references can be extremely fraught and stressful. For many candidates it’s unclear and confusing exactly what information is required and why. We’ve seen some really bad practice in this area, such as asking about numbers of sick days taken or accommodations for disabilities: information irrelevant to whether someone can do the job, which would be against data protection principles to provide, and which might lead to illegal discrimination. 

Our new principles state that employers must inform candidates when referees will be contacted, and the nature and purpose of the reference.  With this in place candidates will be empowered to make better choices about who to supply as a reference. Recruiters must only ask applicants to give consent to contact referees when necessary, so they do not have to unnecessarily reveal to current managers that they are applying for new roles. We also believe no-one should be disadvantaged by the reference policy of any organisation e.g. if a former employer refuses to give character references.

Please get in contact if you have any feedback on our manifesto changes, or come across any examples which or employers doing especially badly or well on these points.