About Working Chance#
Working Chance has helped women with convictions into work since 2009, and describes itself as the UK's only employment charity solely for them. It also works with employers, through a guide to recruiting people with convictions and its "1 in 4" campaign on fair use of criminal record checks, and with policymakers, through a group of women with lived experience. In the year to August 2025 it supported 341 women, and 93 found jobs through it. Women can come back for help with a later career move too.
Getting support#
You can refer yourself through the get in touch form, which asks how it is safe to contact you by voicemail, text or email, and promises a call within 24 hours. A support worker then helps with your CV, interviews and how to tell employers about a conviction. A professional can use the referral form or email instead.
Who it is for:
- women, and people who identify as non-binary, with any conviction, however old and whatever it was for;
- people living in England or Wales; its form explains that different employment law means it cannot help in Scotland or Northern Ireland;
- people ready to work: where housing or substance use needs come first, its referral page says it is probably not the right service yet.
Most support is by phone or video, so a device and internet help, though it asks people to get in touch anyway if that is a barrier.
What its coaches say about names#
Unusually among the charities we read, Working Chance writes about a change of name directly. In "The power of her name" (December 2021), one of its coaches writes that it is not uncommon for a woman to change her name by deed poll after a conviction, usually so that an employer searching online does not find the conviction before she has had the chance to disclose it, and sometimes simply for a fresh start. The same post is about names more widely: asking a woman what she likes to be called, and saying it properly.
A July 2022 post on removing online articles notes that some people change their surname to stop being found by searches, and links to Unlock's guide. It also explains asking Google to remove links under the right to be forgotten, which needs proof of identity.
A new name and disclosure#
The blog's point is about timing: a new name gives a woman the chance to disclose on her own terms. It does not change what has to be disclosed. A standard or enhanced DBS application asks for every name you have used, and a check searches them all. Working Chance's advice is to disclose verbally and then follow up in writing. Anyone on the sex offenders register must also tell the police of a new name within 3 days of using it, and anyone on licence must tell their supervising officer.
Read more here#
- Can I change my name if I have a criminal record?: police, licence, prison and check rules together.
- What DBS asks for: how a check uses the names you have had.
- Can I vote with photo ID in my old name?: a problem Working Chance raised before the 2024 general election, when photo ID and the electoral register show different names.
This page describes what Working Chance publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. Working Chance has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
