Working for yourself
The one door nobody can close: no application form, no box to tick.
Today: sole trader setup
Free on GOV.UK, takes twenty minutes. No DBS check exists for being your own boss.
No check at allFirst earnings: sell what you can do
Trades, cleaning rounds, delivery, barbering, tiling — most self-employed prison leavers start with skills they already had.
Month 3+: make it real
A business bank account, simple invoices, put a third of everything aside for tax. Free support exists for exactly this.
The ceiling: you decide
Some of the strongest small businesses in the country are run by people who couldn't get past application forms — so they stopped filling them in.
Not sure where your record stands? Since October 2023 most records become spent far sooner than people assume — and spent records are invisible to a Basic check.
Check yours — it stays on your phone →Real places to start
Links open the real provider. Good:Folk never sits in the middle.
Employers that actively hire on this route
Public programmes for hiring people with convictions — doors that actually open.
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