A practical route forward.

Structured support for people rebuilding employment, exploring self-employment or dealing with administrative obstacles after a conviction or other significant barrier.

Start with a general enquiry

Please protect your privacy. Do not put details of convictions, allegations, health conditions, account information, passwords or other sensitive information into the public enquiry form. At first contact, tell us only what you are trying to achieve and the broad type of help you need. If Civic Helm can assist and further information is necessary, we will explain what is required and the appropriate way to provide it.

The programme

Start with the next workable step.

Second Chance does not assume every barrier can be removed. It separates what can be addressed now from what needs specialist help, more information or a longer-term approach.

Start Again

A structured initial assessment of the goal, barriers and priorities, leading to an action plan where the service is suitable.

What are you trying to achieve?
What is stopping progress?
What needs attention first?
Which issues can Civic Helm support?
Which issues need specialist referral?

Work Again

Practical employment preparation focused on presenting experience clearly and approaching opportunities realistically.

CV and employment history
Employment-gap presentation
Application strategy
Interview preparation
Disclosure preparation where appropriate
Identifying fair-chance routes

Build Again

For people considering self-employment or a small business as an alternative or additional way back into economic independence.

Business-idea assessment
Business planning
Basic systems and administration
Pricing and invoicing structure
Compliance-roadmap identification
Professional referrals where needed

Navigate Again

Help bringing correspondence, agencies, applications, documents and deadlines under control.

Issue mapping and chronology
Document organisation
Administrative next steps
Process navigation
Referral or escalation planning

What this is

Practical support without false promises.

Second Chance is designed to provide structure, preparation and navigation. It does not guarantee employment, housing, benefits, licences, record changes or decisions made by employers, courts, agencies or other third parties.

When specialist help is needed

Criminal-record advice, expungement or sealing, immigration, benefits, housing law, regulated financial advice, mental-health treatment and other specialist matters may require an appropriately qualified professional. Civic Helm will identify those boundaries rather than attempt to practise outside its role.

Who can enquire?

You can enquire for yourself or, where appropriate, on behalf of someone else with authority. The initial conversation is about the objective and whether Civic Helm is a sensible fit.

Second Chance services are scoped around the individual objective and the practical work Civic Helm can responsibly undertake. Availability may depend on the jurisdiction involved.

Employers matter too.

Second Chance works best when there are employers prepared to create genuine routes into work. Our Fair Chance Employer programme is the other side of the bridge.

Fair Chance Employers

Tell us the goal, not the conviction.

For the first enquiry, “I’m trying to get back into work”, “I want to start a business” or “I need help organising several administrative issues” is enough.

Make a general enquiry