- Over 300 businesses join efforts to plug labour shortfalls
and grow the economy
- New job matchmaking tool to be rolled out across prisons in
England and Wales
- Employment to help ex-offenders turn backs on crime and
reduce reoffending
Over 300 top British businesses have signed up to the
Government's recruitment initiative in the last 12 months,
joining household names like Greggs, Iceland and Kier in helping
fill some of the estimated one million vacancies in the UK job
market.
The Prison Service has also unveiled bold new plans to deploy a
digital job-matching tool that will connect prisoners with
employment opportunities and support them through the application
process, as part of a wider tech drive to link potential
employers with untapped talent behind bars.
In the last 12 months, the proportion of prison leavers serving
sentences of 12 months or more who were employed within six
months of release has more than doubled, rising to an all-time
high of 38 per cent, compared with 15 per cent in 2021.
This announcement was made by the Prisons and Probation Minister
at the Ministry of Justice's annual employment advisory
conference (Thursday 13 November), where business leaders from
across the country met to explore how they can support prison
leavers into work.
Minister for Probation, Prisons and Reducing Reoffending, Timpson, said:
I know firsthand the value of employing ex-offenders. It slashes
reoffending, prevents crime before it happens, and helps grow the
economy by filling vital gaps in the UK job market.
That's why we're investing in rehabilitation and supporting
prisoners into jobs to give them a real chance to turn their
lives around, as part of our Plan for Change.
Data shows that prison leavers in full-time employment are
roughly 10 percentage points less likely to re-offend when
released from custody, which means less crime, and fewer future
victims. More than 90 per cent of surveyed businesses who employ
prison leavers report they are motivated, have good attendance
and are trustworthy.
In a further move to cut crime, well known coffee shop firm
Gourmet Coffee has become the latest high street name to hire
ex-offenders and offer recruits tailored training to help them
stay on the straight and narrow.
Liz Garnell, Co-owner of Gourmet Coffee:
For me, everyone deserves a second chance. It's not just to
rebuild their lives, but for them to contribute their skills, of
which we have tapped into with great success at HMP Styal.
Earlier this year the Government launched Employment Councils
which bring together probation, prisons, local employers and DWP
under one umbrella for the first time. The new bodies will
broaden employment support for offenders in the community.
This initiative supports the government's broader mission to fix
the foundations of the justice system by cutting crime, reducing
reoffending and helping people rebuild their lives through the
power of work.
