Major companies part of drive to get thousands of offenders in work
9 January 2025, 18:17 | Updated: 10 January 2025, 05:33
Bosses of leading high street businesses are set to lead a new drive to cut crime and get ex-offenders into stable jobs.
It's part of a government initiative creating 11 new regional employment councils across England and Wales.
Leaders from firms including the Co-Op, Iceland, Greggs, and Oliver Bonas will provide voluntary advisory roles in conjunction with probation, job centres, and the Department for Work and Pensions.
The idea is to help ex-prisoners find work while they serve the remainder of their sentence in the community.
The government says roughly 80% of offending is reoffending, while the latest data shows offenders unemployed six weeks after leaving jail have a reoffending rate more than twice that of those in work - 35% versus 17%.
The employment councils will supplement the work of existing employment advisory boards, created by the former Timpsons chief executive, now prisons minister, Lord Timpson.
The advisory boards bring local leaders into 93 individual jails to help provide education and training advice, but largely stop at the prison gates.
The government wants the new councils to act as better bridges for offenders, under one umbrella - bringing together probation, prisons and local employers, helping prison leavers look for work.
This will include connections with work coaches at job centres that will provide mock interviews, CV advice and training opportunities in the community.
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Lord Timpson called the new scheme and partnering with business a "win win".
"Getting former offenders into stable work is a sure way of cutting crime and making our streets safer," he said.
Last month Sky News heard from former offender, Terry, now employed at the cobblers and key cutters Timpsons, about what he calls an "invisible stigma" for those with criminal records seeking employment.
He said getting a secure job was life-changing because without other options "you're probably going to think about doing crime".
Annie Gail, head of social impact at Cook Foods, which is taking part of the government's new scheme, also told Sky News that prison leaver programmes such as theirs are "challenging".
She said having ex-offenders in public-facing roles "can cause concern" but insists "good business is about more than just turning a profit" and instead is about being "a force for good in society".
The new scheme is set to start next week, and plans to get thousands of ex-offenders into stable jobs, away from a life of crime.
(c) Sky News 2025: Major companies part of drive to get thousands of offenders in work
