Britain's biggest businesses are being urged by the government to recruit prison leavers as part of a national campaign
Britain’s biggest businesses are being urged by the government to recruit prison leavers as part of a national campaign, supported by KPMG UK, to reduce reoffending and grow the economy.
The professional services firm – as part of a new pilot programme – has become the first white collar British business to employ ex-offenders as part of a government partnership. This is in addition to their wider efforts to support and retrain prisoners whilst in jail.
Having successfully employed their first cohort of prison leavers in a range of different roles, including technology development, they are now working with the Ministry of Justice to encourage other big-name businesses to follow suit.
Not only does this grow the economy and help fill some of the estimated one million vacancies in the UK job market, but it also helps secure employment which keeps former offenders on the straight and narrow, helping tackle the £18 billion annual cost of reoffending and cut crime. Prisons and Probation Minister Ed Argar said:
KPMG UK Chief Executive Jon Holt said:
The latest figures show that the proportion of ex-offenders who have been successfully steered into jobs within 6 months has more than doubled in the 2 years since April 2021.
Prison leavers in full-time employment are also roughly 10 percentage points less likely to re-offend when released and more than 90 per cent of surveyed businesses who employ prison leavers report they are motivated, have good attendance and are trustworthy.
Reflecting on his own journey after prison, a KPMG UK employee and ex-offender said:
This latest recruitment campaign follows a range of measures introduced by this government to upskill and educate prisoners as part of a major effort to secure them employment on release from prison.
This includes the establishment of New Futures Network, a specialist employment team that operates across the Prison Service and connects hiring businesses with prisons so employers can fulfil their recruitment vacancies. Following the introduction of the 2021 Prisons Strategy White Paper, we have also: