Major companies part of drive to get thousands of offenders in work
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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.
Prisoners left needing hospital treatment after taking 'drone-delivered' drugs. More ex-offenders getting jobs - but still battle stigma of employers who 'assume the worst'. Lord Timpson having 'conversations' about public sector hiring more ex-prisoners. 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.
