SKILLS
Rehabilitation of offenders can be a virtuous circle
One element of the Chamber’s recent QES findings for Q4 2019 was entirely unsurprising – businesses are struggling to recruit individuals with the right skill-set, with many suggesting this is a problem for their organisation. Vic Holbrey, former Director of Operations at Doncaster Chamber, spoke with Business Network about the untapped resource in prisons that could help combat this perennial issue.
Vic is now the North Midlands Prison Group broker for the New Futures Network (NFN), the specialist part of the prison service that brokers partnerships between prisons and employers. The objective of this work is to ultimately see more ex-offenders into employment on release.
HOW YOUR BUSINESS CAN BENEFIT – FILLING SKILLS AND EMPLOYMENT SHORTAGES Prisoners and ex-offenders have a wide range of skills to suit almost any sector, making them ideal, job-ready candidates. The New Futures Network is represented in all prisons across England
and Wales. It works with businesses and prisons through a tailored approach, to support individuals into the most relevant training and work experience that will set them up for jobs on release. It looks to maximise the opportunities with as many businesses as possible in key industry sectors and, crucially, contribute to solving the real issues businesses face with recruitment. “Many prisons already work with groups of local and national
businesses,” explains Vic, who currently works with four prisons - HMP Ranby, HMP Nottingham, HMP Sudbury and HMP Stocken. “These numbers are rising as businesses recognise the untapped
potential that exists in prisons. HMP Ranby, a Chamber member, is a good example. I believe it has the second-largest industrial footprint across the prison service. It delivers so much in areas such as plastic injection moulding, welding, engineering, powder coating, sheet metal manufacturing, carpentry, horticulture, construction and waste management, just to name a few.” By working with prisons, businesses could complement their workforce
with motivated, committed and appropriately-skilled individuals who not only see a job opportunity, but an opportunity to change their own and their families' lives forever.
DOING MORE THROUGH A SECOND CHANCE – REDUCING REOFFENDING From data published in July 2018, the estimated costs of reoffending by adults was over £16bn. However, offenders who found P45 employment in the 12 months after release from prison had one-year re-offending rates that were six-to-nine percentage points lower than similar offenders who did not find employment. Many see imprisonment as the main role of the prison service. It is also a
crucial opportunity to rehabilitate individuals who want to turn their backs on crime. Having a job helps people stay out of prison, get their lives back on track and is proven to reduce reoffending.
EXPLORE THE OPPORTUNITIES There are several opportunities to increase your workforce. NFN will support businesses’ work with prisons every step of the way. The first step is to identify what level of education, skills, experience and qualifications your vacancies require and share these with NFN. NFN will then work with your business on any or all the following opportunities: 1. Up-skill individuals through bringing your work and training into the prison in the form of workshops.
84 business network February 2020
Ex-offenders can provide a ready-made workforce
2. Offer paid work placements for individuals on Release On Temporary Licence. This is where risk-assessed individuals in the past two years of their sentence can leave the prison on day release to take up work. This provides a valuable opportunity to get to know individuals and provide experience in the usual business setting. 3. Providing jobs for individuals on release.
For more information on the New Futures Network, and how your business can get involved, contact Vic at
vic.holbrey@justice.gov.uk or 07971 493934, or sign up at
https://offenderemployment.campaign.gov.uk
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