30% OF EMPLOYERS SET TO HIRE EX-OFFENDERS TO HELP PLUG LABOUR SHORTAGE | Tony Simpson SODEXO UK&I

Podcast Radio Business Interviews

Tony Simpson, Justice Operations Director of SODEXO UK & I talks to Clayton M. Coke of Podcast Radio Business dispel some of the myths around the employment of ex-offenders.

Helping an ex-offender into employment can have a significant and lasting impact on both the level of crime and society as a whole. And now a new study indicates that many employers are open to hiring ex-offenders in 2023 in a bid to fill vacancies.

One in three (30%) UK businesses in the private sector say they do not currently employ any ex-offenders, despite the majority (62%) struggling to fill positions – according to a new study commissioned by Sodexo, which runs six UK prisons on behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Scottish Prison Service. What’s more, the research shows 43% businesses are finding it difficult to fill in excessof 10 current vacancies.

However, the research – commissioned with over 1,000 owners and senior leaders with hiring responsibilities across British businesses – finds nearly two thirds (61%) will be hiring ex-offenders in 2023, compared to just 21% that will not.

When asked about their greatest concerns, one quarter (25%) agreed they were worried employees would re-offend, and the same proportion agreed they feared for the safety of the rest of their workforce (25%). More than one in five (23%) agreed that they wouldn’t trust them to behave appropriately at work.

According to the UK government, though the proportion of prison-leavers who were employed at six months from their release rose by almost two thirds between April 2021 and March 2022 to 23%, this must improve.

Indeed, the research highlights nine false assumptions about the employment of ex-offenders – including 66% of employers incorrectly believing half of ex-offenders find a job within a year of release and 62% wrongly believing ex-offenders who get a job after prison are just as likely to re-offend as those who don’t.

The best possible outcome is for offenders not to return to old patterns and never offend again. Sodexo is launching the campaign ‘Starting Fresh’ today, and is collaborating with partners including New Futures Network, The Oswin Project,Clean Sheet and Novus Works to help remove the perceived barriers associated with the employment of ex-offenders, which hold back the reintegration of people into communities.