Government urged to tap into employersí willingness to recruit ex-offenders

Three-quarters of organisations would consider employing ex-offenders if they had the relevant skills. But in order to improve the employability of ex- offenders and help break the re-offending cycle the Government needs to focus on improving and raising awareness about the support available to employers and equip ex-offenders with more marketable job skills, according to the latest findings from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

The survey - íEmploying ex-offenders to capture talentí - shows that employers are most concerned about ex-offenders having soft workplace skills like honesty, reliability and good personal behavioural skills, not just basic numerical, literacy and technical job skills. But employer concerns could be addressed as four-fifths of employers with a positive experience say that ex-offenders settle into work well with colleagues, perform well and are reliable.

Dianah Worman OBE, CIPD Diversity Adviser says: Ex-offenders are a largely unused pool of talent which employers could access as a way of helping to reduce skills shortages. Getting involved in the rehabilitation of ex-offenders through corporate social responsibility initiatives will help to create economically successful communities in which individuals and businesses can benefit.

While improving the employability of ex-offenders through training is accepted as key to the rehabilitation of offenders, the Government need to ensure training meets the needs of employers, improve the communication about support available for employers and work with the media to change stereotypes about ex- offenders.

Training provision in prisons is patchy and offenders are frequently moved between them. This seriously reduces rehabilitation prospects for offenders. For training to be successful in leading to jobs, its availability needs to be consistent across all prisons so that offenders can continue learning regardless of their location

The survey finds employers are more likely to offer jobs to ex-offenders who have gone straight for at least two years while relatively few offer jobs to ex- offenders either directly from prison or offenders under Probation Service supervision. Nevertheless one in ten say that they would consider offering jobs to offenders under license or supervision and a further three-fifths of organisations say they that this is something they would consider if they had more information and support.

This underlines the need for a national communication strategy to influence and inform employersí perceptions about the potential benefits of employing ex- offenders. The Government needs to take a lead on this, as getting a job is the single most important factor in reducing re-offending.

Key findings:
UK organisations are four times more likely to report a positive experience when employing an ex-offender than a negative one and around four-fifths of these say that ex-offenders settle into work well with colleagues, perform well and are reliable.

Three-quarters of employers indicate that they would consider employing ex-offenders if they had the relevant skills that fit the needs of the organisation. This is followed by evidence of achievements and courses obtained while serving a sentence (51%), and external support for line managers and employees (49%).

Around half (53%) of organisations report experience of employing ex-offenders, with the voluntary sector (75%) having the greatest involvement, followed by the public sector (71%), with the private sector lagging behind at 34%.

Most of those employers (51%) who had knowingly recruited ex-offenders had done so over the last two years.

The most important skills and qualities when considering employing ex-offenders are honesty (92%), reliability (89%) and personal behaviour (84%). Relevant job skills are seen as being the most critical in the public services (68%) and least important in the manufacturing and production sector (28%).

46% of organisations say that an employer support service for employing ex-offenders would be valuable to them.

Only a third of organisations are aware of programmes provided to support the rehabilitation of offenders in prison or those who are under the supervision of the Probation Service.

While few organisations (8%) with experience of employing ex-offenders choose to promote this through the media around two-thirds (65%) of those organisations that had promoted employing ex-offenders say it had delivered a positive impact on their corporate reputation.