Employing ex offenders

Getting offenders into employment has benefits for everyone: the employer, the community and the offender.

Employers can benefit by gaining new staff who are ready for work and can offer valuable skills and experience. Providing training for offenders can solve a skills shortage. It can also help to address labour shortages. So you can build a fully staffed, fully trained team.

Offenders benefit from the opportunity to start afresh. Employment is recognised as one of the seven pathways out of offending. It is a key factor in turning away from criminal behaviour and re-joining society as a law abiding citizen.

Communities benefit from having more people making a positive contribution to society. Offenders who have the opportunity to work are far less likely to reoffend. Instead, they are contributing to the local community.

How we support employers

We work in partnership with the Regional Employment Collation Group, who can provide employers with relevant information to help with recruitment. This includes:

• Information on employment law.
• Disclosure of convictions: when an offender is required to disclose a conviction, when an employer is required to ask for this.
• The criminal records bureau and employers' rights to access criminal record checks.
• Advice on how to handle disclosure in the workplace.

Some companies claim “we don’t employ ex offenders”. How do you know? By working with the probation service you can be sure you have accurate information on the individuals we support you in recruiting.