Hiring prison leavers: answering the questions employers are too scared to ask
As an employer, it is understandable that you might be nervous to ask certain questions about hiring prison leavers.
What are the practical steps? Should I tell my staff? Will I need an extra training budget? What are the benefits for my business beyond doing something positive for society?
At Breakthrough we believe in transparency and radical candour. We want to create space for honest conversations about the realities of recruiting prison leavers, to empower the employers to make impactful hiring decisions.
Below is a Q&A covering a number of questions employers ask us when they’re thinking about hiring a prison leaver for the first time.
We know this might not cover absolutely everything, so if you have any more questions or just fancy a chat please email us on hello@wearebreakthrough.org or book in a call using this link.
1. Will prison leavers have the required skills to do the job?
Reliable, loyal and entrepreneurial
Multiple reports clearly highlight a range of positive skills, attitudes and characteristics that are common amongst prison leavers. These include:
Over 80% of employers of people who’ve been in prison have positively rated their reliability, motivation, attendance and performance.
Evidence from employers, such as Marks & Spencer, shows that someone who’s been in prison places a higher value on having a job because of a desire to stay out of prison. This often means that as employees, prison leavers have high levels of loyalty and retention, which keeps institutional knowledge and your investment in skills within your business.
Prison inmates possess a number of highly desirable entrepreneurial traits, such as self-achievement, personal innovation, desire for feedback and avoiding risk — according to research from the Centre of Entrepreneurs. The research shows that prison inmates outperform both managers and entrepreneurs in slow growth firms across a range of entrepreneurial categories.
Table 1: Entrepreneurial traits comparison of prison inmates, entrepreneurs and managers, Centre for Entrepreneurs, May 2016
Here at Breakthrough, we interview and recruit the best talent from prison. By partnering with us, you will get access to a group of people who are highly career motivated and engaged.
Training in UK prisons is “poor”
Education and training are available within UK prisons. But due to “long-term decline in both the quality of education and the number of prisoners participating in learning or training”, a 2022 House of Commons Committee report described it as “poor”.
In December 2020, Ofsted reported that nearly two-thirds of inspections showed poor management of the quality of education, skills and work in the custodial estate.
What does this all mean? Well — some prison leaver hires may not have all the required skills to do the jobs from day 1, but they have huge amounts of potential. This potential can be unlocked by providing genuine opportunities with the type of intensive training provided by Breakthrough (more on this below).
2. Will I need to source an additional budget and provide training?
Prison leavers, as with any new starters, would benefit from training. As an organisation you can use the government’s Apprenticeship Levy to cover any training costs. This means that training is effectively free.
You can work with prison leaver training and recruitment organisations, like Breakthrough, that screen candidates, provide specific technical training as well as soft skills training.
We run 8 week pre-apprenticeship training programmes and successful graduates then move onto their apprenticeship programme with employers.
Our Associates are trained across aspects of digital apprenticeship including product management, software development and data analysis. They build portfolios of their work and develop broader skills such as communication and team building.
3. Does the government offer any support to employers hiring prison leavers?
Apprenticeship training support
Prison leavers are often a really good fit for apprenticeship programmes — they have talent and ambition and are eager to build their skills through training. This is also a really cost-efficient way of hiring and training staff as for most companies it is free, and for smaller companies who do need to contribute, organisations like Breakthrough can source this funding from their levy donor partners.
There are further opportunities and incentives for recruiting people within certain categories or age groups.
Once the apprenticeship is over, which usually lasts two years, businesses are given the opportunity to hire their trained employee.
The government provide a number of useful online resources for employers, such as:
New Futures Network https://newfuturesnetwork.gov.uk/
Supporting prison leavers: a guide to Universal Credit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-prison-leavers/supporting-prison-leavers-a-guide-to-universal-credit
Hiring prison leavers unlocks lucrative government contracts
All suppliers that want to bid for government contracts — worth a total of £284 billion each year — have at least 10% of their assessment based on “social value”. One way of bolstering your firm’s “social value” is to hire prison leavers, who are referenced as a priority group by the government across two of the five social value themes.
You can read more about the process here.
4. I’m on board, but I need to persuade senior management. What should I do?
Speak to us
Please speak to us — email us hello@wearebreakthrough.org or book in a call using this link.
We are here to answer any questions you may have about the process. We promise to speak openly, honestly and transparently. There are no silly questions, so do get in touch!
We also host events for employers and people who have had a non-traditional career into tech. Follow us on social media to join these events.
We are also happy to arrange “lunch and learn” sessions led by prison leavers for any members of your team.
These sessions help go beyond the numbers and research and help to humanise the discussion and facilitate open conversations with people who have lived experience of being in prison.
Outline some of the business benefits
Sharing some of the business benefits of hiring prison leavers is a great way to start the conversation.
The New Futures Network lists of “reason to work with prisoners and ex-offenders” includes:
Reducing initial recruitment and job advertising costs
Diversity, inclusion and social responsibility
Resolving skills shortages
Reducing staff absence
Increasing staff retention
This article is also packed full of useful information, research and resources. Share a link or pick out some of the statistics quoted.
Share inspirational stories
Statistics and research are great, but sometimes you need to go beyond numbers.
There are lots of inspirational stories and business case studies that you can share. Below are some of our favourites:
Hear award winning poet and author Benjamin Zephaniah talk about his experience of being in a gang, going through the prison system and coming out the other side on author and journalist Elizabeth Day’s podcast How to Fail
Read some inspiring stories about prison leavers setting up their own businesses in the Centre for Entreprenuer’s “Prison Entrepreneurs” report.
Read about bakery chain Greggs’ Fresh Start Programme and retailer Timpsons’ Prison Training Academy
Reassure them about the process
It is completely legal to hire people with convictions and there are no blanket rules about this. You don’t need to change your whole HR process, but instead assess each hire on a case by case basis.
Justice charity Nacro has an excellent Q&A on “Hiring someone with a criminal record” that we recommend.
5. Should we tell our staff that we have hired prison leavers? Should we talk about hiring prison leavers publicly?
When it comes to individual hires, we recommend to only disclose this information to those that “need-to-know”. This might be their line manager or those that are directly involved in the recruiting process. New hires should also be told precisely who this information is being shared with, so they are aware of how their information has been shared.
But, there are positive business benefits to sharing your social impact initiatives with the public.
A report from the New Futures Network found that 81% of people think businesses employing prison leavers are making a positive contribution to society. Meanwhile, 92% of employers said diverse recruitment has enhanced their reputation, helping them win new contracts and business. Brands embedded with social impact have also been shown to positively influence consumer behaviour. Research from Barclays found that 64% of young Brits are more likely to buy from brands with a social goal.
Please remember the new hires may want to remain anonymous and so if you do want to talk about it publicly, we advise you speak about it in general terms. If case studies are collected, please do so with care and put in place appropriate safeguarding measures to support that individual.
6. Why should we dedicate resources to hiring prison leavers over other social impact causes?
Hiring one of our trained Associates provides a genuine opportunity to help deconstruct systems of oppression.
A huge amount of stigma is still attached to being a prison leaver.
This cloud of shame obstructs people from seeing the array of intersecting social and economic factors — access to education, access to opportunities, toxic masculinity, white supremacy — that may have contributed to their incarceration.
Alongside stable housing, long-term employment offers the stability and security people need to get their life back on track and drastically reduces the chance of reoffending.
By hiring a prison leaver you are directly tackling a whole range of complex social issues with just one decision.
Table 2: Re-offending rates by P45 employment status in the year after release from custody in 2008, Ministry of Justice, March 2013
