More than 300 British employers have joined the Ministry of Justice’s scheme to hire prison leavers over the past year, according to an MoJ press release. The department also confirmed a digital job-matching tool will be rolled out across prisons in England and Wales to link candidates with vacancies and support applications. The announcement was made at the MoJ’s annual employment advisory conference on Thursday 13 November.
Officials said the programme is designed to help address labour shortages, citing an estimated one million vacancies across the UK. Sign-ups include established brands such as Greggs, Iceland and Kier, adding to a growing network of firms prepared to recruit trained candidates on release.
The job-matching tool will align prisoners’ skills and work histories with employer requirements and enable applicants to progress through stages of recruitment prior to release. The Ministry of Justice describes this as part of a broader digital drive to connect businesses with what it terms untapped talent in custody.
Outcome data published by the Ministry of Justice indicates that, in the past 12 months, the share of prison leavers serving sentences of 12 months or more who were in employment within six months of release reached 38 per cent. That compares with 15 per cent in 2021.
Ministry of Justice analysis suggests that prison leavers in full-time work are roughly 10 percentage points less likely to reoffend. The department frames the approach as prevention through employment, with fewer future victims and improved community stability.
Employer feedback reported by the Ministry of Justice notes that more than 90 per cent of businesses hiring prison leavers describe them as motivated, reliable and with good attendance. Officials argue these outcomes support retention as well as recruitment into hard-to-fill roles.
Speaking at the conference, Minister for Probation, Prisons and Reducing Reoffending, Lord James Timpson, said employing ex-offenders cuts reoffending and fills gaps in the labour market. He linked the expansion to the government’s Plan for Change and continued investment in rehabilitation.
The department also highlighted a new participant, Gourmet Coffee, which will hire and train prison leavers, including at HMP Styal. Co-owner Liz Garnell said “everyone deserves a second chance”, citing positive results from the site’s programme.
Earlier this year the government launched Employment Councils, which bring probation, prisons, local employers and the Department for Work and Pensions into a single forum. According to the Ministry of Justice, these councils will broaden employment support for offenders in the community.
For employers, the roll-out offers a clearer route to candidates who can apply pre-release, with matching based on stated skills needs. For prisons and probation, it formalises a transition from in-custody training to employment that the Ministry of Justice says reduces reoffending and supports economic participation.