A new report aimed at tackling economic inactivity amongst prison leavers has been released by a group of Britain’s biggest employers.

Taking inspiration from the Government’s key goal of driving up growth by increasing employment rates, particularly amongst traditionally hard-to-reach groups, the report sets out changes that are urgently needed to reduce unemployment amongst one such group, people leaving prison.

Lidl, Greggs, Timpson and Cook came together, with charities and individuals with lived experience to draw up a series of practical recommendations to industry and to Ministers. The group plans to follow the report by formally meeting in a regular basis to progress and implement the ideas led by industry and communicate with ministers about their ideas to seek support.

Amongst the proposals are the development of quality standards which can be applied to all employer-led ex-offender employment programmes and the creation of a candidate referral scheme, allowing prison-leavers and employers alike to find the best fit with candidates they know will be work-ready.

In addition, the group is recommending a national employer education programme to support organisations to hire prison-leavers and to understand how to support them in their roles. Employers can consider befriending and mentoring schemes and working with their existing teams to reduce prejudice by challenging assumptions about prison leavers.

A National Insurance ‘holiday’ for job roles filled by prison leavers is one ask of Government the group is considering, to incentivise employers to take the plunge and hire prison-leavers for the first time.

The group is also considering how AI assisted job matching could allow prison leavers and employers to be matched more effectively, overcoming the biases that exist in current digital recruitment paths and much of the publicly available AI training data.

As well as supporting growth, stable employment is vitally important in helping people to move on with their lives after release from prison and cutting reoffending rates.

The report, titled ‘Unlocking Potential: Employment Pathways for Prison Leavers in the UK’ also recommends trailing an inclusive job-matching platform for prison leavers to tackle problems they may have in being screened out of traditional hiring platforms and methods.

Kenny Boyle, CEO of PeoplePlus, said: “It is crucial for the health of our economy, the safety of the public, and the wellbeing of the individuals themselves that we address the barriers that stop prison leavers finding jobs.

“Employers will also find many prison-leavers prove to be extremely loyal and hardworking employees and that their organisation benefits from giving back to the communities they operate in.

“These recommendations come from people with real-world experience in this area. They signal a way forward for businesses to add social value to the communities where they operate, by helping prison leavers into work.”

For employers seeking advice and guidance interested in implementing inclusive recruitment and employment practices, the social recruitment covenant is a great place to start.