10 replies to this topic

[MacGregor]

Companies will be given £5,600 each time they get an ex-prisoner into work and keep them on for more than two years, the government has announced.

Ministers are promising that those who are released from jails in England, Scotland and Wales and move on to jobseeker's allowance will be placed straight on to the Work Programme.

They say this will provide specialist help to make them more employable and reduce reoffending.

Ex-inmates have high joblessness rates.

Under the government's plans, benefit claims will be processed while prisoners are in jail so they will immediately join the Work Programme - designed for the long-term unemployed or those deemed most at-risk of becoming so - if they claim jobseeker's allowance when released.

'Crucial'

Firms will be able to start providing support and guidance about employment opportunities towards the end of inmates' sentences.

Employment minister Chris Grayling said: "Getting former offenders into work is absolutely crucial to tackling our crime challenge. The rate of reoffending in Britain is far too high and we have to reduce it.

"In the past we just sent people out on to the same streets where they offended in the first place with virtually no money and very little support. We're now working to change that."

Official figures for England and Wales showed that half of ex-offenders were on out-of-work benefits two years after being released from prison in 2008.

Prisons minister Crispin Blunt said: "Getting ex-prisoners into work at the earliest opportunity will help them stop reoffending.

"Referring offenders to the Work Programme straight from custody will ensure that they get help and support to find work as they leave custody, when they are currently most likely to start reoffending."

Meanwhile, a report warns that prison overcrowding is undermining the rehabilitation of criminals and risks increasing reoffending.

The Criminal Justice Alliance, which represents 64 organisations, called for the government to urgently limit "the unnecessary use of prison", ensuring it was reserved for "serious, persistent and violent offenders for whom no alternative sanction is appropriate".

It comes after Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick said the rising pressure on prisons from budget cuts and increasing numbers could not go on indefinitely.

The prison population in England and Wales hit 87,787 last week, down slightly on the all-time high of 88,179 set last December.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...litics-17266825

A proposal that is sure to cause some debate I suspect.

[Burnsy2023]

Seems like a good idea to me. If we stop someone reoffending, we'll save much more than 6k.

[Kellym82]

I have a lot of mixed opinions on this. I know a current offender who made a silly mistake when drunk and got put in jail for it. He is currently in an open prison, and will be looking for work when his release comes round at the end of the year.

Now, when I look at him and talk to him, I can tell that he knows he made a mistake, he's not a bad person, and I highly doubt he will ever reoffend. He deserves a job, and will work hard. Problem is, a lot of companies tar all ex-prisoners with the same brush, and it will prove hard to get through this.

I think the financial incentive may persuade some SMEs to employ ex-prisoners, but I'm not sure that amount of money will have any bearing on large corporations, or help them change their attitudes to ex-prisoners.

[hopeless_place]

It is very little...

its offering £5k if the employee stays for 2 years!

2 YEARS!!!! what if the guy turns out to be a total tube.

You fire him after he smashes a PC in anger and costs you £500.

And what's £5k let say its a full time position, and on minimum wage, £10k a year.

That's 6 months free, when you where probably training and investing time and money into the employee.

It should be an immediate payment of £2k with a delayed payment of £3k after 1 year.

[pottheed]

So what about the decent law-abiding citizens out there who are trying their utmost to get a job. Billy burglar comes out and he gets one straight away.

Hardly fair is it??

I think once you have been in jail, they should be placed (if they rely on council housing) in a different area of the country, so it at least gives them a chance of a fresh start if they really want it.

[pottheed]

Sorry duplicate

Edited by pottheed, 06 March 2012 - 01:21 PM.

[CmdKeen]

So what about the decent law-abiding citizens out there who are trying their utmost to get a job. Billy burglar comes out and he gets one straight away.

Hardly fair is it??

I think once you have been in jail, they should be placed (if they rely on council housing) in a different area of the country, so it at least gives them a chance of a fresh start if they really want it.

There are schemes that pay incentives for companies to take on non-criminals who have been out of work for significant periods of time. Ex-cons also have a smaller set of potential jobs going for them, and far fewer "cushty" ones. Working with computers as hopeless suggests is not likely to be one of them.

As for moving them across the country that hardly sounds like a sensible plan, even if it didn't breach the right to family life. We even endeavour to place inmates in prisons near where they are from so they can continue to see their family. Moving across the country to look for work should be encouraged, but the forced migration of people, especially from high crime areas to low crime ones (or Convict Swap... the new Channel 4 documentary), hardly sounds like a winner.

[Machiavelli]

I support anything which helps get prisoners into employment and lower our poor re-offending rate

[Rocket]

As an employer, I take on employees on their suitability for the role and a general gut feeling about them. Criminal record or not, if they fit the bill then they get the job.

If a government department called me up and said "Billy McFingers is after a job, we'll give you £5.6k if you can manage to employ him for more than 2 years" I don't think I'll take up the offer thank you very much, I will carry on employing people the way I have been, I will not be effectively bribed to take someone on.

[SteveAM]

I work in the two way radio industry and just had to have an enhanced crb because we do work in schools (very rarely) what about all the jobs like this?

[CmdKeen]

As an employer, I take on employees on their suitability for the role and a general gut feeling about them. Criminal record or not, if they fit the bill then they get the job.

If a government department called me up and said "Billy McFingers is after a job, we'll give you £5.6k if you can manage to employ him for more than 2 years" I don't think I'll take up the offer thank you very much, I will carry on employing people the way I have been, I will not be effectively bribed to take someone on.

View it as a reward then for being the kind of decent person who is willing to give ex-cons a second chance if they fit the bill. That money gives you a competitive advantage that should held you to do better compared to your competitor Jonny McBigot who hates ex-cons and won't have anything to do with them. In other words don't not take the money because you trust your gut, take it as an offset to the too much tax you're already paying! Not taking the money won't mean it suddenly gets spent on something else you'd rather it was spent on! *

It is the same thing as the marriage tax incentive plan, it shouldn't actually make people get married or not get divorced, it isn't that much - it is about recognising there are positive effects that save the government money in your actions and it wants to reward you for them.


* Government departments (not all, and it isn't just a state sector thing disclaimer) tend to just spend the rest of the budget on tat in order to justify it not being cut the next year...