Nearly 60pc of West Midlands employers aim to hire ex-offenders
Nearly 60 per cent of businesses in the West Midlands say they expect to hire ex-offenders this year.
A study, commissioned by food services and facilities management business Sodexo, found that recruitment challenges are encouraging employers to consider taking on ex-offenders.
The findings mark the launch of Sodexo’s new campaign Starting Fresh which will encourage, and provide guidance to businesses on proactively hiring ex-offenders.
It found that 30 per cent of West Midlands businesses say they are struggling to fill more than 10 job vacancies in their organisation.
Despite this, 34 per cent say they do not believe they currently employ any ex-offenders but 59 per cent say they anticipate hiring ex-offenders in the year ahead.
Also 59 per cent agreed that ex-offenders could help farmers to fill shortages of food pickers and delivery drivers.
Sodexco, which runs six UK prisons on behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Scottish Prison Service, said that the study sought to understand the extent to which prison-leavers and ex-offenders who have not served custodial sentences have the same employment opportunities as other job seekers.
Through Starting Fresh, the organisation is collaborating with partners including New Futures Network, The Oswin Project, Clean Sheet and Novus Works to help remove the perceived barriers associated with the employment of ex-offenders, which hold back the reintegration of people into communities.
