Top UK business leaders will spearhead a major new drive to get thousands of offenders into stable jobs and away from a life of crime.
New Employment Councils to bring probation, prisons and local businesses together
Household UK names including the Co-op and Oliver Bonas backing new initiative
Scheme aims to get more offenders into work to cut crime as part of Plan for Change
Bosses from household names including Greggs, Iceland and COOK will be among those to sit on new Employment Councils supporting offenders serving their sentence in the community into work.
They will build on the success of prison Employment Advisory Boards, which were created by Lord Timpson before he became a government minister. These have brought local business leaders into jails to improve education and prisoners’ ability to get work when released.
The new regional Employment Councils will expand this model out to the Probation Service and the tens of thousands of offenders serving their sentences in the community.
