Only 17 percent of offenders released from prison find work within a year. A new government strategy is incentivising businesses to help change that... but prisons are worried they won't have the capacity to carry it out properly.
What it means: The 'inmate education and employment strategy' is a programme for prison governors to link up offenders with local businesses in an attempt to get them into jobs upon release.
Employers are offered a National Insurance Contributions holiday for hiring ex-offenders. Seeing as re-offending rates cost the government £15bn a year, it pays off.
Prison officers are worried that staffing cuts will make it difficult for them oversee the programme. They're relying on supportive businesses to help them make it work.
Gary Rosewell, a business owner who's hired 14 inmates over the years, told Sky News, "If you release them with a few quid in their pocket and no prospects, what do you expect? I'm not condong it, but that's the vicious cycle...business leaders need to recognise that and give them another chance."
