Social Mobility: Driving more career opportunities for people with criminal convictions through Starting Fresh

Could your business consider recruiting someone with a criminal conviction?

 

Do you have concerns about this? Our Starting Fresh employer toolkit has been produced to address your questions and provides next steps to help you get started.

 

At Sodexo, we have been running prisons in the UK for 30 years and are committed to rehabilitating offenders, treating those in our care with dignity and providing opportunities for purposeful activity. Our employment, education and rehabilitation services give them the skills, qualifications and support to lead law-abiding lives in their community on release.

Watch this video to take a look inside HMP Peterborough

Meet the tutors and employment experts working with prisoners to support their rehabilitation, and find out how industry leaders are encouraging businesses to consider hiring people with convictions.

Prison-leaver stories

starting-fresh-collage-503x503

Education, skills training and externally assessed qualifications available in UK prisons

Education facilities in prisons have the same standards and the same focus on results as they do in any educational facility on the other side of the gates. They are inspected by OFSTED to ensure this.


During their time in prison, people have the opportunity to train and study for a broad range of City & Guilds qualifications, GCSEs, A Levels and Open University degrees.


To learn more about some of the vocational skills being taught in our prisons, download the Starting Fresh skills packs below.

Download the Starting Fresh skills packs to learn about the vocational skills being taught in our prisons

Rehabilitation to recruitment

  • One year on: How Starting Fresh is supporting employers and changing lives

    Starting Fresh is Sodexo’s initiative to support employers in proactively recruiting trained and qualified ex-offenders. Commitment from organisations and colleagues is plugging skills gaps and keeping lives on track.
    One-year-on-Sean-blog_503
    Read about Starting Fresh one year on

  • Resettling prisoners after release: getting ex-offenders into the workforce

    Sodexo's Tony Simpson, Justice Operations Director, addresses how upskilling, retraining, and boosting confidence activity across our prisons is supporting prisoners into positive futures.
    Resettling-prisoners-after-release_503
    Find out more about resettling prisoners

  • Unlocking construction opportunities to reduce re-offending

    An initiative developed by the New Futures Network – part of HM Prisons and Probation Service gives prisoners the chance to discuss career opportunities with companies who operate in their release areas.
    starting-fresh-construction-503
    Read about unlocking New Futures
Frequently asked questions_503x503

Your questions answered

We have compiled these frequently asked questions (FAQs) based on conversations with thousands of prospective employers in the early stages of considering recruiting an ex-offender. If your question is not answered here, please contact us.

Frequently asked questions
starting-fresh-make-an-enquiry-503x503

Make an enquiry

You can contact us, or one of our partners, to help you get started – whether you want to visit a prison to see the skills training in action, organise an employer day to recruit a number of people, or even just ask a question not addressed in our FAQ.

Contact the Starting Fresh team

Partner Organisations

  • ban_the-box-logo-100x100
  • dei-logos-partners-new future
  • dei-logos-partners-clean-sheet
  • dei-logos-partners-novus
  • dei-logos-partners-oswin
  • srag-logo-100x100

£24,269 

SROI per ex-offender recruited into your business

This Social Return on Investment figure is measured using the National TOMs (themes, outcomes and measures) framework.

Latest Starting Fresh news and insights

You may also be interested in...