It is widely acknowledged that sustained employment is one of the most effective ways to prevent re-offending and reduce harm. However, the odds are currently stacked against a former offender securing a job and keeping it. The barriers faced by people returning from custody include a lack of skills and work experience; employers’ negative perceptions; and a lack of support, information and advice.

Appropriate education and training in custody plays a crucial role in helping people returning from custody secure and sustain a job, but it is not enough on its own. Individuals are far better placed to make progress if the transition out of custody is adequately prepared for and managed.

In order to address this need, we have proposed the implementation of a set of ‘Employment Deployers’. These can either act as an intermediary to scale the expertise of smaller specialised third sector providers, or as a wholesale service which supports people into employment prior to and after release. These two approaches are not mutually exclusive and could be used in combination to varying degrees, depending on the local context – whether is a more pressing need to fill gaps in service provision or support better co-ordination between agencies.

This paper is designed to set out our current thinking around offender employment and highlight some of the evidence and research. It is a live document which will continue to develop so we welcome comments and suggestions.

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