Working with offenders
Working their way out of offending
| This document is published for archival/historical purposes. It will not be updated. |
It’s a well-established fact that offenders face a high risk of unemployment on leaving prison. There is evidence that having a conviction makes access to some forms of employment very difficult. This report examines the effect that employment on release has on reconviction rates by examining two schemes - ASSET in Inner London, and Springboard in Surrey.
ASSET
The ASSET project was targeted at 16 to 25 year-olds in Lambeth and Southwark. It aimed to give recent offenders the skills and work experience required to get sustainable employment. Participants were given training by the Inner London Probation Service and given the opportunity to establish links with local training providers and the Prince’s Trust busines startup programme.
Surrey Springboard
Surrey Springboard had similar aims to ASSET, but was not targeted at a specific age range. Participants were offered training by Surrey Probation Service development officers and assistance in job-hunting. Participants were offered the chance to develop links with the Prince’s Trust, and offenders not yet ready for the job market were offered experience working on a recycling business which offered sheltered employment. Towards the end of its first year, Springboard became a New Deal Gateway and offered its services to other socially excluded groups.
Key Findings
The participants in ASSET showed a significantly lower reconviction rate (43%) than the 56% reconviction rate of those who did not attend. Comparative figures were not available for Springboard, but a detailed analysis of reconviction rates is given in the report.
Offenders on both programmes reported feeling that the help they had received had had a positive effect.
Schemes can take time to bed down. Established schemes are more likely to have an effect than new ones.
Download the Home Office Research Findings: "From offending to employment: A study of two probation schemes in Inner London and Surrey" (4 pages) 
PDF (26KB)
Download the Home Office Research Study, "Working their way out of offending: An evaluation of two probation employment schemes" December 2000 (116 pages) PDF (318KB)
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Last update: Thursday, August 28, 2008