More offenders will be able to serve their sentences while at work under new Labour laws announced by minister James Timpson.
The businessman, who was appointed prisons minister in July, says the plan will help reduce reoffending rates.
Household UK brands like Co-op, Greggs and Iceland have all signed up to the scheme, and will be amongst members on several new regional Employment Councils – also partnered with the DWP – to support offenders into work placements.
The move builds on work done by Lord Timpson out of office during his time as boss of the Timpson Group. The company is well-known for its policy of employing ex-convicts, making up ten per cent of its workforce, alongside a strong record on employment rights.
Lord Timpson, said: “Getting former offenders into stable work is a sure way of cutting crime and making our streets safer. That’s why partnering with businesses to get more former offenders into work is a win-win.
open image in galleryPrisons minister Lord James Timpson (© House of Lords / photography by Roger Harris)
“The Employment Advisory Boards I spear-headed have made huge progress and now these Employment Councils will expand that success to steer even more offenders away from crime as part of our Plan for Change.”
The prisons minister said before his appointment that he believes around two thirds of the prison population “probably shouldn’t be there,” and that the UK is “addicted to sentencing and punishment.”
Pressed on this view more recently, Lord Timpson said: “I’m really clear what my view is, that we need to lock up people who’ve done really bad things, for people who are dangerous and people where the courts, where the judges say they need to go to prison.
“Where the problem has been for far too long is that when people go to prison, we’re not addressing mental-health problems, we’re not addressing their drug problems, we’re not finding as many people jobs as we should be doing.”
Labour launched a review of sentencing laws last year, with plans expected to take scrap short custodial sentences for lower-level offences. The move is designed to combat the ongoing prison overcrowding crisis, with 85,689 prisoners currently taking up 79,730 spaces – putting the the system nearly 6,000 people over capacity. But some critics say the plans could cause offences like shoplifting to become more common.
Responding to this, Lord Timpson told The Times: “I’m really clear that when people commit a crime, they need to be punished, and what we need to do is we need to punish them in a way that reduces reoffending so we get fewer victims.
“Everything we need, everything we do, has to have evidence and [be] proven that it reduces reoffending in the future. And whether that’s someone who’s shoplifting or someone who’s selling drugs, we need to follow that course.”
The party drew some criticism in September for taking the controversial step of releasing thousands of prisoners from prison early by changing the automatic release point from 50 per cent of a sentence served to 40 per cent.