Transcript Recruit With Conviction

Recruit With Conviction
In Partnership:
Positive
Prison
What is RWC?
Recruit With Conviction is the national campaign to
promote safe and effective recruitment of people
with criminal records.
Our purpose
• Business benefits from access to the untapped
potential and talent which exists among people
with convictions.
• Community benefits from reduced crime.
• Individuals benefit from the hope and opportunities
that a job brings.
What RWC offer
• Not-for-profit company; Started off as a social media campaign;
• For CSR. Businesses contribute to the safety of communities by
engaging with RWC.
• For HR Specialists – Policy and procedure for recruitment and
retention of people with criminal convictions; Provide access to a
wider and more diverse pool of talent; Sharing best practice and
networking among the HR community.
• For Recruiters, Managers & Supervisors – Recruitment of people with
convictions is daunting for anybody. RWC training supports businesses
to overcome some of these fears and to understand obligations
• For Mainstream Employability Advisors- 1 in 3 benefit claimants have
criminal convictions; Employers have so much access to criminal
records. However employability services for offenders are increasingly
delivered by mainstream providers (Apply with Conviction)
Some Key Information
• The voluntary sector has twice as much involvement in recruiting
ex-offenders than the private sector
• Only 1 in 7 organisations ask job applicants if they have a
criminal record
• 20% of organisations say that their experience of employing exoffenders was better than expected
• Main reasons for positive experiences with ex-offenders
– Settle into work well with colleagues
– Perform well
• Retention rate is equal to or better than those with no criminal
record
Some Key Information (2)
• Employers are more worried about offenders having the soft
skills of honest, reliability and personal behaviour than technical
skills
• Most organisations with experience of employing ex-offenders
consider sexual offences to be the greatest cause for concern
• Driving offences are of the least concern to employers
• More than 2/3rds of employers would find guidance on risk
assessments and safeguards useful when employing people with
criminal records
• 1 in 3 men and 1 in 10 women have a criminal conviction. Only 2
per cent of these result in a custodial sentence and 0.1 per cent
are high risk (like sex offences)
Apply With Conviction
• Helps employability (plus specialist advisers like drug and alcohol
advisers) to give best advice regarding disclosure
• Specialist area of support
• Delivering training to advisers across England-shire at the
moment
• Scotland next
Rehabilitation of Offenders
Act 1975
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Stakeholder events for Scottish Government
300 businesses across 6 venues over 6 weeks
Informs decision making process
Unlikely to result in legislation before Independence
referendum!
• Separate legislative process in Scotland
Ban the Box
AMBASSADORS
Learning in Prisons
• Grundtvig partnership programme started late 2013
• Watch this space……………….