European Social Fund \ ESF in action \ Case studies

Serco Job Deal helps ex-offenders improve employability

Location: South East and East of England

ESF Funding: National Offender Management Service (NOMS)

ESF Target Group: Ex-offender

The National Offender Management Service Co-financing Organisation (NOMS CFO) and The European Social Fund (ESF) support a jointly funded £140million programme to help offenders into employment, education or training. In the South East and East of England this project is called Job Deal and is managed by Serco.

The Job Deal project supports ex-offenders back into work by improving their employment prospects and tackling barriers to employment.

A total of £7.8 million is invested in the Job Deal project across the South East and East of England. The funding is used to help offenders, both in prison and in the community and will run from January 2011 to December 2014. The project's aim is to provide offenders with the support and skills they need to help them find work and live a stable, healthy, law-abiding life after the end of their sentence. Research shows that the cost of re-offending is £11 billion a year and that ex-offenders in work are between a third and a half less likely to re-offend.

Stories of three people who have been helped by the South East Job Deal project run by Serco are provided below.

Paul

From his youth, Paul (not his real name) has been in and out of trouble with the law, and at the time of his offences was using drugs and experiencing housing problems. In May 2010 he received a custodial sentence of 18 months. Since his conviction and subsequent release, Paul, like many other offenders in the South East, has benefited from the ESF supported Job Deal project.

For Paul, this meant that after his release Job Deal gave him access to fork lift training and he now has qualifications for counterbalance, reach and bendi truck driving. His Job Deal case manager also referred him to the Princes Trust Project at Milton Keynes College, where he received support and training to build his confidence, communications skills and his ability to work as a team player. Job Deal also provided financial support to enable him to get to college each week, without which he would have struggled to attend. Paul is now a volunteer on the Prince’s Trust project, helping to recruit and support new students. He recently applied for a permanent paid position with Milton Keynes youth services, something he doesn’t think would have been an option for him just a few months ago.

”I'm now really positive about the future and feel that through the support from Job Deal I have been able to turn my life around,” says Paul.

Adam

Adam (not his real name) had a troubled background and had been in and out of different prisons. During his last sentence in HMP Bullingdon he joined a resettlement group where he learnt how to write a CV, apply for jobs, and improve his interview technique. The group also referred him to a Job Deal case manager, who, in partnership with training and recruitment specialists Aspire, found work experience for him alongside Oxford City Council workers on a project to develop Gloucester Green Market. Since then he has driven for Aspire as a voluntary relief driver, and attends Pembroke College once a week. He has received help to obtain a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card, and has been given access to a computer so that he can set up an email account and apply for jobs online.

“I think being involved with Job Deal and Aspire has helped me to stay focused and keep on the straight and narrow,” says Adam.

Sammi

Sammi (not his real name) is a prime example of the support offered by Job Deal to ex-offenders struggling to make their transition from custody to the community. When he went to prison, he could barely read or write, but he came out with a number of achievements and accreditations to his name. Sammi had hopes of entering the road construction industry, but had not been able to get his New Roads and Street Works ticket, due to lack of funding. His Job Deal case manager was able to look into local options for training, identify a suitable course at the National Construction College in Newham, East London, and secure funding and approval for Sammi to attend the next available course.

Unfortunately, Sammi still had to wait several months before his course began. He held a carrier’s licence as a scrap metal dealer, but he believed this presented him with the risk of re-offending, so, with the support of his case manager, he held out for the commencement of his street works course. When this finally began, Sammi excelled. He even enjoyed the lengthy daily commute, which gave him a break from the monotony of his everyday life and familiarised him with a different part of London. With the course completed and his New Roads and Street Works certificate in hand, it was only two weeks before Sammi was offered a full time position with a large national construction firm laying water pipes.

Sammi is a fantastic example of the excellent results that can be achieved by building partnerships to help rebuild the lives of ex-offenders in the community.