Call for firms to hire ex-offenders

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

A report by Policy Exchange suggested the Government should pay organisations to hire criminals who have been freed from jail.

Pay-outs could go to private companies, public sector organisations and charities in return for taking on the ex-offenders, it said.

Organisations would get more money for employing those who were "most difficult to place", it added.

Co-author Ben Ullmann said: "Placing ex-offenders in employment is the key to tackling re-offending rates, reducing the high costs of crime and making communities safer.

"By using the structures already in place for welfare-to-work programmes, the Government could take real strides in breaking the vicious cycle of crime and re-incarceration."

Policy Exchange was previously described as Tory leader David Cameron's favourite think-tank until a controversial report last month said some northern British cities were "beyond revival", leading the politician to distance himself from the group.

Its latest report calculated that arranging employment for the 66,000 people who are released from jail in England and Wales each year would save £300 million.

Re-offending currently costs the British taxpayer more than £13 billion a year, and offenders released from jail without a job are twice as likely to commit new crimes.

The authors evaluated three "prison to work" programmes in the United States, and proposed how they could be applied in the British criminal justice system.