23/05/2023
Police Oracle
The numbers of prison leavers finding jobs has increased markedly over the last two years according to the MoJ
The Ministry of Justice has today published what it calls a “Ad-hoc Statistics Bulletin” on the number of people released from prison who find jobs. The bulletin shows the rate of employment of prison leavers at two points: shortly (6 weeks) after release and after a longer period of resettlement (6 months following release).
The numbers of prison leavers finding jobs has increased markedly over the last two years, although it is important to include one note of caution – the figures are based on probation officers recording employment status via their NDelius case management system, rather than official Department of Work and Pensions data. It is therefore not possible to calculate how much of the (very welcome) rise in employment rates is down to an increased emphasis on recording. Certainly; recording had improved markedly; the official figures show that the proportion of people on the probation whose employment status was unknown fell from 12.5% of the caseload (1 in 8) in April 2021 to 7.6% (1 in 13) in March 2023. As mentioned above, these statistics are described as “ad-hoc” which means that they do not receive the same level of statistical scrutiny as figures which are deemed to be “Official Statistics”.
Now, to the good news…
The statistics
The proportion of individuals released from custody, who have a known employment status and are available for work, who are in employment has increased across the period of measurement; both employment at 6 weeks following release and employment at 6 months following release are higher in March 2023 than in April 2022.
Jobs after 6 weeks
The proportion of persons released from custody who were employed at 6 weeks from their release rose by 4.5 percentage points to 19.4% between April 2022 and March 2023. This is an increase of 30.2%. In April 2022, there were 487 individuals in employment 6 weeks from their release. This increased to 640 individuals in employment by March 2023, an additional 153.
Across a two-year period, from April 2021 to March 2023, the proportion of persons released from custody who were employed at 6 weeks from their release rose by 9.6 percentage points. This is an increase of 98.0%. In April 2021, there were 335 individuals in employment 6 weeks from their release. This increased to 640 individuals in employment by March 2023, an additional 305.
Jobs after 6 months
The proportion of persons released from custody who were employed at 6 months from their release rose by 7.2 percentage points to 30.4% between April 2022 and March 2023. This is an increase of 31.0%. In April 2022, there were 573 individuals in employment 6 months from their release. This increased to 715 individuals in employment by March 2023, an additional 142.
Across a two-year period, from April 2021 to March 2023, the proportion of persons released from custody who were employed at 6 months from their release rose by 16.3 percentage points. This has more than doubled (an increase of 115.6%). In April 2021, there were 394 individuals in employment 6 months from their release. This increased to 715 individuals in employment by March 2023, an additional 321.
Conclusion
It is interesting to note that the employment rate increases by 57% during the period between 6 weeks and 6 months post-release, showing that for many people, it takes time to find work after a period of incarceration.
We will cover these figures periodically on Work with Offenders to see whether this increase in employment rates sustains and can be attributed to the recent increased focus on improving job opportunities for people leaving prison.