The Fair Chance Business Alliance (FCBA) is encouraging UK employers to tap into a talent pool of 9.6 million working-age people with criminal records as it launches a new national campaign to advance fair chance hiring at scale as an effective solution to widening skills gaps and persistent workforce shortages.
The call to action forms a crucial part of ‘Unite 1K,’ a landmark campaign launched during the UK’s inaugural Fair Chance Week to mobilise 1,000 employers to embed truly inclusive hiring practices through adoption of the Fair Chance Charter, a ‘Disability Confident’ for the justice sector.
The FCBA emphasises that bridging the gap between overlooked talent and national skills shortages is both an economic necessity and a moral imperative. The cost of reoffending alone is now nearly double the entire Ministry of Justice (MoJ) budget at an estimated £26.3 billion each year, representing an annual burden of £672 per taxpayer. However, stable employment is proven to be one of the most effective and durable interventions against reoffending.
Keith Jones, the FCBA Chair, notes that: “The UK cannot afford to sideline a ‘waiting workforce’ the size of Greater London. Many of these records stem from minor or historic incidents. For instance, in 2022, 30% of all convictions for women were for non-payment of a TV licence. Fair Chance Week is about raising awareness and championing the benefits of opening doors to opportunity, whilst proving that across every sector, there is resilient, trustworthy talent ready to work.”
As misconceptions fade and confidence grows in the business case around fair chance hiring, forward-thinking employers adopting the Fair Chance Charter have an opportunity to remove outdated barriers, tap into a vast talent pool, and create real social impact. The FCBA is also supporting UK government ambitions of reaching an 80% employment rate, reducing the welfare burden, increasing economic activity and facilitating generational social mobility.
Fair Chance Week brings together businesses, charities and government departments, mirroring the success of Second Chance Month in the United States.
The Unite 1K campaign launched at Virgin Group’s offices in London. The Virgin Group is a founding member of the Alliance and was among the earliest adopters of the Charter.
Nikki Humphrey, Chief People Officer at Virgin Group, comments: “People should be judged on their potential, not defined by their past. We’ve seen people who were once counted out go on to thrive in roles across Virgin. Unite 1K is an opportunity for employers across the UK to unlock this enormous pool of talented, motivated people who deserve a fair chance. It’s not just the right thing to do, it also strengthens businesses, the economy and communities. When employers create fair chances, it benefits everyone.”
To support truly inclusive workforces, Unite 1K will also deploy a new digital platform curated by Accenture, giving employers a comprehensive ecosystem of partners, insights and resources to embed fair chances into their HR approaches and business strategies. From FTSE 100 companies to regional SMEs, the Alliance is calling on businesses of all sizes to prioritise potential over past mistakes.
Businesses interested in joining the Alliance, adopting the Charter, or becoming a campaign partner can find more information at: www.fairchancealliance.co.uk
Andrew Kinniburgh is Director General of Make UK Defence, the trade body representing the UK’s defence manufacturing sector. Andrew leads the organisation’s work to support and grow the UK’s defence industrial base, working with government, the armed forces, and industry to ensure British manufacturers are at the forefront of delivering the nation’s defence capability.
Neil Wood is Chief Operating Officer of the Fair Chance Business Alliance, a national organisation working to help employers access the talent of people with criminal records. Neil leads the Alliance’s operational work to embed fair chance hiring across UK businesses, from FTSE 100 companies to regional SMEs, and is a leading voice in the campaign to reduce reoffending through sustainable employment.
It’s true you can get a criminal record for some strange stuff in this country.. say your 14 year old suffered from autism and you cannot get a diagnosis ( it takes about 2-3 years) and they decided they cannot go to school.. if they miss 5 days in a row three times in a row both parents can end up in court with a criminal record.
Fair enough, but I’m all for criminalising women for watching Loose Women!
“30% of all convictions for women were for non-payment of a TV licence.”
Some things are unforgivable..
A couple of years ago we had a labour shortage, but now we apparently have a ‘slowing recruitment landscape’ according to the ONS, with a substantial dip in job vacancies. In that context, talking about an untapped ‘talent pool’ seems somewhat irrelevant- if you aren’t interested in hiring anybody anyway, then the criminal record status of the prospective workforce is of purely academic interest. If the government were to focus on policy decisions that cut business costs and encouraged growth and hiring then things would be different, but they seem Hell-bent on doing the exact opposite.
Didn’t they used to almost sentence people to join the military? Definitely during the world wars people were given the option to enlist instead of going to prison. And in the 18th and 19th century it was an alternative for debtors and other criminals. They were described in the 1702 Mutiny Act as “persons of blemished character or unsettled mode of life”. In WW1 it was argued that people should not be able to evade conscription by commiting a felony.
Now we have a professional military we are told we can’t afford to pay, with strict limits on the numbers joining. We’ve talked about recruitment on this forum a lot and whether we are too picky in too many areas. I can see relaxing that pickiness somewhat wouldn’t be a bad idea. However, there’s little incentive for the army to straighten people out as a public service, and none at all to return to the era of the “scum of the earth” (I say army particularly as they used to have the lowest standards of the services for accepting convicts. The press gangs might have impressed any unemployed seafarer of the right age, but during WW1 over a dozen convicted sailors who weren’t allowed back in the Navy were released from Scottish prisons early to join the Army.)
Perhaps a review of which crimes should bar you from the military is in order, but that’s as far as I think it should go in the modern era.