We fully support the Government’s ambition to provide new jobs for former offenders who have served prison terms, as well as those who have served community sentences. We are already helping to deliver this ambition. Our public sector team works in partnership with Key4Life, a third sector organisation that aims to reduce youth reoffending with an innovative rehabilitation programme that is delivered through the gate. We support them with mentoring & skills workshops.
Interview with Key4Life
Working in association with Key4Life on an innovative rehabilitation scheme
About the issue
Prison population
The prison population of England & Wales has risen by about 90% between 1990 and 2016. Part of the rise is due to an increase in the number of prisoners sentenced to immediate custody and longer sentences being handed. We know that around 50% of people who leave prison reoffend within 12 months: 33% of prisoners with a custodial sentence of over 12 months reoffend within a 12 month period after release; and 60% of those serving under 12 months reoffend within a 12 month period after release.
Our collaboration
Over the years we have provided mentoring, impact coach workshops and meet the employer/work taster sessions.
As a firm, KPMG aims to promote lifelong learning and increase numeracy and literacy skills to drive opportunity for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds across the UK, which will in the longer-term, generate pathways to employment.
As a result of the collaboration we’ve seen the following delivered:
- Over 70 KPMG volunteers involved in mentoring and workshops
- Over 800 hours of volunteering time since 2017
- 71% of the programme participants currently in employment
- 14% reoffending rate compared to the national rate of 65%
- 58% of participants reported an improvement in emotional resilience
