A humanitarian charity set up by a pharmaceutical entrepreneur is trying to fix some of the problems ex-prisoners face trying to find work. The Randal Charitable Foundation has helped produce a report suggesting ways to bring down re-offending rates and help plug current labour shortages.
The Leicestershire charity – set up by Morningside Pharmaceutical founder Dr Nik Kotecha OBE and Mrs Moni Kotecha – has helped The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) thinktank draw up the report which suggests how prison leavers could plug some of the one-million jobs currently unfilled and save billions of pounds of taxpayer money.
The report suggests that of the nearly 50,000 people leaving UK prisons each year, just three in 10 have a job six months later – leaving many at risk of reoffending.
Dr Kotecha, who has invested more time in his charity work since selling Morningside to Aspire Pharma in 2022, said: “I’m immensely proud that our partnership with the CSJ has led to this ground-breaking report, which is now being considered by the Justice Minister.
“If enacted, it will go further and faster towards addressing the staggering £18 billion annual cost of reoffending, as research shows that being in employment is proven to help break the cycle of crime.
“Plugging labour shortages will also provide enormous benefits to the economy, as the Chancellor labelled employee shortages as a major threat to economic growth in his most recent Budget.
“But it’s more than that besides – it can help shape steps to support a long-neglected community – for meaningful remediation in an area of very real need in our society.
“We can and we should tackle this – as businesses, as communities and as policy shapers – together.”
He said the government would now consider recommendations including releasing more prisoners on licence to take up jobs and giving greater access to vocational qualifications.
Prisons Minister Damian Hinds wrote in a foreword for the thinktank's report: “There are over a million vacancies in the UK. So, there has never been a better opportunity for businesses to unlock the potential in our prisons.
“Getting more prisoners into work really is a win-win — it will cut crime by reducing reoffending and grow our economy to the benefit of us all.”
As well as wider releases for work, the report calls for better education in the UK's prison system, access to more digital technology, a wider range of vocational qualifications and earlier access to student loans.
CSJ policy director Joe Shalam said: “If implemented, our recommendations would represent a major step forward.
“Because while the need to restore control and order in our prisons remains an urgent priority, the power of these measures is that they are focused on restoring something altogether more profound. Hope.”
The Randal Charitable Foundation has worked in partnership with the CSJ for a number of years, helping bring in £900 million in additional government funding for drug treatment services.
