Tideway has helped the charity Working Chance to launch a comprehensive guide on recruiting and supporting people with convictions.

Official figures show that more than one fifth of the working-age population in the UK has a criminal record – with many of those finding it almost impossible to get a job.

This can lead to re-offending as part of a vicious circle – something which costs UK taxpayers an estimated £18 billion each year.

And so this new guide – Hiring with Conviction – provides a comprehensive resource for hiring managers, HR professionals and recruiters on how to safely, ethically and effectively hire people with convictions.

The guide also shows why proactively hiring people with convictions is not just good for the individual and for society – but good for the business, too.

Dominic Headley, a consultant and the guide’s author, said: “With the guidance in their hands, employers will have everything they need to start ethically and confidently hiring people with convictions.”

Hiring with Conviction was launched at Tideway’s London Bridge office earlier this month by Working Chance, the country’s only employment charity dedicated to supporting women with convictions.

Natasha Finlayson, the charity’s chief executive, said: “UK employers are becoming increasingly open-minded and changing their recruiting practices for the better. Forward-thinking organisations understand that staff who come from a broad range of backgrounds make an organisation more vibrant and bring in a useful range of perspectives and life experiences.”

Tideway has sought to help those with convictions in a variety of ways:

• Setting a target of employing one person with a conviction for every 100 employees
• Being a member of the Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending leadership team
• Membership of the Corbett Network – with whom Tideway collaborated to fund three ‘legacy’ projects – and New Futures Network
• Partnering with charities such as Bounce Back and Key4Life
• Being signatories of Business In the Community’s Ban the Box campaign, removing any tick box from job application forms that asked about criminal convictions

Kathryn Nethersole, who represents Tideway on the EFFRR group and is on the Board of the Corbett Network, said: “As the Tideway project approaches 90 per cent completion, we want to ensure we’re cementing our legacy by sharing best practice with other organisations, especially in the construction sector.

“I would strongly recommend this report to any employer starting their journey, as it shows how supporting people with convictions creates a real social impact while delivering sound business objectives.”

You can read more about Tideway’s work to support people with convictions on the website and in the 2023 report on the social impact of the legacy programme (page 15), which showed that the project employment of people with convictions delivered a value to society of £2.3 million.