Prison Leavers: Our Impact in Numbers
Since 2015, Social Pantry has employed 35 prison leavers. Offering them training, mentorship, employment and all the benefits that brings them. Research supports that having a stable job is a critical part of a prison leaver’s journey back into society. Employment provides these people with independence, earning power, a structured routine, social contact, and a sense of purpose and direction. It has a direct effect on reducing reoffending. The economic and social cost of reoffending in England and Wales is approximately £18 billion per year. On the other hand, the employment of prison leavers allows them to make positive economic and contributions to society. It’s a win all round!
Social Pantry has provided 18 work taster opportunities. For many people spending time behind bars, this offers them a taste of life outside. Increasing their motivation, confidence, and self-belief to take a new path. These tasters can help them identify their strengths and weaknesses, plus any gaps in their skill sets. Helping them to take the right next steps. Not every prison leaver who comes through our doors chooses to stay with us long-term. However, time spent with us can have a lasting impact on how they think about working life beyond prison. As a Ban the Box employer that actively recruits people who have spent time in prison, they know our doors are always open.
Social Pantry has hosted 2 Social Suppers in collaboration with the young offender charity Key4Life. These fundraising dinners saw young ex-offenders who had shown a special interest in the food industry, matched with some of the biggest names in the hospitality, to devise a delicious five-course menu. Selected specially due to their hardworking approach to rehabilitation, each individual young man was paired with a top chef and mentor. These included Adam Handling, Anna Barnett, Lee Westcott, Richard Falk, Robin Gill, Nick Balfe, John Chantarasak. Each pair worked together to produce an exclusive dish for the night. All participants also took part in a three-day restaurant work taster during the week prior to the event. With another Social Supper in the works, make sure you are following Social Pantry on Eventbrite! And subscribe to The Gathering to be the first to hear when tickets are released.
Social Pantry regularly visits prisons across London and beyond. We oversee the running of our new Prison Café and training scheme at HMP/YOI Feltham. We scope out opportunities to set up training schemes and social enterprises within prisons – such as social enterprise Bad Boy’s Bakery at HMP Brixton. We visit our partner organisations such as Redemption Roasters at Aylesbury YOI Prison. We attend job fairs to meet potential candidates and raise awareness of the opportunities that employing prison leavers can offer. And we work closely with prison staff to help meet the needs of the prison population. Our founder Alex Head now sits on the Employment Advisory Board at HMP Wandsworth!
As the hospitality industry leader in the employment of prison leavers, we’re proud to share our experience. It’s our hope to inspire other businesses to follow in our footsteps. We have featured in countless press articles, challenging misconceptions, educating and motivating employers. We make the case that working with prison leavers is good for business as well as society.
Timeout featured Social Pantry as part of their Love Local campaign, shining a spotlight on our work with HMP/YOI Feltham and the positive impact on the local community. We spoke to Restaurant magazine about the benefits of employing prison leavers. And to Raconteur about how employing those who have spent time behind bars is part of the solution to the hospitality recruitment crisis. The Independent ran a fantastic article on our work with prison leavers off the back of the panel we hosted at Wilderness Festival on food and ‘second chances’. The Evening Standard focused on how we bake ethics into everything we do. In short, wherever there is discussion of hiring prisoners, Social Pantry can usually be found at the heart of it.
We are thrilled to announce our prison café at HMP/YOI Feltham is now officially open! The previous staff café area has been transformed into a brand new café run by Social Pantry offering prisoners the chance to undertake a 3 month training programme learning kitchen, front of house and horticultural skills. The initiative is designed to empower prisoners to take positive action to turn their life around from behind bars. Trainees who successfully complete the programme will be offered a role with Social Pantry upon release. We aim to work with a gardener to grow as much produce for the café menu as possible on site. As well as continuing to produce honey from the beehives on site. The vision is to create a thriving natural environment with a self-sufficient, zero-waste economy. Positively contributing to prisoner rehabilitation and raising the standard of prison food.
At Social Pantry, we have set the ambitious target of having 10% of our workforce made up of prison leavers. The pandemic presented a significant disruption to our employment programme as many prisons did not allow visits or external activities. Most work to assist prisoner rehabilitation was suspended. However we have worked hard to recover our prison leaver employee rate to 8%. This figure is a touch below where we want to get to. However, we currently have the highest number of prison leaver employees in Social Pantry’s history (as this percentage is based off our largest ever – and still growing – team)! Our HR & Culture Manager Silvia dedicates a lot of time to meeting potential candidates and our job advertisements are sent to 8 prisons each month. So we don’t think it will be long before we welcome some new recruits to the company.
