Interserve launches ex-offenders recruitment drive

Interserve, the support services and construction group, is working with its supply chain to help ex-offenders get into employment and turn their lives around via the ‘Ban The Box’ initiative.

The ‘Ban the Box’ scheme is a campaign led by charity organisation Business in the Community (BITC) which seeks to give offenders a second chance by removing unspent convictions on job applications forms.

Interserve will work with 20 of its key suppliers to support them in signing up to ‘Ban the Box’, having already done so across its own 50,000 UK roles and vacancies. Interserve said it would “work in partnership with its suppliers to raise awareness and generate real momentum behind an important initiative that needs more visibility”.  

Adrian Ringrose, Interserve’s chief executive, said: “As part of our extensive ‘Opportunities for All’ campaign, we want our supply chain partners to join us, by removing the unspent convictions ‘tick box’ on all application forms, wherever they can.

“We would also like to see the new government really back ‘Ban the Box’, helping to remove one of the first barriers many ex-offenders face when seeking employment.”

Catherine Sermon, employment director at BITC, said: “Interserve understands that Ban the Box is not just a process change. The company is embedding a culture of diversity and inclusion, first within its own business, and now through its supply chain.

“In doing so, it has demonstrated strong leadership and made a valuable contribution to our target of opening up one million jobs through Ban the Box by 2020.”

According to government data more than 10 million people in the UK have a criminal record. BITC research has also demonstrated that 71% of people with convictions thought that ticking ‘yes’ to a question about convictions would affect their chances of getting the job.