WOULD YOU HIRE PRISONERS TO TACKLE THE CONSTRUCTION SKILLS SHORTAGE? THE MOJ IS…

Could serving prisoners help to tackle the UK’s crippling construction skills shortage? The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) says yes – and it's offering support on how to do it.

Raj Singh, Principal Project Manager with the MoJ, told What’s the Story?: “One of the best potential cohorts we have is prisoners themselves. We currently use prisoners to build our new prisons – they can earn the same wage and achieve a range of qualifications in preparation for when leaving prison.

“There’s a growing skills gap in construction – how do we give those skills to the prison population to help them, and industry? I see there’s a natural alignment.

“These people made a bad decision – but not everyone in prison is a bad person.”

And she’s seen that first-hand, as construction lead for prisons currently in construction – one of which is part of the £4bn New Prisons Programme to create 20,000 new prison places.

While many construction firms already work with ex-offenders, Raj Singh OBE, FCIOB acknowledged that it might be a daunting prospect to work with serving prisoners, but said the MoJ can provide support. This includes coordinating stakeholders from the MoJ, individual prisons and social value partners.

“We’d say to anyone out there who is interested in delving into this – we’ve probably got the answers to your questions, so do reach out to us, do talk to us, and if we can help you tap into this untapped labour market, we’d certainly be happy to do so,” she said.

“I think the MoJ is putting its money where our mouth is on rehabilitation - we really are helping individuals.”

She spoke amid reports that the construction skills shortage could jeopardise the country’s ability to deliver big infrastructure schemes, with around £800bn-worth of public sector projects in the pipeline.

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