By Lena Patel

Deputy CEO, RBIJ

The U.K. is coming out of an historic election that resulted in a landslide victory for the Labour Party. With this new Labour government came the notable appointment of James Timpson OBE as Minister for Prisons, Parole and Probation. As CEO of family-owned business Timpson Group, he has led the way in training, mentoring and employing people with criminal records, exemplifying that giving people a second chance is good for business. 

At RBIJ, we welcome the appointment of such a respected business leader, who has worked collaboratively with charities and nonprofits (including as chair of the Prison Reform Trust), into this key government role to help lead the reform of our justice system. From our experience of working with committed business leaders from across the globe and especially in the U.K. and the U.S., we know that when business leaders act to improve systems of justice, change happens.

I hope the Minister will take a new approach to these issues and that his ideas will be met with positivity and openness. We desperately need a new direction for prison reform and the way we treat people with records to ensure that they have real opportunities when their sentences end.

At the heart of our work at RBIJ, we engage businesses in advocacy efforts, like the FairChecks campaign through this business letter of support, and support them to advance fair chance hiring in their own operations. From our recent Parliamentary reception to our various business roundtables with leaders from across the country, we have seen the growing interest and commitment of the business community to this work. 

For those of us in the field, who have been championing change for years, what we are calling for is not radical, but simply a commitment to fairness and equality for people who have made a mistake in life and paid their debt. With the Minister’s appointment, we are hopeful that more opportunities for our community members are to come.