“Everyone deserves a second chance... we’ve tapped their skills with great success at HMP Styal,” said Liz Garnell, co‑owner of Gourmet Coffee. Styal, a women’s prison near Wilmslow in Cheshire, is a clear local touchpoint for employers backing people into work.

On Sunday 16 November 2025, the Ministry of Justice said more than 300 businesses had joined its hiring drive in the past year. A digital job‑matching tool will be rolled out across prisons in England and Wales to connect people in custody to vacancies and support applications, with names such as Greggs, Iceland and Kier signed up to help tackle an estimated one million vacancies as part of the government’s Plan for Change.

For the North, the pitch is straightforward: get people leaving custody into steady, paid work with local employers and you close labour gaps while making communities safer. The real test now is delivery rather than promises.

The Ministry of Justice reports the share of prison leavers who served 12 months or more and are in work within six months has hit a record 38%, up from 15% in 2021, and says employment reduces reoffending by around ten percentage points.

Earlier this year, regional Employment Councils were created to bring probation, prisons, local employers and the Department for Work and Pensions under one umbrella, broadening support beyond the prison gate. Eleven councils are being established across England and Wales to add a regional route into jobs for those serving sentences in the community.

Greggs - headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne - is among the firms named by the Ministry of Justice, a sign that Northern brands are putting their weight behind the scheme. For many employers here, that matters more than any podium soundbite.

Gourmet Coffee has begun hiring women from HMP Styal and is offering tailored training to keep people on track. With the new job‑matching tool coming online across the prison estate, establishments like Styal will be able to link candidates to local openings more quickly.

“It slashes reoffending and helps grow the economy,” Prisons Minister Lord James Timpson told delegates at the Ministry of Justice’s annual employment advisory conference on Thursday 13 November.

Government‑commissioned surveys indicate more than 90% of businesses that employ prison leavers rate recruits as motivated, reliable and with good attendance - a strong base to build on as councils and employers scale up.

If the councils and the tech deliver, towns across the North could see fewer unfilled shifts and more families with a steady wage coming in. We’ll judge it by starts, payslips and retention - not slogans.