Amber Ainsworth

Said the following about Rail Rehabilitation Team:

“City & Guilds is committed to their purpose of helping people into a job, on the job and into the next job. From being pioneers of Rail traineeships through to supporting ex-offenders into the rail sector, City & Guilds go above and beyond to equip individuals with the skills needed to succeed.

The population of serving prisoners is currently 85,000, 50% of those will reoffend within 12 months of release and only 26.5% will go into employment on release.

In a bid to reduce reoffending and open new opportunities in rail, City & Guilds has developed a rail rehabilitation strategy. The work involves collaborating with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Department for Education (DfE), National Skills Academy for Rail (NSAR), Network Rail and employers to develop new training solutions that can be delivered inside prison. This project provides offenders with industry-specific training and job opportunities on release, giving them the best chance to exit lives of crime, whilst also filling stubborn skills shortages.

Rail Centre of Excellence at HMP Highpoint

In partnership with the MoJ and with approval from NSAR and Network Rail, City & Guilds has developed a Rail Centre of Excellence within HMP Highpoint. The facilities enable serving prisoners to complete Licence to Practice training within the prison environment and on release go straight into sustainable employment.

The City & Guilds Foundation has invested £65,000 on NSAR approved track facilities at HMP Highpoint. In partnership with NSAR and Network Rail, City & Guilds received approval to deliver industry accredited training with a combined focus on providing rail opportunities to serving prisoners and ex-offenders, designed to combat skills shortages through best-in-class skills for employment.

As a team our ambition is to develop the Centre of Excellence to include additional pathways (i.e., overhead line, signalling, and welding) to careers in rail supporting industry and employer needs. Through holding engagement events with HMP Highpoint, industry employers have committed to providing opportunities for prisoners to move directly into employment upon release. We are fortunate to work with Coyles and Vital who have sponsored the first cohort of learners and committed to sustainable employment and wrap around support on release.

Paul Johnston, Senior Contract Manager at MoJ said, “City & Guilds and HMP Highpoint have recognised that having a curriculum based on release planning is integral to meeting not just targets but society’s need to break the cycle of reoffending. From my perspective, where it has differed from many other educational and training courses in prisons, is the sheer amount of effort put in at the very beginning to ensure that the right prisoners are on the course, at the right point in their sentence. Employers were invited in to meet the prisoners/their potential future employees right at the beginning (it was Day 2). This provided an unbelievable motivation to the learners, a sense of “this is real” and “it could change my life.”

The focus of this partnership is to change the way education is designed and delivered within prison and focus on direct to job outcomes on release with full wrap around support.

Steve Phillips, Head of Reducing Reoffending at HMP Highpoint said, “Eleven men started the course, and all have been offered employment already which gives our course participants an incredible opportunity to not return to prison which must be a priority for society today. As a partnership we are all driven to changing lives and providing people hope, I personally cannot think of a better reason to go to work.”

DfE Skills Bootcamps

City & Guilds explored additional funding streams to widen their impact to a greater number of serving prisoners and ex-offenders. City & Guilds has been successfully awarded three DfE contracts to deliver Skills Bootcamps. Additional funding has since been received to support the unemployed, those facing barriers, and upskilling the existing workforce. The aim is to train over 1,100 learners with over 400 of these being new entrants to industry.

With industry, City & Guilds created the Track Operative Bootcamp to ensure learners are work ready upon release. The training allows learners access to mandatory competencies required to work in the industry e.g., PTS and TIC.

In 2021, the City & Guilds Foundation funded a rail programme for six learners, from which all are in sustainable employment. It’s clear that providing a job opportunity to ex-offenders on release reduces the probability of individuals reoffending.

Looking ahead

While this rehabilitation strategy is still in its infancy, the ambition is to scale up provision to provide full wrap around support to over 500 serving prisoners with the required training to begin a career in rail by 2025, with 100% securing employment on release. This will support the rail skills shortages while having meaningful impact on ex-offenders, through assisted rehabilitation and reduction to re-offending rates.

Lee Manning, Head of Operational Contract Management at MoJ said, “City & Guilds has aligned perfectly with the vision and values of Her Majesty’s Prison Service recognising the need to offer employment that provides a realistic alternative to organised crime. All those who have so far worked on turning the concept into reality have played a role in changing lives. Not just the lives of those within the criminal justice system but their families and children too.”

By working as a team, in partnership with the MoJ, DfE, NSAR, Network Rail and employers, City & Guilds can continue to make industry-leading advancements in reducing reoffending rates, while providing individuals with employment and training to get started in a new career.

Andy Moss, Managing Director at City & Guilds said, “I am immensely proud of the work of our team at City & Guilds, working in partnership with HMPPS, DfE, MoJ and employers to develop a skills offer with the potential to be truly transformational. It is this partnership approach that we know is needed, and that ultimately is in the best interests of learners, employers, and wider society – delivering skills that take people directly into a job on release. That is how we reduce reoffending, and it is how we ensure skills training delivers on its promise.”“