A third of employers have taken on an ex-offender in their company, with over half rating their experiences as positive, according to a survey from the consultancy CfBT Education Trust.

However, only a third of employers agreed that prison education improved the employability of offenders.

While 20% of employers agree that ex-offenders constitute a valuable talent pool, 55% are either ambivalent or did not know.

CfBT head of learning and skills, Richard Goss, says: “To give employers more confidence to give offenders a second chance, perhaps through a work-trial, we need to raise awareness of what prison education is, what it offers to offenders and ultimately what skills and attributes ex-offenders potentially bring to the workforce.”