Let’s Talk Supporting People with Convictions
Offploy and Unlocking Talent Through Justice-Inclusive Recruitment
Offploy is a social enterprise supporting employers to recruit and retain people with criminal convictions. Founded by ex-prisoner and social entrepreneur Jacob Hill, Offploy works with large organisations across the UK to embed fair, legally compliant, and commercially sound approaches to justice-inclusive hiring.
In this episode of Let’s Talk Social Value, Jacob shares his personal journey, from a 28-month prison sentence for possession with intent to supply drugs, to founding an organisation that has now supported over 5,000 people into employment. His story reframes the narrative around people with convictions, shifting the focus from stigma to structure, systems, and opportunity.
Offploy operates at the intersection of compliance, commercial reality, and social impact. With one in four working-age adults in the UK holding a criminal record, Jacob argues that organisations cannot afford to ignore this talent pool, not just for ethical reasons, but for business sustainability.
Listen in to explore key insights, including:
Why 25% of the UK working-age population has a criminal record and what that really means for employers.
The critical legal distinction between spent and unspent convictions, and the GDPR risks of collecting data you are not entitled to hold.
Why most people with convictions have never been to prison - and how misconceptions distort recruitment decisions.
The difference between basic, standard and enhanced DBS checks, and what they do (and do not) reveal.
How to assess role risk rather than make assumptions based on offence type.
The commercial case for justice-inclusive hiring, including retention rates significantly above industry averages.
How government vetting and security clearance processes interact with criminal record disclosure.
Moving Beyond Fear: From Compliance to Culture
A central theme of the episode is that employing people with convictions should not be treated as a niche CSR initiative or a reactive social value commitment. Instead, Jacob advocates for a structured, organisation-wide approach - from inclusive culture and compliant policies to measurable impact generation.
He introduces Offploy’s practical frameworks, including risk matrices, disclosure guidance, interview templates, and free employer toolkits. The aim is not to compel organisations to hire indiscriminately, but to ensure decisions are informed, proportionate, and legally sound.
Importantly, Jacob highlights that the employment decision almost always rests with the employer. With the exception of barred roles following enhanced checks, organisations have discretion - yet many default to blanket exclusions due to uncertainty rather than regulation.
The Business Case for Justice Inclusion
Beyond compliance, the conversation explores the strategic benefits of engaging this overlooked talent pool. In a labour market characterised by persistent skills shortages, justice-inclusive recruitment offers access to motivated candidates, improved retention, and enhanced social value performance, particularly within government supply chains.
Jacob challenges listeners directly: if one in four applicants may have a criminal record, can organisations justify not having a clear, transparent, and legally robust process in place?
“If 25% of your revenue came from one source, you’d build systems around it. Yet 25% of your applicants may have a criminal record - and most organisations have no process at all.”
What’s Next?
Offploy provides both commercial consultancy and extensive free resources to help employers review their approach - from three-minute assessments to downloadable policy templates.
For organisations navigating BPSS, DBS requirements, or government contract obligations, this episode offers clarity, challenge, and practical direction.
Offploy Website https://www.offploy.org/
Employer Toolkit https://www.offploy.org/employers-toolkit
Disclosure Toolkit https://www.disclosuretoolkit.org/
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