Prisoners trained as cleaners to help plug skills gap

It's well known convicts find it hard settling into life outside bars. Now one man is trying to change that.

Cleaning executive Lloyd Ansermoz, who is also Chair of the Asset Skills Cleaning Board, is helping train prisoners in everyday work skills while they're still in jail.

He hopes to offer them jobs on the premise everyone deserves a second chance. Ansermoz is involved in a scheme that teaches inmates at Birmingham Prison the skills of professional cleaning.

There's a big shortage of cleaners with many British people snubbing the job. A survey by Asset Skills showed 37% of cleaning firms used migrant workers and now ex-offenders are being recruited to help plug the gap.

Ansermoz holds motivational sessions with the prisoners about general workplace conduct, like time-keeping and effective communication.

But it's not all out of the goodness of his heart; training prisoners also benefits his firm.

"Putting people through training after they've started working for us costs a lot more in terms of time off and takes much longer," he says.

"Prisoners are eager for work, ready to learn and cleaning can offer a rewarding career with opportunities to progress.

"We are of course incredibly careful who we hire and make sure they have been fully rehabilitated and are doing a job that is fit for them. "

The scheme is funded by Equal Funding and Jobcentre Plus. It's been extended to February and Ansermoz's next session is on Thursday 24 January.

As well as his role as Sales Director of Indepth Cleaning Services, Ansermoz chairs the cleaning board of Asset Skills, a Government organisation tasked with ensuring staff in the cleaning industry are suitably skilled for the job.

Extra facts & figures

The UK's cleaning industry is worth more than £5bn a year

There are approximately 850,000 people employed in the UK cleaning industry

37% of the UK's cleaning industry are migrant workers (source: Asset Skills)