Young Offender Programme

National Grid has pioneered business involvement in the rehabilitation of offenders. Over 1,000 offenders have now gone through the Young Offender Programme. The Chancellor of the Exchequer in his budget statement 2003 asked Sir John Parker to lead the expansion of the programme across all industries in the UK and we now lead in a partnership with over 80 companies engaged in this Programme.

The re-offending rate is only 7%, compared with the national average of over 70%, resulting in a significant saving to taxpayers in the United Kingdom. It costs approximately £40,000 to keep a person in prison for one year and there are currently 80,000 people in prison.

The Programme is engaged with over 20 prisons both adult and young offender establishments.