Charity partners with Fred Sirieix on ex-offender employment scheme

Only A Pavement Away (OAPA) has announced it is partnering with Fred Sirieix, the host of Channel 4’s First Dates, to launch its new employment campaign.

The ‘Sponsor a Kitchen’ campaign is aimed at helping ex-criminal offenders get jobs within the hospitality sector after lockdown, working alongside Sirieix’s ‘The Right Course’ charity programme, which has created prisoner-run restaurants in HMP Isis.

As part of the campaign, OAPA is urging hospitality businesses to join the scheme and pledge funds to assist in the refurbishment of prison kitchens to allow training to take place.

Speaking about the partnership on Twitter, Sirieix said: “The aim is to reduce re-offending and solve some of the skills and staff shortage in hospitality by transforming prison staff mess into training restaurants and supporting offenders with employment upon release.”

Greg Manham, the chief executive officer and co-founder of OAPA, said: “So great to be partnered with Fred and Simon from Right Course UK to help ex-offenders train and be ready to join our great industry.”