A PROGRAMME helping ex-offenders back into work has helped dozens of people turn their lives around.

Achieve in Bolton has helped 19 people into employment and a further 38 people into further education since January 2012.

Between January and December last year Achieve Greater Manchester helped 210 offenders into work out of a caseload of 1,545.

This caseload consists of 70 per cent of people on community sentences and 30 per cent in custody.

Achieve comprises of 17 case workers who are based at Greater Manchester Probation Trust’s (GMPT) district offices and at prisons including HMP Manchester, Forest Bank and Buckley Hall.

John Knight, who works with offenders in Bolton, said: “I am thrilled by how well the initiative is performing, especially when it is considered that we only work with offenders who face significant barriers to employment.

“It is testament to the links established with GMPT’s offender managers, every person sentenced to a community order or on licence is referred to the project and staff then work very hard to motivate them to volunteer to take part.

“The administration staff also do a wonderful job. Government, rightly, sets rigorous benchmarks for the information we send and so we have to be meticulous in what we do.”

Offenders volunteer to take part, and the project runs alongside the statutory supervision people are subject to as part of their court order.

Michael Ventris, Achieve’s project manager, said: “We tailor the work that we do to each individual so that it suits their specific needs and boosts their employability.

“Achieve case managers form action plans with offenders to help them access training, further learning courses and prepare them for job interviews, among a range of other activities.

“We also work very closely with a wide range of partner organisations — both in the voluntary and private sector — and because of those links we are able to help people access a range of superb volunteering placements and carry out work which helps them gain paid employment.”