Kitchens & hospitality
Walk in, work hard, move up. Kitchens judge you on today.
Today: food hygiene Level 2
A few hours online, free or under £15. It's the only paper most kitchens want to see.
Hours, not weeksFirst job: kitchen porter or prep
£22–24k and kitchens hire on attitude, today, everywhere. Many chains actively recruit prison leavers.
Basic check onlyYear 1: commis chef
Learn on the job. Kitchens promote from within faster than almost any industry.
The ceiling: chef de partie and up
£28–38k+. Some of the best chefs in Britain started with a record — the trade is famously open about it.
Not sure where your record stands? Since October 2023 most records become spent far sooner than people assume — and spent records are invisible to a Basic check, like the ones on this route.
Check yours — it stays on your phone →Real places to start
Links open the real provider. Good:Folk never sits in the middle.
Employers that actively hire on this route
Public programmes for hiring people with convictions — doors that actually open.
Long-running prison-leaver employment programme across bakeries and shops nationwide.
RAW Talent programme — dedicated hiring route for people with convictions in food production.
Starting Fresh programme — catering, cleaning and facilities roles nationwide.
Releasing Potential programme — kitchen and pub roles, with training started inside.
Ban the Box signatory — catering and support services across thousands of UK sites.
Rising Stars programme (Pret Foundation) — paid shop roles with wraparound support.
More like this
All routes →Not sure this is the one? Answer four questions and get matched.