A Greater Manchester bakery famed for employing ex-convicts is set to expand after receiving a huge £300,000 loan from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).
The bakery H.M.Pasties, where 40 per cent of the workforce are former criminals, is set to move from its current home in Bolton to a bigger base in Oldham after getting approval for the loan from the Greater Manchester Investment Fund.
Lee Wakeham, 48, started H.M.Pasties in 2017. Having been jailed twice as a teenager he set out to help other former convicts find employment and rebuild their lives.
Two years later in 2019, Lee took full control of the social business and moved it from a shop in Droylsden to a unit in Bolton just before the Covid pandemic hit.
After ‘fighting for survival’ during the pandemic, the business flourished again once restrictions eased and began supplying organisations including the University of Manchester, Manchester Central, and the Lowry.
To keep up with demand the Bolton bakery had to be extended twice. Now, thanks to the GMCA loan H.M.Pasties, which currently produces around 6,000 pies and pasties a week and supplies Joseph Holt pubs, is able to move to a bigger premises.
Lee said H.M.Pasties, which has won six British Pie Awards in the last two years, will be able to make 15,000 to 20,000 pasties and pies from its new home and will create around 16 new jobs in Oldham.
The move comes as Lee prepares to welcome his first child and after a long personal journey that saw him leave behind his own criminal past and start helping others.
By the age of 20 Lee had been jailed twice, as a result of violent behaviour that stemmed from a traumatic childhood growing up in care and suffering sexual abuse. During his second prison sentence he received counselling and on his release found work and turned his life around.
Following his release in 1999, Lee worked in several jobs before later joining the Salford Prison Project. In 2016 he became an employment coach working with former prisoners for the charity Groundwork, which later helped him launch his H.M.Pasties project.
Lee said: “I wanted to work with young offenders or people leaving prison and try and support them because I knew from my own lived experience that there are a lot of decent people in prison who if they had had a better start in life would have never have ended up there in the first place.
“My offences were when I was 17 and 19 and they were still a barrier in my life in my thirties. Until they made changes to the Rehabilitation Offenders Act in 2013 I still couldn’t get insurance from most insurers to drive a car. I still had to tick that box for an offence I committed when I was 17.
“There were jobs that I was qualified for but I never got an interview. Getting a job when you have to tick that box saying you have a criminal record is difficult. I was fully rehabilitated and I was never ever going to reoffend but was still being labelled as an offender.”
Reflecting on his past, he said: “I did a lot of bad things when I was a kid, there are reasons why but that doesn’t excuse what I was doing.
“There are a lot of people who have left prison who are right to be angry about the life that they had but they need to be given an opportunity to process that in a different way.
“When I was being sentenced my barrister was the first person who said to me you’ve got every right to be angry but what you’re doing with that anger is unacceptable. That was a light bulb moment for me and led to me getting therapy.Before then everyone had just said I had anger management issues and each time I had just rebelled even more.”
Lee said having a criminal record also affected his personal relationships and that knowing how and when to disclose to a partner that he had a record proved difficult.
“All that history that you’re carrying around, it weighs heavy and I wanted to help people with that”, he said.
Lee said he managed to achieve what he did and move on with his life after ‘processing’ what happened in his past.
“We can give people a job and a home but until they really process why they started doing what they started doing in the first place the risk of them going back to that is still there. That’s why it’s important that people we employ are supported with that.”
H.M.Pasties employs ex-offenders fresh out of custody and aims to equip them with the skills and support to build a life and career on the outside. By providing training and support, the business also aims to reduce the risk of re-offending. Staff earn a living wage at H.M.Pasties while they develop cookery and customer service skills and attain food hygiene qualifications.
Lee said that during his time as a work coach ex-convicts would tell him they wanted to find a job, seeing it as the ‘golden ticket’ that would end their offending and allow them to move on with their lives, but that he struggled to find employers willing to give them a chance.
Of those that did manage to get employment, many would not last long in the job due to a lack of support from employers.
“Whilst they wanted work they weren’t quite ready for it. I know when I left prison I got a job the day after working on a production line for a lights manufacturer in Manchester and my attitude was not right. I was still aggressive and hadn’t adjusted to being in the world of work and my employer could have fired me on a number of occasions but they didn't. They worked with me and invested in me and 18 months after getting out of prison I became a regional sales manager.
“I knew from my own experience that by giving time, investment and patience as an employer, people who leave prison not necessarily ready for work can become so in time and can excel and go on to be excellent employees.
“Some will hit the ground running and be fine but the vast majority of people leaving prison are not in that category and are still dealing with homelessness, substance misuse, mental health problems, dysfunctional relationships and money issues.
“At H.M.Pasties we will take someone on at that point providing they come to work everyday clean and tidy and are abstinent from drugs. We will help and support people and signpost them to any services they might need.
“The idea is they either stay with us and get a well paid job whilst tackling other issues, which will mean they won’t need to go out and offend, or we support them and help them find a job elsewhere. A job is part of the solution but is not the solution on its own."
Commenting on the loan granted to H.M.Pasties, Cllr David Molyneux, GMCA resources and investment lead, said: “We are proud to be supporting H.M. Pasties, founded by ex-offender Lee Wakeham, which helps people with criminal convictions reintegrate into the local community through meaningful employment.
“This investment will ensure H.M.Pasties can carry on providing good, stable jobs to ex-offenders in the city-region, alongside scaling up wholesale operations from a new and improved premises. We’re excited to see them take the next step on their journey, as they continue to grow and help people to change their lives here in Greater Manchester.”
Greater Manchester bakery that employs ex-convicts set to expand - Manchester Evening News