Employing Ex-offenders in the VCSE Sector Event Summary
VSNW Presents ‘Employing Ex-Offenders in the
VCSE Sector’
19th May 2021 4pm-5pm
A full recording of the event can be found here.
The pandemic has exaggerated unemployment levels, which has had dramatic effects on individuals, families and the wider community. Ex-offenders have a particularly high risk of unemployment after finishing their sentence, which, amongst other factors, enhances the likelihood of reoffending. Helping and securing employment can have long and prominent positive effects, not only for the individual but for wider society too.
VSNW welcomed a selection of speakers to discuss their processes and experiences of working with and employing ex-offenders, including an inspiring insight from John, who has been through the process himself.
Our key takeaway messages:
People deserve a second chance-employment is vital in lowering re-offending rates.
Re-creating real-life work scenarios inside prison is an important process of getting offenders ready to work.
Supporting offenders release from prison with travel expenses ,meeting them upon release etc is vital to the transition.
Many ex-offenders have transferable skills intrinsic to business and the workplace.
Support and buddy programmes needed as ex-offenders can be vulnerable.
Employment is only one variable that effects re-offending rates,family support and housing being examples of others. This needs to be kept in mind.
For organisations wanting to implement practices to employ ex-offenders, partnerships with other organisations to support can be key. Whether that’s another organisation already successfully employing ex-offenders to learn employment practices from, or a housing or mental health organisation for example to provide the wrap around support that can sometimes be required.
Darren Burns, from the Timpson Foundation, discussed the history of the foundation and how the group became invested in employing ex-offenders and giving them a second chance. They are now proudly the largest employer of ex-offenders in England.
They have four main streams of employment:
1: ROTL (Release on Temporary License)
This begins with informal interviews after liaising with prison staff, the aim of which is to grasp the character and personality of the individual. ROTL allows successful applicants to leave prison in the day to work and return to prison in the evening. They receive national living wage.
2. Prison training academies:
As a lot of prison work doesn’t get prisoners ready for the real world, these prison training academies aim to replicate a real Timpson branch environment for practice and assessing skills. When the prisoners are then eligible for ROTL, the continuity of environment is very positive.
3 .Some people in custody do not have access to ROTL (perhaps they are in category B prisons/sentence is too short). In this instance they are risk assessed and interviewed and then met upon release and given a travel pass and a job.
4. People feel confident applying through normal streams as Timpson is renowned for its employment ethos.
Darren explained some of main reasons why the Timpson Foundation has decided to engage with the above employment processes:
People deserve a second chance-reoffending rates are dramaticallyr educed if employed.
Reoffending costs the taxpayer vast amounts each year, thus reducing this benefits family, individual, wider society, tax payer and communities
Experience of prison often gives people qualities of personal resilience. They are often more hardworking, more honest and can be business savvy.
Annie Gale, from COOK Ltd and the Raw Talent Programme gave an overview of their experiences and processes too.
The RAW (Ready & Working) Talent Programme supports people with convictions, who suffer from addiction and who are homeless. Their company values see their employees as “essential ingredients” to their success, which they regard as doing the right thing by society as well as turning a profit. The programme has the following stages:
1. Training before job offer (a supported trial shift)
2. All those who complete the programme are interviewed
3. The programme is run 3 times a year and 2-4 jobs are offered from each.
COOK Ltd strive to see the potential in people and maintain that somebody’s past doesn’t have to define their future. They believe that doing good business attracts good people, shareholders, suppliers and customers. They put equality at the fore of their ethos and make sure that their employees are offered support, buddy programmes etc. They have high expectations and a disciplinary process, which has been devised from learning over the years.
Skills for Growth Programme in Greater Manchester
The aim of the Skils for Growth programme is to provide an up-skilling service to VCSE organisations across Greater Manchester. This programme can be tailor-made with the ambition to help improve productivity across the workforce, which in turn will help your organisation to prosper.
What your organisation can expect:
Develop your team with skills
Maximise future growth
Reshape your organisation
Improve your team’s wellbeing
Funding your growth
Support for individuals is also available to:
Explore training providers and grow skillset
Help maximising opportunities
Guidance improving your CV
Develop interview techniques
Skills for Growth is delivered by Growth Company (GC) Business Growth Hub with GMCVO and funded through the European Social Fund, which is commissioned by GMCA.
MORE INFORMATION HERE.
Donations & Fund Reporting Webinar
The Civil Society hosted a webinar at their Spring Summit exploring ‘Donations and Fund Reporting: how to do it right to protect your charity today and into the future’.
Their focus is on how to digitise fund reporting, including the practicalitiies and how to ensure your processes are efficient and SORP compliant. These are all vital, due to the high levels of accountability in fund reporting and the need to comply with all the rules.
Watch the webinar here
From This to That: Changes in the NHS
Confused about the upcoming NHS reconfiguration? Too many acornyms?
VSNW have produced a resource to help extrapolate key information relevant to the sector in light of the upcoming changes as outlined in the Whitepaper.
Click on the image below.
Digital Inclusion in Great Manchester: Andy Burnham's Pledge
The last year has seen a rise in homeworking and the inextricable need for many people and organisations to increase their capacity to work and communicate online . This has exacerbated digital access inequalities, and has forced many to be ‘digitally excluded’. A focus on digital inclusion is therefore a necessity.
This month, Andy Burnham was re-elected as Greater Manchester’s Metro Mayor. He has since pledged to aim to equip all under 25s, over 75s and disabled members of the community with the skills and technology to engage with our ever increasing digital society. Through the newly established Digital Inclusion Action Network, Burnham will work with organisations to help extinguish digital exclusion in the city region.
Since 2020 and the Greater Manchester Technology Fund launch, over 1,300 disadvantged young people have been helped with a “digital kit bundle”, which includes a laptop or tablet and tools to get online.
Civil Society Donations & Fund Reporting Webinar
If you missed Civil Society’s Spring Summit, they hosted a webinar exploring ‘Donations and Fund Reporting: how to do it right to protect your charity today and into the future.”
Summary: VCSE North West Networking Meeting #1 Workplace Well-being
We were happy to begin our new networking event series with the theme of ‘Workplace Well-being’. Not only is it Mental Health Awareness Week but this past year has plagued the VCSE sector with more work, less staff and new working environments. Those who work in the VCSE sector are often under immense pressure, which can cause strains on mental health. It is vital that the wellbeing and mental health of staff in the sector are protected, so that we can continue to provide the depth and breadth of support to our communities under the right conditions
The aim of our new networking series is to connect organisations from across the North West to share issues, solutions and best practices.
We have six takeaway lessons from our first networking session, which we would like to share across the VCSE sector to help advance the sector’s workplace well-being strategy:
Think through informal support for staff e.g. a dedicated wellbeing role for a trustee
Mental health first aid training e.g. from MIND
Develop blended/hybrid models of working e.g. working from home (WFH) and/or office work
Develop policies to manage workplace well-being
Staff well-being surveys e.g. quarterly surveys asking how staff are feeling/coping and reaching out to those in need
Staff appreciation vouchers
We would like to thank our eloquent speakers, Mustafa Hassan who is a Project Officer at Lancashire BME Network (LBN) and Maisie Hulbert, Policy Officer from ACEVO. Furthermore, thanks to all those who came and contributed to the session; we hope it was useful and can benefit future practices.
You can find here more detailed notes from the speakers and breakout rooms.
Our next networking meeting is on the June 15th and will focus on the NHS reconfigurations; we will update more details via Twitter and our website. We hope to see you there.
Employing Ex-Offenders in the VCSE Sector
On Wednesday 19th May, VSNW will be hosting an event exploring “Employing Ex-Offenders in the VCSE Sector” from 4pm-5pm.
As we exit the pandemic all reports suggest that the employment rate will improve. Whether this is a gradual improvement or a sudden spike remains to be seen. However, it is recognised that it will be some time before employment gets back to where it was in pre-pandemic days. This will affect many households and some who already have difficulties in accessing employment.
One such group is those who have served a custodial sentence. Without a job, the risk of reoffending is higher than would otherwise be the case. This hour long seminar, organised by VSNW, will hear from businesses who have a positive process to recruit from prison and also from a community development worker who works full time with ex-offenders with the aim of gaining them employment.
We are delighted to announce the following guest speakers:
Farhana Musarat, Project Officer at Lancashire BME Network in Blackburn. She is leading on work with ex-offenders and guiding into employment. A graduate of University of Central Lancs, Farhana is a stimulating and passionate speaker and an Experienced Employment Advisor /Transformation coach/ Project Officer with a wealth of skills gained from diverse working environments. Skilled in Communication, Leadership, Writing, Project Management, offender rehabilitation and Customer Service she brings a wide range of perspectives to this event.
Annie Gale, Head of RAW Talent & Apprenticeships at COOK Trading LTD. Arriving in Sittingbourne, where the company is based, via Birmingham University Annie cares deeply about good results, good values and good communication. She believes in people's potential - whatever their past - to do a fantastic job and oversees the 'RAW Talent' programme at COOK. This supports people from prison / homelessness / addiction / mental ill health into meaningful, sustainable work. Annie will be accompanied by John, one of the team recruited under the Raw Talent programme.
Darren Burns, National Recruitment Manager, Timpson Group. He specialises in the recruitment and retention of ex-offenders, veterans and others who face barriers to employment and also fosters relationships with many UK prisons and agencies such as Police and Probation services. Just in case he is not busy enough he also manages the Timpson prison training academies and is responsible for overseeing the transition from custody into the work place!
We will hear from all of our speakers in turn then move into a Q&A panel discussion, where you will be able to ask your questions to our guests.
Once registered for the event, Zoom joining details will be emailed to you the day prior to the event.
REGISTER HERE
VCSE NW Networking #Workplace Well-being
We begin our networking series with the theme of ‘Workplace Well-being’ to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week. This pandemic has strained all of us, at home, and at work; as we navigate our way out of lockdown it is imperative we focus on well-being in the work place.
We are excited to be joined by Maisie Hulbert, Policy Officer at at ACEVO and author or “workforce wellbeing in charities” and Sehrish Qureshi Well-Being Service Manager at Lancashire BME Network.
Join us and have the chance to network and discuss with other organisations.
