1 The Exceptionals - The Directory

GET HELP
FINDING
EXCEPTIONAL
EMPLOYEES

Our directory is full of organisations working with ex-offenders, who will help you to find exceptional employees and support you every step of the way.
Interested in joining the directory?

GET IN TOUCH

3 Pillars Project

London
Sector: Sport and Fitness
07754 820 822 Website

3 Pillars Project works within the criminal justice system to provide positive role models through rugby coaching courses. Using excellence in sport and military leadership, we focus on the three pillars of exercise, education and ethos as a foundation for effective rehabilitation. Our community offers long-term support to all course graduates and is committed to empowering individuals' potential to make a positive contribution to society in the future, regardless of their past.

A Band of Brothers

UK
Sector: Personal Development
07718205040 Website

Central to all of our programmes are experiences that have come to be termed “rites of passage.” Through this context we harness the integral goodwill of local adult men by providing them with a powerful training that develops mentoring skills, emotional intelligence and enhances authenticity and confidence. This in turn empowers these men to provide a rites of passage training and ongoing mentorship to the young men of their community. The mentors hail from very varied walks of life and currently include local businessmen, tradesmen, film makers etc.

Aspire Oxford

Oxford
Sector: Recruitment
01865 204450 Website

Aspire Oxford is an award-winning employment charity and social enterprise, established in 2001. It helps people with a background of offending histories, homelessness and drug and alcohol addiction into and towards employment through specialist support and work experience in their our own social enterprises. Aspire Oxford runs a Through the Gate project with Bullingdon and Spring Hill prisons, supporting ex-offenders into sustainable employment including a Release on Temporary Licence work experience programme with Spring Hill prison. Aspire Oxford also builds strong relationships with local employers to encourage them to open up job opportunities to ex-offenders and other disadvantaged groups.

Contact: Emily Capel-Davies

Beating Time

London, West Midlands, Kent
Sector: Charity
+44 (0)7753 832521 Website

Our purpose is to prevent people returning to prison by giving them the opportunity to:

· Maintain a fit mind: combat stress, anxiety, depression: stay positive, optimistic and on top of things…

· Be part of a thriving community: included not excluded.

· Develop employability skills: committed, focused, confident, team players who perform

· Develop self-employment plans and access the support needed for success (Restart)

We do this through weekly music and performance groups – Choirs! Our Concerts provide a platform for “forming and norming" relationships:

· employers, get to see this hidden talent pool perform. It motivates many to create second chances. We work hard to cultivate these relationships.

· families, get to see the person they love giving to others and receiving applause. More much needed glue that helps hold fragile relationships together.

Please contact Heather Phillips: heatherphillips@beatingtime.org

Belong

London
Sector: Charity
07766004149 Website

We work with people who have offended and those who have been victims of crime to reduce crime and the harm it causes. We specialise in enabling positive development, rehabilitation and recovery amongst those who have been victims or perpetrators of sexual or violent offences. We work with children, young people and adults in custodial and community settings. Our services include through-the-gate mentoring, restorative justice interventions and therapy.

Activities undertaken during one-to-one support may include applying for employment and training, practicing interview skills, and strengthening self-esteem and confidence.

In our volunteer and paid positions, we welcome applications from those with lived experience of the criminal justice system.

Main Contact: Esther Wanjie, Director. Please email: enquiries@belonglondon.com

Beyond Food Foundation

London
Sector: Hospitality
Offer: Employment Preparation, Training
02070899444 Website

Beyond Food is a charity providing training and support to people who have been impacted by homelessness, mental health, addiction, those with a criminal record or who are at risk of homelessness.

Our programmes focus on getting people into fulfilling and meaningful employment, thus breaking the cycle of homelessness, unemployment and poverty.

Our solution is based around simple, good food; cooking it and serving it.

At Beyond Food, we aim to inspire people to begin the process of developing skills and attitudes that can become the foundation for their work and life for the future. We bring freshly cooked food into the lives of vulnerable people, as it plays a crucial role in helping individuals to stand on their own two feet.

Learning the basics of cooking, equips people in identifying building blocks to create lives full of purpose. Good food, kitchen skills and harnessing a sense of vitality, lay the groundwork towards helping individuals to contribute and belong in society.

Beyond the Gate Publishing

North West
Sector: Charity and Social Enterprise
Offer: Personal Support (Addiction, Mental Health, Housing and Debt Advice), Training, Education
07543 466 639 Website

Beyond the Gate is a magazine published by ex-offenders for people entering and leaving custody. The point of the magazine is to encapsulate information that people in those situations need, and to sign-post them in the right direction to get any help they need. As well as features by these support groups and organisations, the magazine will also feature stories from people who have successfully broken their own offending cycles and are now leading crime-free lives. Surplus finances will be used towards education for people in custody.

Main Contact: katie@beyondthegatepublishing.org

Bounce Back

London
Sector: Construction
020 7735 1256 Website

Bounce Back works in several prisons, as well as with London Probation, to offer training, working experience and employment to offenders at the end of their sentences using the skills developed both in custody and on release. Their training centres provide courses in painting and decorating, dry walling, and scaffolding.

Contact: Fran Findlater, CEO

Business in the Community

London
Sector: Public sector
020 7566 8650 Website

Business in the community is a business-led charity with more than 30 years' experience of mobilising business. Through their programmes they engage thousands of businesses with a core membership of more than 800 organisations from small enterprises to global corporations.

Contact: Nicola Inge, Campaign Manager - Work Inclusion

Citrus Ornge Media 

Brighton and Hove
Sector: Social Enterprise
+44 203 887 3647 Website

Citrus Ornge is a specialist performance marketing, technology, and publishing business who are experts in high-end B2B & B2C digital lead generation and new customer acquisition.

We provide bespoke digital marketing products and the business also has a social mission at its heart – to create employment opportunities for ex-offenders and those recovering from addiction through several work experience and mentoring initiatives with local community partners in Brighton and Hove.

Please contact founder and CEO Jason Baker: jason@citrusornge.com


Clean Sheet

Nationwide
Sector: Charity
0300 123 3045 Website

Clean Sheet is a national charity, part of the Langley House Trust Group, offering people with convictions the hope of a better future by finding real, permanent employment. We are a Christian charity working with people of all faiths and none.

Contact: info@cleansheet.org.uk

Companions Real  Bread CIC

Bedford
Sector: Bakery
07742 755543 Website

Companions Real Bread provides training and employment opportunities with support to socially marginalised clients including but not limited to ex-offenders and the long term unemployed.

Companions Real Bread is a small well equipped professional bakery which specialises in the production of Real Sourdough Bread for wholesale customers locally.

We provide training to our volunteer bakers in an inclusive, nurturing environment with a support worker readily available to give further assistance with problems including debt advice housing and benefits.

We currently accept referrals from the Probation Service, other local partner agencies and self referrals.

Please contact Managing Director Sue Flynn via sue@companionsrealbread.uk

Coracle Inside

Cambridge
Sector: Education
01638668135 Website

Coracle is a Cambridge based Edtech firm that provides a specialist B2B Virtual Learning Environment. We are a secure digital channel for education providers to access the prison estate.

Please contact managing director James Tweed: james.tweed@coracleinside.com

Elite Project Services

London
Sector: Education, Training and Employment Services
01708 756444 Website

Elite Project Services runs rail track maintenance and construction training courses for people in custody.

Enterprise Inspiration

Slough
Sector: Education, Training and Employment Services
07759 074864 Website

Enterprise Inspiration provides, where funding resources are available, advice and support for ex offenders who want to know about how to start, grow and run a sustainable business. They work in prisons, with those on probation or in the community. Their training includes all aspects of business planning from marketing and business routines to book keeping and tax planning. Their approach is holistic - taking the individual in mind along with any complex circumstances that may need to be explored for their business to succeed. Training and coaching is delivered in way that is an inspiration reality check - helping their trainees to feel motivated, confident and empowered to realise their potential.

Contact: Isabel King

Entrepreneurs  Unlocked CIC

North West
Sector: Education, Training and Employment Services
Offer: Education, Training
01204 263002 Website

Entrepreneurs Unlocked aims to keep people from re-offending, encouraging rehabilitation and re-integration through entprenreurship.

It provides specialist and focused packages of learning and support for people who are looking to become self-employed. These are carefully constructed to identify, explore, and harness their entrepreneurial potential whilst providing stakeholders and commissioners with value for money.

We work in partnership with all elements of the rehabilitation journey, from learning and skills and education departments in custody, through to provision in the community and supporting participants to set up as self-employed.

From working out whether entrepreneurship is right for the individual through to full business start-up we have something to suit each personal ambition.

Ex-Seed Recruitment

Northampton
Sector: Recruitment
08454 670 998 Website

Ex-seed is an employment agency and recruitment network which places ex-offenders into stable employment and supports them to enjoy crime-free and fulfilling lives.

Ex-seed are the only nationally operating commercial organisation in this sector. We receive no grant funding and this private sector insight helps us to engage professionally with employers on an equal setting of mutual respect. We are also part of a national network of professional recruiters The Employment Agents Movement (TEAM).

Ex-seed receives upwards of 100 applicants each month, most are pre-vetted by probation officers or other referrers as being highly motivated to work, others have applied directly through www.ex-seed.co.uk or our published handbook "How to get a GREAT JOB when you have a CRIMINAL RECORD".

We advocate for each person individually, particularly investing time in the CV and disclosure process.

The success of our applicants proves that when people are given a second chance, they almost always prove worthy of it.

Contact: phil@ex-seed.co.uk

Freedom Bakery

Glasgow
Sector: Bakery
0141 328 7886 Website

Freedom Bakery is a social enterprise artisan bakery based at HMP Low Moss near Glasgow, which trains and develops the skills of a small team of people in custody who learn on the job.

Contact: Matt Fountain

Hire Hand

London
Sector: Hospitality
Website

Pop Up staff for Pop Up Traders. Hire hand is a recruitment app that ranks and allocates workers, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds to employers who need them by the hour or the day.

Inside Connections

North West England
Sector: Education, Training and Employment Services
01513 050245 Website

We provide the holistic digital platform for a chance at a sustainable life through education, training, employment, housing and on-going bespoke support. Our mission is to empower individuals from a prison, military, homeless or care background. Please contact Founder John Burton via email: john@insideconnections-cic.co.uk

I AM IN ME CIC

London
Sector: Education, Training and Employment Services
Offer: Personal Support (Addiction, Mental Health, Housing and Debt Advice)
07398 356747 Website

I AM IN ME Community Interest Company, incorporated in March 2017 delivers tailored support to disadvantaged, 'predominantly' 14 - 25-year-olds to include ex-offenders and those at risk of offending. We do this through 3 paths of engagement:

1. Personal Development

2. Employability (Highfield Accredited Level 2)

3. Business Start Up (Enterprise).

Our focus is strongly based on developing positive characters to equip beneficiaries with the tools to build resilience, self-control, self-discipline, self-regulation and emotional intelligence for positive lasting impact. Consequently, overcoming barriers of Social, Educational and Economic deprivation and not just for them but their children and their children's children.

Kennedy St CIC

Brighton
Sector: Charity and Social Enterprise
07775737314 Website

At Kennedy St CiC we believe training, personal development and education is best placed at a community level.

We deliver bespoke employability, business & mental wealth programmes, volunteering and training opportunities to those in recovery from addiction.

In making recovery visible we give hope to the wider community, showing not only is recovery possible, but how those that choose recovery go on to become valuable, contributing members of the community and workforce.

As a not for profit, all of our directors, are in active recovery from addiction, all of our projects are designed & led by highly skilled, trained staff and volunteer mentors who have a lived experience of recovery, mental wealth and business development.

We are looking for corporate sponsorship opportunities so we can develop Kennedy St Hubs in all major cities around the UK.

Please contact Clare Kennedy via Kennedystreetcic@gmail.com or on 0777573731

Key4Life

London and Bristol
Sector: Charity
01458850621 Website

Our mission is to reduce youth reoffending through the delivery of an innovative rehabilitation programme to those in prison and those at risk of going to prison.

Leicestershire Cares

Leicester
Sector: Charity
01162756490 Website

Leicestershire Cares brings businesses and communities together, for the benefit of all, through employee volunteering.

We provide volunteering opportunities for companies looking to get involved with communities in Leicestershire & Rutland.

Our wide ranging projects include supporting the rehabilitation of offenders.

Luminary Bakery

London
Sector: Bakery
02076869779 Website

Luminary Bakery is a social enterprise designed to deliver opportunities to help women to build a future for themselves. They provide a safe and professional environment where women can grow holistically- encouraging ambition, restoration and second chances. Using baking as a tool they take women on a journey to employability and entrepreneurship, equipping them with transferrable skills for the working world. They offer courses, work experience and paid employment within their bakers, empowering women to build their career.

Contact: Alice Boyle

Nacro

London
Sector: Education, Training and Employment Services
0845 600 3194 Website

Nacro is a national social justice charity with more than 50 years' experience of changing lives, building stronger communities and reducing crime. We house, we educate, we support, we advise, and we speak out for and with disadvantaged young people and adults. We are passionate about changing lives. We never give up. Nacro's national Resettlement Advice Service (RAS) seeks to remove the barriers that prevent people with criminal records (and those who have been subject to allegations) from moving forward with their lives in positive and constructive ways.

Contact: employeradvice@nacro.org.uk

Novus

Manchester
Sector: Education, Training and Employment Services
03333 222 888 Website

For over two decades, Novus has been delivering education, training and employment opportunities to adults and young people in UK prisons. They aim to improve lives and economic success, as well as reduce reoffending rates, through learning and skills-training. They provide interventions that reduce reoffending and divert people from criminal behaviour, allowing them to make a positive contribution to society.

Offploy

Huddersfield
Sector: Recruitment
01134 575 202 Website

Offploy CIC is specialist ex-offender recruitment agency with a twist- they not only reinvest their profits back in to supporting their client organisations to become ex-offender friendly but they also reinvest in mentoring all of their candidates in to meaningful and sustainable employment.

Only Connect

London
Sector: Public sector
020 7278 8939 Website

Only Connect is London's creative criminal justice charity, rooted in community. The focus of their work is finding innovative ways to reduce re-offending. They work with Londoners aged 16+ with recent experience of the justice system, equipping them with the necessary skills, attributes and positive networks to develop and pursue their life goals without harm. They work in prisons, across youth justice and through their unique Membership centres to deliver projects that build relationships, grow skills and cut crime. This Membership model offers one single, seamless relationship from custody to community and into future projects. In 2014/15 over 65% of their Members progressed into education, employment or training.

Contact: Laura Chinnery

Opportunity for Change

London
Sector: Construction
07860 540145 Website

Opportunity for Change is a community interest company (CIC) with a focus on providing a second chance for drug-free ex-offenders who want to turn their life around. With links in the construction industry, our mission is to provide a bridge into training and employment for those who are nearing the end of their sentence. Not only does this enable ex-offenders to gain independence and a brand new start, but it enables them to build confidence and credibility as skilled labourers. Please contact Ian Banks: ian.banks@opportunityforchange.co.uk

P3

Nottingham
Sector: Charity and Social Enterprise
0115 850 8190 Website

P3 is a charity and social enterprise which aims to improve lives and communities by delivering services for socially excluded and vulnerable people to unlock their potential and open up new possibilities. P3 is also a member of Purple Futures, a partnership which manages five Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) in the UK.

Pecan

London
Sector: Charity
02077320007 Website

Pecan is a Christian charity dedicated to bringing hope to individuals and the wider community. We provide employment support services that help people from all walks of life obtain and retain employment. We also build stronger communities and through social action

that changes lives and promotes well-being.

Pen Optical

Maidstone
Sector: Optics
01622 674 670 Website

Pen Optical is an organisation that aims to reduce re-offending by giving ex-offenders a second chance. An 8-week training programme in optics is run for individuals from open prisons or those serving community sentences. Support is then provided to certain offenders who are looking to gain employment in optics.

Contact: Tanjit Dosanjh

Pink Umbrella Studios

London
Sector: Charity and Social Enterprise
07597460535 Website

We create websites for the 3rd sector and ex-offenders for a very low rate. A percentage of these websites will be created by actual offenders inside learning to code. This helps the offenders to build their professional portfolios and gives them a very high chance of employment upon release. We at Pink Umbrella Studios also aim to employ the ex-offenders upon release.


Prisoners' Education Trust

London
Sector: Education
020 3752 5680 Website

Prisoners' Education Trust works across England and Wales to support people in prison to study distance learning courses. They provide advice and support in every prison in England and Wales and around 2,500 prisoners every year receive funding from PET to help them study courses in subjects and at levels not otherwise available.

Contact: Rod Clark

Project REMAKE

London
Sector: Education, Training and Employment Services
Website

Project REMAKE is a entrepreneurship course for ex-offenders. It's run in collaboration with King's College London, and aims over a 12 week course helps participants to develop and launch a start-up. It is inspired by Project REMADE out of Stanford University, USA.

Project Turn Over UK

London
Sector: Sport and Fitness
Offer: Mentoring and Coaching, Employment Preparation, Personal Support
07867 808 214  Website

At Project Turn-Over, we engage with young offenders from Feltham YOI and young people from the local community to divert them away from offending (or re-offending) and re-engagement with school through our programme and tailored individual support. We support these high risk young people back on the right path via our structured sport-centric and well-being programme. Through our challenging physical and cognitive programme and with a personal approach from the heart, we focus on teamwork, discipline, mutual trust and mentoring to support participants towards a positive path which fits their true potential and capabilities. We run our intensive programme 4 times a year and engage with each cohort for 12 weeks from our Staines Rugby Club site and our CALMS programme from Hanworth Youth Centre 2 days a week.

Prosper 4 Group

London
Sector: Recruitment
0203 021 4780 Website

Founded in 2014 by ex-offenders to assist other ex-offenders, Prosper 4 Group aims to improve the employment opportunities for people with convictions. They look to assist businesses with their staffing requirements by helping them access a pool of appropriately trained and well-motivated ex-offenders. They also offer self-employment support, running training programmes and providing business launch support for clients both in custody and post-release. Finally, they work both with prisons to identify the most productive ways to utilise their industrial capacity as well as with businesses to help them utilise prison industries to increase their production capacity, with the ultimate aim of improving the skills of ex-offenders and providing them with meaningful employment in custody.

Contact: Michael Corrigan, CEO

Raw Workshop

oxford
Sector: Charity and Social Enterprise
01865714111 Website

We make a range of high-quality wooden products, offer a wood recycling/collection service and sell reclaimed timber. In the process, we also help change lives. Please contact Rick Mower: rick@raw-workshop.co.uk

Recycling Lives

Preston
Sector: Recycling and Waste Management
01772 654 321 Website

Recycling Lives is a social business, using profits from its commercial recycling and waste management operations to sustain and support a social welfare charity. This offers offender rehabilitation through training, employment and accommodation, significantly reducing reoffending by offering job opportunities in its recycling business or with partner organisations in other sectors.

RIFT Social Enterprise

Kent
Sector: Social Enterprise
08000495978 Website

With the Covid-19 pandemic likely to significantly impact upon prisoners' chances of securing PAYE work on release, we believe that self-employment is a crucial area for Prison Governors to focus on. A recent survey amongst residents at HMP Thameside found that 20% of its residents had been self-employed prior to coming into prison (including those working in the construction industry) and 60% were interested in pursuing self-employment on release.

Our new remote self-employment service consists of:

An initial 45 minute phone call with a RIFT Business Start-Up Specialist who will discuss the resident's self-employment plans in detail and who will provide expert advice and guidance on what steps they should start thinking about in preparation for commencing their business on release

An in-cell workbook for the resident to complete focusing on topics such as: business insurance, funding, competitor research, pricing, and marketing. Once this workbook is completed and posted to us, we provide constructive and comprehensive feedback on what they have written and encourage ongoing communication until release. They will also receive an IOEE certificate for having completed the workbook. We will send them advice, tips and extracts from relevant publications in order to encourage them to continue focusing on their self-employment plans

Upon release they will receive unlimited support from a RIFT Business Start-Up Specialist/Accountant during their first year of trading and we will provide regular feedback to the prison regarding what progress they are making

The support on release includes: 12 months free business banking, a free mobile phone and sim card when they register their business with HMRC, access to a specialist insurance broker, free business cards, support with website development and free advertising of their business on our website

We will complete their first Self-Assessment tax return for them free of charge, teaching them how to do it for themselves the following year.

Contact: Andy Gullick, contact@riftse.co.uk

RISE Mutual

London
Sector: Education, Training and Employment Services
020 7428 8430 Website

RISE Mutual is a Community Interest Company (CIC) owned by its employees. It provides criminal justice and rehabilitation programmes, to transform the lives of individuals, families and communities. Employees largely comes from the former Interventions Department of London Probation, so they possess a wealth of experience working with offenders.

RMF Construction 

Birmingham
Sector: Construction
0121 440 7970 Website

RMF Construction Training Academy provides training and employment opportunities to socially underrepresented candidates including, but not limited to: ex-offenders, ex-military, long-term unemployed & the homeless.

RMF have provided training within 16 HM Prisons and have achieved employment outcomes for over 250 ex-offender candidates whilst on ROTL and upon release.

RMF Fresh Start Website is a hub for on-going socially inclusive training & employment opportunities from our network of client partners which includes the new LMJV Employment hub partnership between RMF & LMJV in preparation for HS2.

Please contact Dara McCarthy: Dara@rmfconstruction.co.uk.

Sara Putt Associates

London
Sector: Theatre
Website

Sara Putt Associates supports ex-offenders in to employment in the film and TV industries through training and career support.

Skillcert

National
Sector: Recycling and Waste Management
07718484199 Website

Skillcert have operated on the frontline of prison education and resettlement since 2015. Skillcert has delivered the Level 2 Diploma in Sustainable Recycling Activities (WAMITAB) to learners that work in recycling workshops across 7 English prisons. Skillcert has delivered this provision as a sub-contractor to Milton Keynes College since April 2017 and more recently People Plus and Novus. The programme supports learners working in recycling workshops across our prison network. Learners are provided with the required skills, knowledge and occupational competence to support their successful progression into work with our employer partners on release.

Main Contact: gabby.liden@skillcert.co.uk

Spark Inside

London
Sector: Rehabilitation
020 3468 0706 Website

Spark Inside is pioneering the use of professional coaching in prisons to promote rehabilitation, tackle violence and reduce re-offending.

Contact: Baillie Aaron

St Giles Trust

London
Sector: Rehabilitation
020 7708 8000 Website

St Giles Trust aims to help break the cycle of prison, crime and disadvantage and create safer communities by supporting people to change their lives. Through it's peer advice programme of mentoring it helps to prepare ex-offenders for employment as well as managing other aspects of their life post prison.

StandOut

London
Sector: Charity
Offer: Personal Support (Addiction, Mental Health, Housing and Debt Advice)
07743442451 Website

The StandOut Programme starts with a four-week intensive training course inside prison and equips people with the tools, skills and mindsets needed for the workplace and offers unique opportunities to engage with employers before release. StandOut coaches then provide individualised 1-1 support through-the-gate and after release for as long as needed, collaborating with our network of employer and support organisations. Set up in response to covid-19, the StandOut Helpline offers intensive 1-1 phone coaching and practical support for all men leaving our London partner prisons, assisting with critical needs such as housing, emergency food, benefits, mental health and further training.

Switchback

London
Sector: Rehabilitation
020 7650 8989 Website

Switchback is a completely different, intensive rehabilitation programme that supports young adult offenders - Trainees - to make real, long-lasting change after their release from prison.

Contact: Leah Selinger, Acting CEO

Synergy Theatre Project

London
Sector: Theatre
020 3668 6730 Website

Synergy Theatre Project works through theatre towards the rehabilitation of prisoners, ex-prisoners and young people at risk of offending. Synergy seeks to create ground-breaking work, harnessing the energy, instincts and life experiences of those they work with, giving them a voice and, in doing so, their dignity back. Their work provides practical opportunities which builds a bridge from prison to social integration and seeks to prevent young people from entering the criminal justice system.

Talent Match

Wolverhampton, Walsall, West Bromwich and Dudley
Sector: Charity
01902 328973 Website

Black Country Talent Match is an intensive mentoring service supporting 17 to 29 year olds who face multiple barriers, to move closer to the world of work. We particularly focus on supporting young people with an offending background and work within local prisons to offer through the gates support. Additionally we work with local young people some time after release who may be struggling to make progress with their lives. Please contact Emma Searle: esearle@bctalentmatch.com

Tempus Novo

Doncaster
Sector: Recruitment
07868 569 509 / 07583 969 889 Website

Tempus Novo is an award-winning charity which believes that employment is the key to breaking the cycle of crime. By building relationships with partner organisations, Tempus Novo is able to create employment opportunities for ex-offenders and move them away from a life of crime.

Contact: Steve Freer

The Chrysalis Programme

Northampton
Sector: Personal Development
07801 438 140 Website

The Chrysalis Programme is a world class Personal Leadership and Effectiveness Development Programme. This innovative and holistic personal change programme engages, inspires and compels individuals to own and drive personal change in their lives. Using positive reinforcement techniques, the programme aims to stimulate participants' thinking, attitudes and social capability. It inspires them to challenge their paradigms of thought and behaviour, increasing their feelings of self-esteem, self-motivation and hope.

Contact: David Apparicio

The Clink Charity

Sutton
Sector: Hospitality
020 7147 6724 Website

Founded in 2009, The Clink Charity aims to reduce the reoffending rates of ex-offenders. Working in partnership with Her Majesty's Prison Service it runs projects that train and offer practical skills to prisoners to aid their rehabilitation. Their award-winning restaurants allow prisoners to learn, engage with the public and take their first steps towards a new life. To date more than 800 prisoners have graduated from their training programmes. They operate 4 training restaurants, two horticulture schemes (Clink Gardens) and 1 event caterer (Clink Events).

Contact: Chris Moore

The Forward Trust

London
Sector: Charity
020 3752 5560 Website

The Forward Trust (formally RAPt and Blue Sky) empowers people to break the inter-linked cycles of addiction or crime to move forward with their lives. They believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. For more than 25 years they have been working with people to build positive and productive lives.

Having a job can help break the cycle of re-offending and addiction. Forward Employment Services create chances for people to develop new skills, find work and start a new story. They offer tailored support, training and access to real jobs to ex-offenders and those in recovery from addiction.

The Hard Yard

London
Sector: Sport and Fitness
Website

The Hard Yard is a fitness brand that trains and employs people leaving prison to lead tough workouts across London. They recruit the best talent from inside four London prisons and start working with them in the first weeks of release. All of their trainers are fully qualified and insured personal trainers, who have used fitness to transform their own lives and want to share this experience and expertise.

The Longford Trust

London
Sector: Education, Training and Employment Services
Website

The Longford Trust is a registered charity and has three projects: its Longford Scholarships programme; its annual Longford Lecture; and its annual Longford Prize. What links all three of these programmes is our core commitment to prison reform and to second chances for prisoners. Contact: Peter Stanford Email: director@longfordtrust.org

The Oswin Project

Newcastle-Upon -Tyne
Sector: Construction
01670 462 595 Website

The Oswin Project supports ex-offenders in North East England by sourcing paid employment and apprenticeship opportunities. It works closely with HM Prisons, employers and partners to maximise potential. They are creating second chances for ex-offenders through training, support and employment in order to break the cycle of re-offending.

Contact: Fiona Sample

The Reasons Why Foundation

London
Sector: Personal Development
03302210487 Website

The Reasons Why Foundation works in several prisons, as well as with London Probation, to offer through-the-gates mentoring, training and access to employment for offenders towards the end of their sentences.

Founded in 2012, our aim is to provide the right environment and support for people with convictions, helping them understand past behaviours and to make changes in how they think and behave in their lives now and in the future.

Together, with our growing team of trained volunteer mentors, supported by an RWF Staff Team, we achieve improvements in self-awareness, accountability, self-esteem and positive relationship development. Ultimately leading to improved wellbeing, reduced likelihood or re-offending and more sustainable resettlement following a period in custody.

The Skill Mill Limited

Multiple Regions
Sector: Charity and Social Enterprise
07943 813771 Website

The Skill Mill is a multi award winning social enterprise which provides employment opportunities for young people aged between sixteen and eighteen. We employ only ex offenders, actively reducing reoffending whilst increasing engagement, participation, employability and educational levels of the young people to increase their life chances. Often even with the best will in the world young people who have offended are unable to access education, training or employment opportunities which are vital to helping them move forwards with their lives. The Skill Mill removes these barriers and enables them to gain work skills, knowledge and most importantly confidence.

The New Leaf Initiative C.I.C

Birmingham
Sector: Charity and Social Enterprise
Offer: Creative Enrichment, Personal Support
0121 296 8339 Website

The New Leaf Initiative C.I.C. are award winning prison-to-employment specialists, using motivational talks and courses, innovative prison industry and education, training and self/employment opportunities to engage and progress people with convictions, both in custody and the community. Our vision is to support as many people with convictions into work as possible by providing holistic and practical support, delivered by case workers, many of whom have personal experience of the CJS, giving the best chance of a positive resettlement. We have created many genuine employment pathways upon release, thereby increasing engagement and reducing the low rates of employment for our community.




Main Contact:

Marie Claire O'Brien, marie-claire@newleafcic.org

The Recruitment  Junction

Newcastle 
Sector: Recruitment
Offer: Employment Preparation, Mentoring and Coaching, Recruitment, Support for Employers
0191 560 0238 Website

The Recruitment Junction opened its doors in autumn 2020 as the first recruitment agency in the north east for people with convictions. There are many initiatives up and down the country offering a range of services to people with convictions, including employability support. There are very few organisations, however, focussing solely on placing people with convictions into paid work, as recruitment agencies. None of these has a national footprint, nor reaches the north east. The Recruitment Junction is the first specialist recruitment business of its kind in the region.

The Recruitment Junction's aim is to see people with convictions rediscover a sense of purpose through work and become role models who drive positive generational impact across their families. It delivers on skills shortages for employers across the north east, combats persistent regional unemployment and contributes to a national reduction in re-offending.

Contact Beverley Brooks, Founder-Director via beverley.brooks@therecruitmentjunction.com

Trail-Blazers Mentoring

Aylesbury
Sector: Charity and Social Enterprise
07807 267 280 Website

Trail-Blazers Mentoring is a national charity that reduces re-offending among young people by providing volunteer mentors. Through their committed and dedicated team of over 125 mentors, Trailblazers works in close partnerships with Young Offending Institutions (YOIs), prison staff and other stakeholders to prevent re-offending. Volunteer mentors are thoroughly trained to ensure structure in the mentoring relationship. They meet with their young offender approximately six-months before his release and during weekly visits endeavours to build up a relationship of trust, which will ultimately lead to increased self-awareness, self-esteem and confidence in the young offender, reducing the risk of re-offending.

Contact: John Shephard

Trinity Fencing CIC

Maidstone
Sector: Construction
01795 385 070 Website

Trinity Fencing provide hoarding, fencing, landscaping and tree-surgery services, and serve the community through rehabilitating young ex-offenders. With 30 years' trade experience and over 2 years working in the prison ministry, the Founder and Director, Simon Gadd, was led to create opportunities for ex-offenders through a 3-year apprenticeship with Trinity Fencing.

Unlock - for people with convictions

Maidstone
Sector: Recruitment
01634 247 350 Website

Unlock is an independent award-winning national charity that provides a voice and support for people with convictions who are facing stigma and obstacles because of their criminal record, often long after they have served their sentence.

Recruit! is a website run by Unlock that supports UK employers to recruit people with convictions. It helps companies to deal with criminal records fairly by sharing good practice, providing free guidance and tools, and showing what other employers are doing.


Contact: Christopher Stacey, Co-Director

Willowdene Farm

Bridgenorth
Sector: Rehabilitation
01746 718 658 Website

Willowdene Farm, established in 1988, is a premier provider of rehabilitation and training in the UK.

Working Chance

London
Sector: Charity
Offer: Support for Employers, Employment Preparation, Personal Support, Mentoring and Coaching
Website

Working Chance helps women with convictions to develop the confidence, skills and self-belief they need to overcome any barriers to their employment, find jobs and build careers. We work with organisations of all sizes across all sectors to find opportunities for women that align with their skills and aspirations. Since 2009, Working Chance has supported thousands of women into employment and many more on their journeys towards financial independence. To women with convictions, a job is more than an income - it means a future where she and her family can flourish.

Every woman we support has unique skills, work experience and aspirations. So whether you are looking for a permanent employee, volunteer, apprentice or intern, we can help you find the perfect match for your team. We can advise you on inclusive hiring practices and answer any questions you might have.