Blue Sky. GOOP Meeting 3 July I never saw a man who looked with such a wistful eye upon that little tent of blue which prisoners call the sky

Transcription

1 Blue Sky GOOP Meeting 3 July 2013 I never saw a man who looked with such a wistful eye upon that little tent of blue which prisoners call the sky The Ballad of Reading Gaol Oscar Wilde

2 What is Blue Sky? Just look at Blue Sky... It s the only company in the country where you need a criminal record to work there. - David Cameron A social enterprise providing proper jobs for ex-offenders Landscaping and grounds maintenance Recycling Catering Part of a national approach developed by Groundwork London, south east, Bristol, Gloucester, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside, Yorkshire and The Humber, West Midlands

3 The Blue Sky Model Operatives employed on 6 month contracts Work in small supervised teams, Supervisors usually ex-offenders Blue Sky the Employee Progression Employee Start Interview, CV writing, career planning Permanent Job Transitional Employment Life Skills, Example, Motivation, Vocational Skills Tailored & accredited training e.g. NVQ s, driving MONTHS

4 BLUE SKY - INCOME MODEL Grounds maintenance Worklessness & re-offending income Business Development

5 Landscape construction and maintenance contract examples Social Housing Providers New Charter Housing Trust Reactive fencing contract across all housing stock in Tameside Range of fencing types called off against schedule of rates Your Environmental Team Area based maintenance contract for partnership of 8 social housing providers

6 Landscape construction and maintenance contract examples The Environment Agency Range of environmental asset management work in Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire including fencing, path construction and site maintenance Blue Sky have erected various types of fencing for the environment Agency. Each time work was carried out on time, to budget and to an excellent standard. Graham Smith, Specialist Team Leader, Environment Agency The Forestry Commission Grounds maintenance and fencing contracts in Greater Manchester, Cheshire & Merseyside The Forestry Commission is very pleased with the standard of work Blue sky has been undertaking for us. They have impressed us with their quality of management and with the enthusiasm and professionalism of the people employed Richard Topley, Delamere Beat Forester, Forestry Commission

7 Blue Sky Operational Model 2 The sub-contractor model Example: Our work in Slough and Ealing An additional social benefit at no extra cost! Long-term Grounds Maintenance Contract Service delivered under sub-contract

8 Blue Sky - the social value Our track record: to date 6 month employee starts: 720 Blue Sky Inside starts 47 Achieving accredited qualification 51% Onward employment: 48% Subsequent re-offence: 15% - a quarter of the national average Social Return on Investment analysis by Frontier Economics found that for every 1 spent on Blue Sky achieved 12 direct savings to public purse Blue Sky has changed my family and my dad. I wish Blue Sky the best in the future. And I hope that Blue Sky can change people like it did for my dad - Amy, 11 year-old daughter of former employee

9 Blue Sky wrap around support and benefits Securing and maintaining accommodation Financial bank accounts, budgeting, benefit dependency Tackling addiction problems - alcohol, drugs, gambling Re-building family relationships Employability skills development and jobsearch Mentoring to support confidence and decision making Skills and qualifications Blue Sky has given me an opportunity to gain employment that no other employer would have. If I had known about Blue Sky earlier I would not have spent so much time in prison, prisoners feel that there is nothing out there for them, so why should they bother going straight Paul, Blue Sky Operative

10 Next Steps: Blue Sky North New social enterprise established this year as joint venture between Blue Sky and Groundwork Trusts Footprint across North West, Yorkshire & The Humber and North East Engaging other partners and organisations to create employment and provide support for ex-offenders Capacity building funding through ESF and NOMS Co-financing Organisation.

11 Blue Sky and GOOP Blue Sky Job Broker / Mentor support achievement of through the gate employment: Employment on Blue Sky Teams Brokering jobs in the sector / training routeways and EOS links Training course and work placement Developing enterprise activity to create jobs on outside hosted by Blue Sky linked to products developed in prison projects.