Teach ex-cons the skills that our ever-changing city needs and bring down Britain’s re-offending rate
Across all the city’s businesses, we are surrounded by talented people. But the roles we need these people to take on, and the skills we need them to have, are changing faster than ever.
In the property industry, we’ve seen a huge shift in the skills required to build for our capital’s future – construction methods have evolved with the advancement of technology, ways of working have shifted as the next generation joins the workforce, and spaces have transformed to meet the changing desires of how we want to live, work and play.
Finding the people to join us on our journey isn’t limited to the traditional recruitment market. At Landsec, we’re committed to helping all members of our local communities – including those who we don’t see, who are furthest away from employment opportunities.
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Serving prisoners and ex-offenders face multiple barriers into work. Re-offending has a huge cost on our economy, but this group is an untapped source of talent that can be trained in the important new skills required by our evolving industry.
It’s a well-known fact that those leaving prison are less likely to reoffend if they have a job to go to. We knew that we had to help this invisible community find opportunities to better their futures and, in turn, put vital skills and jobs back into the economy.
We’ve been working with Bounce Back, the country’s leading charity in helping ex-offenders get back into work, since 2015. Together we’ve launched two hugely successful dry lining and scaffolding training academies at HMP Brixton. These academies give offenders the opportunity to gain a qualification that can be transferred to employment upon release – and we’ve been proud to see some of the people who have learnt these skills come to work with us on our sites.
You only need to take one look around you and you can see the wonderful structures of our changing city.
As spaces develop to meet the needs of our future, who is going to maintain the new London? And, more importantly, who is going to do it safely?
Together with Bounce Back, we’ve joined forces with London cleaning services company NJC to launch the UK’s first ever aerial window cleaning training academy at HMP & YOI Isis. The academy trains offenders in the skills needed to maintain the capital’s high-rise sites to the best standards.
The academy is supported by the Ministry of Justice, which has pledged its support to rehabilitation programmes and the positive impact that they can have on reducing reoffending.
It has the backing of the prisons minister Rory Stewart himself: “I believe that by supporting positive projects like this, we will help to make prisons places of hope and aspiration that propel offenders into employment, and ultimately help to reduce reoffending.” Stewart also reiterated how the academy will train prisoners in key work skills needed by local businesses.
We can’t predict what skills we’ll need in the future, and we must continue to watch how our industries evolve. But our local communities will always be around us. It’s our responsibility to embed ourselves into those communities, find the people that need opportunities, and make the talent that surrounds us more visible.
To find out more about programmes to support ex-offenders, visit https://offenderemployment.campaign.gov.uk/.
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