Just £10k got six new enterprises going. Here is how.

The reason for the project

Half of all people convicted of criminal offences have already been under supervision within the Criminal Justice System, but they still return to crime.   Re-offending costs us over £11bn a year, not including the cost to the victims.   Ex-offenders with jobs are much less likely to re-offend (the risk is cut by between a third and a half).  Self-employment offers a significant opportunity for ex-offenders to overcome the barriers to employment.  [Social Exclusion Unit, July 2002, Reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners]

Towards the end of 2007 Job Developers working for Working Ventures UK had a grant available from Government Office for London (GOL) of £10,000.   Mindful of the above circumstances, they wanted a project to explore the options for reducing re-offending through support of enterprising ex-offenders planning self-employment for their resettlement in the community.

This project fitted well with existing programmes including the Exit to Work project: the job developer pilot funded by DWP, DfES and the Home Office.  It also provided a good fit with GOL work to promote Enterprise and support existing work to train offenders in starting up and running their own business.

GOL also wanted to use the project for path-finding, to explore the options for successful interventions to reduce re-offending.  Funding rules required the money to be spent by the end of the financial year in April 2008.  They wanted evidence on which to base plans for projects for the next spending round. 

The Approach

Time was short.  So there was a need for an agile and speedy effort to put together a viable small scale project.  The sponsors knew of existing projects that might deliver the outcomes required and provide the context for path-finding.  The first step was to find the right partners.

The Learning Journey (Resettlement) CIC (TLJ) is a social enterprise focused on supporting ex-offenders seeking self-employment.  They have the resources to manage a project of this type and the contacts to help draw in appropriate partners for fulfilment of the initial outcomes, as well as path-finding new opportunities for collaboration.  TLJ were selected at the end of November 2007 to manage the project on a no fee basis under the supervision of Working Ventures UK.

The initial planning meeting established that the grant of £10,000 must be spent exclusively on covering start-up expenses of the beneficiaries, such as equipment and insurance, but excluding property costs.  A target was set of five functioning new start-ups by the end of March 2008 with a leeway of between three and seven to cater for uncertainties.  The start-ups should be in the London area to reflect GOL’s regional responsibility.

The project seeks achieve three things for the clients (ex-offenders):

• A practical business plan written by the client
• Assistance with funding
• Mentoring support through the start-up process.

The next step was to identify suitable collaborators for the project.  Startup (reg. charity no. 1115952) has an ongoing programme of support for ex-offenders starting up in business.  They collaborate with those delivering enterprise skills inside prisons, to provide seamless support for ex-offenders venturing into the resettlement phase of their rehabilitation.   They support all three elements listed above.

They were also in a strong position to deliver the outcomes.  They had potential beneficiaries at a stage of development where they could be expected to get underway in business within the tight time scales demanded by the project. 

They work with many prisons.  Amongst them they have close links to the Education Department of HMP Wandsworth run by Kensington and Chelsea College.  They have done two previous enterprise events in collaboration with HMP Wandsworth.   (See http://www.thelearningjourney.co.uk/news_item.2006-07-26.4642512493 )

These events take the form of an Entrepreneur Day at which candidates (offenders who plan self-employment) make short presentations to a panel of experts.  This panel evaluates the plans and makes recommendations for support.  This usually involves allocation of a personal mentor and financial support up to £2,500 to help with start-up expenses.  This is awarded on the spot.

The event takes place in front of an invited audience.  This provides an opportunity for networking and spreading awareness of the good work being done.

The delivery of business start-up support, plus the opportunity to network, mapped very well onto the needs of the sponsors, GOL.  Enterprise events at HMP Wandsworth have been undertaken in the past and are planned for the future.  So it is a well tried process giving good prospects of a successful outcome.

For all these reasons TLJ recommended that they collaborate with Startup and HMP Wandsworth to stage a GOL Entrepreneur Day at HMP Wandsworth.  This was agreed with the sponsors at the end of January 2008.

TLJ obtained agreement from the Governor at HMP Wandsworth for the event to take place.  The event was managed with close cooperation between the Activities Department of HMP Wandsworth,   TLJ, Startup and Working Ventures UK.  The use of email was vital to coordinate the project.

The event took place on 13^th March 2008 at HMP Wandsworth.  To assist networking, on arrival each attendee was given a name badge and an information pack including a list of participants. The running order of the event is presented in appendix 1.  

Emphasis was placed on the need for monitoring outcomes and publication of lessons learned.  Hence this case study.  Feedback on outcomes is covered below under: “What next?”

Measuring impact – outcomes and benefits

Six new enterprises run by ex-offenders were set up at the Entrepreneur Day on 13^th March 08.  This was achieved in three months with the £10k grant.  Some eighteen organisations were represented at the event, enabling useful networking. 

The enterprise day was rated a success by the sponsors.  Following the event a GOL official stated:

“…the event certainly met our expectation …. On a personal note, I found all the candidates to be truly amazing individuals.”

Each successful candidate was pledged mentoring support and a grant to cover the purchase of their start-up requirements.  A total of over £9,200 was donated on the day.

The six start-up businesses are in the following fields:

• General building services
• Personal trainer and martial arts instructor
• Jobbing builder (bricklaying, plastering and tiling)
• Removal and delivery company
• Graphic design and fine art
• Window cleaning.

The event provided more than an hour of time for the participants to network informally over a buffet lunch to explore new possibilities.  The invited audience included people from: Ecourier, Esme Firbairn, GOL, Job Centre Plus, Kensington and Chelsea College, NOMS, Prince’s Trust, Startup, The Bromley Trust, The Learning Journey, The Mercers’ Company, The Royal London Society, TNG, Tomorrows People, Venturesom, Vincent House, Women in Prison, Working Ventures UK and WYEC.

All the six enterprises were established by the beginning of April 2008.  A further evaluation of the outcomes and benefits awaits the completion of a follow-up study.

Voice of Experience

It is an achievement to start six businesses with ten thousand pounds in three months.   That is certainly not the whole story.  The project utilised and benefited from existing resources.

Kensington and Chelsea College funded by the Offenders Learning And Skills Service budget, had students in its Education Department at HMP Wandsworth already completing enterprise projects.  These students were ready prepared to benefit from GOL’s money.

Similarly, Startup had candidates from other prisons already eligible to benefit from the project.  They also have the infrastructure in place for ongoing mentoring support.  TLJ, Startup and HMP Wandsworth covered their administrative costs out of their own resources.  Startup paid for the catering for the event.  They will shoulder the cost of ongoing mentoring support for the beneficiaries.  TLJ will fund documentation and the reporting of outcomes. 

So the real cost of the intervention taken as a whole is greater than the £10k budget.  Yet all of the stakeholders are satisfied with the result.  The reason for this is perhaps the most important lesson to learn.

Social enterprise can benefit greatly from effective market research that identifies organisations that can benefit from one another’s existing projects.  If organisation “A” has planned and funded outcomes which will help organisation ”B” achieve its performance targets, then there is a chance to engineer a collaboration that adds benefit without extra cost, especially if there are reciprocal advantages.  Doing this will increase the chances of delivering a successful project.

In this instance:

• HMP Wandsworth has a performance target to deliver resettlement outcomes.   The senior management of HMP Wandsworth enthusiastically encourage links to outside organisations that support the resettlement of ex-offenders.
• Kensington and Chelsea College will look favourably on projects that mobilise the enthusiasm of their potential students.
• TLJ publishes a community website dedicated to help those involved in the resettlement of ex-offenders to work together to find enterprising solutions to the problem of re-offending.  They have project management skills.  They work to attract new members to their website and to manage self-sustaining projects that make both business and social sense.  A project that raises their profile in that context will be attractive.
• Startup is a charity with the core activity of new enterprise incubation.  They expend considerable effort to attract funders who will finance future operations.  Any project that helps them start new enterprises and puts them in touch with potential funders will be attractive.
• As already stated this project fitted well with existing programmes that are GOL’s responsibility.  It also chimes well with the new Enterprise Strategy of the Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (March 2008).
• The desires of the ex-offenders themselves are of great importance.  Some 26% of those received into HMP Wandsworth (the largest prison in the country) say they are self-employed.  The vast majority never want to return to custody.

Realisation of such complementary objectives enables a project with an outcome greater than the sum of the parts.

The second important lesson from this project concerns where to go to do the market research that can find such complementarities.  The cost of mounting interventions across a prison wall can be high.  You certainly get nowhere without the confidence and support of the Governor of any prison involved in a project.   Getting in and out of prisons can be time consuming.  That costs.  Many are remotely located.  Logistics are expensive.  Just getting things started can impose a significant overhead.

All prisons have education departments, usually supplied by local Further Education Colleges.  They have staff in prisons who have relationships with the prison staff and the clients.  As professional teachers they are predisposed to helping improve the life chances of their students.  The principle of Collegiality in their code of conduct directs them to be outward looking and open to approach by potential collaborators. 

Development costs for projects can be cut by building a relationship with the educational professionals in the Criminal Justice System especially including the Heads Of Learning and Skills in each prison.  Who are you going to call?  Call the Education Department!

Participants at the event spoke warmly of the benefits from the networking session.  There is a great need for a framework or forum which will enable stakeholders in the resettlement process to meet and form alliances.  This reinforces the importance of the Campus Model announced in the government policy review “Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment: Next Steps” (December 2006).

What next?

Getting feedback about resettlement outcomes of self-employment is a key objective of this project.  The project will continue to be reported as a case study of lessons learned and what works.  This will assist evidence-based decision making that will benefit the fight against re-offending.

The six beneficiaries of the project so far will be monitored on a quarterly basis for two years.  We will report on the development of their business activity.  We are interested in an ongoing analysis of successes, challenges, responses and growth performance.

There is also a focus on outcomes for the quality of life of the beneficiaries.  We seek to monitor with a light touch whilst gathering information that will help guide future interventions.  A copy of the monitoring document is presented in appendix 2.

There is a residual sum of just under £800 to grant to a further beneficiary.  This will be used to test delivery of support through Job Centre Plus New Deal for Self-Employment.  This is a further development of the Learn2Earn project referred to as an example of good practice in Green Paper “Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment” 2005 (p26).  The outcome will be presented in future follow-up reports.

It is hoped that the path finding activities which took place at HMP Wandsworth on 13^th March 2008 will bear fruit in the form of new projects.  Here too, the outcome will be presented in future follow-up reports.

References

Social Exclusion Unit (July 2002), Reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners, HMG Cabinet Office, From Internet WWW site at URL: http://www.thelearningjourney.co.uk/reducing_report.pdf/file_view  (accessed 30/3/8)

TLJ (July 2006), Lives changing for the better at HMP Wandsworth, From Internet WWW site at URL:   http://www.thelearningjourney.co.uk/news_item.2006-07-26.4642512493 (accessed 30/3/8)

Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (March 2008), Enterprise Strategy,  Internet WWW site at URL: http://www.berr.gov.uk/bbf/enterprise-smes/enterprise-framework/index.html (accessed 30/3/8)

H M Government (Dec 2006) Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment: Next Steps. From Internet WWW site at URL:   www.dfes.gov.uk/offenderlearning (accessed 30/3/8)

Dominic Murphy (July 2005), Case Study:Learn2Earn, From Internet WWW site at URL:  http://www.thelearningjourney.co.uk/enterprise_centre/croom/noticeboard/CASE%20STUDY-Learn2Earn%204-7-5.doc  (accessed 30/3/8)

H M Government (December 2005) Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment. From Internet WWW site at URL:   www.dfes.gov.uk/offenderlearning (accessed 30/3/8)

Appendix 1

Government Office for London sponsored Entrepreneur Day

at HMP Wandsworth

on 13^th March, 2008

Schedule for the Day

Appendix 2

GOL ENTREPRENEUR DAY 13 MARCH 2008 FEEDBACK FORM

This form will help us learn from your experience to benefit future clients.  I don’t want you to take a lot of time over this form.  Don’t write more than 100 words in answer to each question.  Just give us the most important news. 

It does not have to be just about the business, though that is important.   We are also interested in how your work is affecting your quality of life in general.  

Do one of these every quarter.  Personal details will be kept confidential.

When this feedback form is completed please send it to:

Dominic Murphy

The Learning Journey (Resettlement) CIC

Trident Business Centre

89 Bickersteth Road

London SW17 9SH                            

Or email it to ask@thelearningjourney.co.uk

End of case study.

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