Profile - Blue Sky Development & Regeneration

At our launch on September 29th, we announced the first two social enterprises who arc will support: Blue Sky Development and Regeneration and Bikeworks.  These two businesses will be the first to receive our unique social enterprise support consisting of full, functional business engagement and in-depth support from the best social enterprise experts.  

Our first profile is of Blue Sky, a social enterprise providing ‘a proper job with a proper company’ for ex-offenders:

Blue Sky Development and Regeneration

Blue Sky’s specific purpose is to find real jobs for ex-offenders. Founded in 2005, it works with local authorities and commercial contractors across the UK.

From a single team in one van Blue Sky now has a turnover in excess of £1.4 million and has employed nearly 500 ex-offenders. A job reduces re-offending by up to 50%, but in England & Wales 75% of all prisoners are released into unemployment.  Re-offending costs the tax payer £13 billion per year but our services generally add nothing to our client’s bills.

60% of ex-offenders will re-offend within 2 years – a rate that drops to 15% after working with Blue Sky.

Blue Sky works in an increasing range of industries and offers a natural alternative to agency labour, providing a better, higher quality service.  It currently has contracts in grounds maintenance, waste and recycling, and is adapting to sectors such as construction, catering and work in prisons.

Ex-offenders remain with Blue Sky for 6 months and work directly on delivering contracts.  They are led by skilled supervisors, who are permanent employees, and invariably also ex-offenders.  This ensures the teams are led to consistently high standards, with discipline a key consideration, and the employees benefit from the example set and the mentoring provided.  

Blue Sky employs exclusively within each area of work, bringing work to local people and ensuring a stable workforce.  Ex-offenders are also provided with training specific to the contract requirements – helping to prepare them for onward employment.

Local authorities and politicians share the view that the current high re-offending and low employment rates amongst ex-offenders are both a criminal waste of money (at a time of real austerity) and social capital (people’s lives and happiness).

Blue Sky have a national focus, and arc is supporting them to move into East London and support ex-offenders from this region.  arc’s Corporate Partners will provide support across a range of business functions including IT, marketing, and individual coaching and mentoring.  We are extremely excited about helping this fantastic social enterprise to grow and thrive, rehabilitating ex-offenders and reducing re-offending in East London.

Blue Sky’s Senior Operations Manager, Steve Finn, himself an ex-offender, had this to say about arc:

“arc is going to be instrumental with us winning contracts in and around the Olympic boroughs.  We are in West London, which is all very well, and we want to go to East London.  We want to spread our wings.  We want to touch more people, and arc will be instrumental with us to help the ex-offenders of East London to find work.”

Find out more about Blue Sky Development and Regeneration.

Read more about the support arc can provide for your social enterprise.  Apply today to access this unique comprehensive support.

See more of Steve Finn from Blue Sky discussing the arc programme in a video of the arc launch event.