As part of our giving back to the community strategy, we have partnered with several charities from The Felix Project fighting food waste to Working Chance supporting women ex-offenders.
The Felix Project
This partnership presents natural synergy with a 'waste and recycling' company supporting the endeavours of a charity trying to prevent food waste in the first instance.
LondonEnergy employees have been genuinely moved by their volunteering experiences at The Felix Project. The initiative has had an impact both within the company and on the ground where the charity provides such a vital, lifesaving service to those who don't have enough food to eat.
Who they are
In 2020, The Felix Project provided food for 21.1 million meals to hundreds of charities and suppliers, helping disadvantaged adults and children access high-quality food. During the COVID-19 outbreak, it also delivered to London's emergency food hubs, serving people who were sick and in isolation
The charity was set up in 2016 to tackle food waste and help less fortunate people. They collect good quality, surplus food, check it's fresh and deliver it to over 400 front-line charities, primary schools and holiday programmes in London.
More about The Felix Project here.
How we work with them
We have worked with The Felix Project since its inception in 2016.
After listening to our employee's feedback in our annual survey, we developed an Employer Supported Volunteer Programme. This includes volunteering one day a year while still receiving full pay. It is an excellent opportunity for colleagues across all sites and departments to meet one another. Already, 5% of our colleagues have volunteered at the depot in 2021 as part of the programme.
Some of our employees have also gathered as a team to organise other fundraising opportunities. Recently, a group of eight colleagues ran the Vitality Big Half Marathon, raising over £2,300. LondonEnergy matched the contribution.
Working Chance & Bounce Back Project
Three out of ten people sentenced or cautioned for a crime go on to re-offend within a year in the UK. Research demonstrates that employment can reduce the likelihood of re-offending, but ex-offenders face significant barriers to finding and staying in work. At LondonEnergy, we partnered with several organisations to facilitate their reinsertion as part of our Giving Back to the Community strategy.
Who they are
Working Chance is the UK's only charity helping women with convictions back into employment. They offer bespoke rehabilitation and employability support to build confidence, skills and self-belief, offering career coaching and in-work mentoring to help women thrive and succeed in work. They work with employers of all sizes across all sectors, finding jobs with genuine career prospects for thousands of women who would otherwise struggle in life and have a high chance of re-offending.
Nationally, 58% of women will go on to re-offend within one year of release from prison. With Working Chance's support, this number drops to below 4%. For the women Working Chance supports, a job is more than just an income – it means a future where they can flourish and contribute to society.
Bounce Back is a charity and social enterprise focused on the training and employment of people in and leaving prison. It started in 2011 as a small painting and decorating social enterprise, with the sole purpose of employing people coming out of prison. From one training centre, they now have five in prisons and two outside, delivering various construction training courses. We have supported nearly 2,000 people and now partner with some outstanding construction companies who employ our participants.
You can find out more about Working Chance & the Bounce Back Project by visiting their websites here https://workingchance.org/ https://www.bouncebackproject.com/
How we work with them
We launched our partnership with Working Chance in early 2020 and with Bounce Back in 2021. Since then, we have worked with both to provide career advice, review CVs, and interview training to the women and men they support.
We share all our job openings with them and are delighted to say that we have successfully recruited several of their members across the business.
CTP - Careers Transition Partnership
Who they are
The Career Transition Partnership (CTP) is a partnering agreement between the Ministry of Defence and Right Management Ltd, a global career development and outplacement specialist and part of the Manpower Group. They are the official provider of Armed Forces resettlement.
The Career Transition Partnership (CTP) provides resettlement services for those leaving the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force and Marines. To date, they have assisted over 235,000 Service leavers with the transition to civilian life.
You can find out more about the CTP by visiting https://www.ctp.org.uk/
How we work with them
Service leavers make highly skilled, committed and capable employees and have a wide range of transferrable skills. We work in partnership with CTP to offer service leavers with a wide range of transferable skills the opportunity of employment.
We regularly engage with people through CTP recruitment fairs, live chat sessions and feature in their monthly newsletter
