£1m funding package brings employment programme for young offenders to Birmingham

An initiative that helps young people break the cycle of re-offending has moved into Birmingham after it received a £1m investment package.

The Skill Mill, which delivers a six-month work programme designed to get individuals back into employment and away from crime, has been commissioned by seven local authorities across England, including Birmingham City Council.

This means that 32 young offenders will now benefit from mentoring, support and a guaranteed job on environmental maintenance and construction projects over the next three years.

National expansion has been possible thanks to The Life Chances Fund and four social investors jointly led by Northstar Ventures and Big Issue Invest, plus backing from CAF Venturesome and the Resonance West Midlands’ SITR Fund.

The latter means The Skill Mill will become the first organisation in the North East to access Social Investment Tax Relief, which offers social enterprises and community groups the opportunity to access repayable finance at a lower rate of interest and on more patient terms, whilst giving investors up to 30% back in tax relief.

“This is a massive boost for the vital work we have been undertaking in Newcastle since 2014 and will now let us take our initiative to seven new areas, helping rehabilitate 224 more young people,” said Davie Parks, founder of The Skill Mill.

“We will engage with individuals in Birmingham that are highly vulnerable and in a vicious cycle of re-offending. Our aim is to break that chain by giving them a job for six months and, during that time, they will receive accredited training, mentoring and support to hopefully secure them long-term employment at the end of it.”

He added: “To date, we have had just 15 reconvictions out of the 158 people we have helped so far, that equates to a 9.5% rate compared to the Ministry of Justice national average of 72% for young people who have been convicted of eleven or more previous offences.

“The average cost to the whole system of a young offender per year, including police, prison, court and the Youth Offending Service, is estimated to be £112,000, so in our six years The Skill Mill has helped save the taxpayer more than £16m.

“Then you have the social impact of young adults in jobs and positively impacting society.”

The latest roll-out will see teams of four created and they will work together for six months on a range of environmental maintenance, conservation and construction contracts.

Corporate partners Balfour Beatty, Commercial Estates Group, The Environmental Agency and United Utilities have already pledged their support and The Skill Mill is now appealing for other businesses to come forward.

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