The Prince of Wales calls on more businesses to help homeless people back into work

~ Further business support needed to achieve future targets ~

WEDNESDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2011: Today, HRH The Prince of Wales will meet business leaders in London at an event to mark getting 2,000 homeless people back into work over 10 years through the Ready for Work programme.

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During the event, which will take place at Arlington in Camden, The Prince will highlight the increase in the numbers of homeless people in recent months and urge companies and “join in” to help the Ready for Work programme double its work and support another 2,000 clients into work by 2015.

In the speech The Prince will say: “In the last six months the number of homeless people has begun to rise and I fear this trend will continue….It is estimated that there are some 20,000 people in this country who are either homeless, or who have experienced homelessness, who could be back at work but are not.”

The Prince will also thank the “far-sighted business leaders” who have taken part in the programme over the past 10 years and supported homeless people into employment by securing work placements.

Ready for Work is a product of Business Action on Homelessness (BAOH) – a unique business-led movement supporting homeless people, and those at the risk of homelessness, to gain and sustain employment – which is run by Business in the Community (BITC). It supports homeless people into employment by securing work placements with leading employers and training buddies and job coaches to provide support during the client's time with a company. There are now 23 programmes operating across the UK and Ireland*.

The Prince is President of Business in the Community and was instrumental in galvanising business support on the issue of homelessness prior to the 1998 launch of the BAOH campaign, through a series of Seeing is Believing visits**.

Stephen Howard, chief executive of Business in the Community, said: “The achievements of the Ready for Work programme over the last 10 years are truly remarkable. But with the number of homeless people on the rise and the capacity of voluntary organisations to support them diminishing through lack of funding, the need for business support has never been more urgent. Ready for Work is a successful business solution to a critical social problem and our ambitious target to support another 2,000 clients into work by 2015 can only be achieved through increased business support.”

John Varley, chair of Business Action on Homelessness and Senior Advisor to the board of Barclays, said: “We believe that employment is one of the most effective routes out of homelessness. Businesses should be part of the solution - not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it offers great business benefits. BAOH’s Ready for Work is a structured programme which works, is measurable and evaluated, and it has a great record of tracking their clients back into work.”

The assembled guests at Arlington will also include former and current homeless clients and representatives of the homeless sector.

10th anniversary achievements:

• 5,400 people have been through and benefitted from the Ready for Work programme.
• Over 2,000 of those people have found employment.
• 40% of people completing Ready for Work enter employment.
• 74% of these are still in work at 3 months. 
• 55% are still in work at 6 months.
• This compares favourable to similar government programmes, which typically support around a quarter of their clients into work. 
• From July 09 to May 2010, 13.8% of the people entering the Ready for Work programme were supported into three months of sustained employment, outperforming the best provider in the first nine months of Flexible New Deal by 2.1% and the worst performer by 7.9%.

In December 2010 BITC consulted with its members on what role business can have in creating the Government’s aspiration of a Big Society. The overwhelming majority said they are already doing a lot in local communities and want to do more.

The consultation and BITC’s 28 years of experience have allowed us to identify some of the barriers that prevent businesses from doing more and also the best examples of where businesses have had a significant impact on local communities. Ready for Work is one such example. The programme has allowed businesses to play a unique role in tackling homelessness.

The visit will be hosted by Arlington, Camden.  Arlington, based on the Times Square Project in New York, opened in July 2010 and is the first project of its kind in the UK aimed at transforming current approaches and attitudes to homelessness.  The scheme, owned and managed by One Housing Group, combines high quality accommodation for homeless people with social enterprise, business and low rent accommodation for young professionals or other low income workers.

Kevin Beirne, Group Director of Housing Care and Support for One Housing, comments: “We are delighted to be part of BITC’s anniversary celebrations by welcoming HRH Prince of Wales through the doors at Arlington. It is an honour to be celebrating such fantastic work with an organisation that shares our dedication to changing the face of homelessness in the UK. The support, skills and training offered by schemes such as BITC and those at Arlington, can make monumental differences to homeless people, helping them to rebuild their lives and move on to brighter futures.”

ENDS

Supportive quotes from National Partners:

Julian Critchlow, Bain & Company: “Bain & Company is proud to have supported BAOH over the last 10 years in establishing a world class programme to help homeless clients return to the workforce and independent living. When Bain worked on the original BAOH strategy, it was clear that general public felt that homelessness was a critical issue but businesses did not. The Ready for Work programme that we developed with BAOH has enabled businesses such as M&S, Carillion and the Royal Mail to help 5000 homeless clients transform their lives. The BAOH programme delivers real, tangible results and we are proud to have contributed to its success over the last decade.”

Peter Jones, Managing Director of Carillion Infrastructure Services: "Carillion's mission is to make tomorrow a better place. The services we deliver contribute positively to society as does the employment we provide for around 50,000 people. We realise that not everyone has the same opportunities and back in 2006 Carillion became a national partner in the BAOH scheme so we could help people break the cycle of 'no home, no job.'

"Since becoming a partner Carillion has assisted over 100 people every year on their journey to full employment through placement opportunities. Not only do the homeless people benefit but our Carillion employees do too by gaining valuable experience and skills by acting as mentors.

"We consider it our responsibility to tackle such social concerns, but we also believe such actions help differentiate Carillion from our competitors, enabling us to win more work."

Mike Kelly, Head of CSR at KPMG: “We believe that business can only be successful against a backdrop of a prosperous society and a stable economy. KPMG has been involved in the Ready for Work programme since 2002 as national partner, and helped develop and test RfW in its early days. During that time the firm has hosted and run Ready to Go training in its offices across the UK, involving volunteers in CV and interview skills sessions, provided volunteers who have mentored BAOH clients into work and develop the mentoring model, and through pro bono projects have continued to support and develop the Ready for Work model.”

Freshfields London managing partner Tim Jones who is heavily involved in the programme said: “Helping 2,000 homeless people get back into work through the Ready for Work programme is a fantastic achievement which Freshfields is delighted to support. We remain committed to supporting Business Action on Homelessness to continue its work and I urge other businesses to make that first step of being open to recruiting from this group and giving people the opportunity to have a second chance.

“Our involvement has helped us to recognise that our business has a unique opportunity to help people to turn their lives around by supporting them through job training and providing placements. As a firm we have hosted over 170 homeless clients on work placements over the last 11 years, 45% went on to gain full time employment and 15 have found permanent work at the firm as a result. On our part, I am certain that the firm is a better place as a result of our work in this space.”

Business Action on Homelessness (BAOH) is a national campaign run by Business in the Community that supports homeless people, or those at risk of homelessness to gain and sustain employment. Since 2001, BAOH has supported 5,400 through its Ready for Work programme, which provides pre-employment training, work placements and job coaching, with more than 2000 entering employment.

BAOH is supported by eight national business partners – Accenture, Barclays, Bain & Company, Carillion plc, KPMG, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Marks & Spencer and Royal Mail and is chaired by John Varley, senior advisor to board of Barclays is Chairman of Business Action on Homelessness. Through their expertise and support, BAOH has been able to grow the Ready for Work programme in the last ten years and improve the post-placement support on offer to homeless clients.

*23 towns and cities operate Ready for Work across the UK including:
Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Dublin, Flintshire, Great Yarmouth, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Norwich, Plymouth, Scotland, Sheffield, Watford, Wolverhampton, Wrexham.

**The Prince’s Seeing is Believing programme, run by BITC, takes business leaders out into towns and cities across the UK so that they can see for themselves the issues faced by some of the most deprived communities and collaboratively work to find and implement solutions through their combined networks as well as financial and human capital.

Arlington is a stimulating mixed community of high quality accommodation for homeless people, social enterprise, business and low rent accommodation for young professionals or other low income workers. One Housing Group invested £8.5million to complete the redevelopment of Arlington. Alongside direct government funding from the Places of Change programme, Communities and Local Government has invested c£20 million to redevelop Arlington into one of Camden’s most iconic buildings and best known hostels, with a revolutionary approach to solving homelessness in the UK.

Arlington's 95 units for homeless people comprise a combination of high support progress units, specialist units for those with drug and alcohol addictions, assessment beds, generic progress and move through units. These encompass all functions of the LB of Camden’s Pathway Model providing valuable resources to support more homeless and vulnerable people. Arlington’s support service is funded by LB Camden.

Arlington provides a range of training and work opportunities for not only its residents but also for the homeless across LB of Camden. An onsite employment and training service provides support with accessing work and training as well as support with creating or improving CVs, interview practise and general advice. Training opportunities are provided by on site partners in a range of industries from catering to building trades and event management. A range of sessions are provided from taster sessions to accredited courses, allowing participants to gain valuable work experience and qualifications, making them more employable and job ready.

One Housing Group is a leading provider of affordable housing, care and support. Managing over 12,000 homes in 26 London boroughs and surrounding counties, we also help over 4,000 people to live safely and independently.

A not for profit organisation, we are committed to delivering new homes to meet the country’s housing shortage. Over the past two years One Housing Group provided 2,500 new homes and we’re on course to deliver a further 2,400. We offer a wide range of housing options, including homes for affordable rent, private sale and shared ownership.

As well as providing high quality homes and excellent support, One Housing Group works hard to make a positive difference to residents’ lives. We offer a range of community projects, courses and initiatives to help people gain new skills, become more confident and benefit from new opportunities. www.onehousinggroup.co.uk