Impact Newsletter - December 2023

Issue No.27 / December 2023

Enabling better lives through volunteering days

What’s inside...

Page 4 Trail-blazer Alvina is fast-tracked to success

Page 5 Ingeus Justice team recognised at New Leaf Awards

Team Cumbria on the Work and Health Programme North West supporting Cash for Kids Mission Christmas

Our teams have been spreading Christmas cheer… all year round!

As part of International Volunteer Day (5th December), we look back at the volunteering and community days our

Issue no.27 / December 2023

Page 6 Ed is making a difference as an agent of change

teams have taken part in, giving back to local communities and offering a helping hand.

In 2023 our volunteers supported a range of causes such as foodbanks, re-use hubs to encourage communities to recycle household items, beach and canal clean-ups, and dogs’ homes – some included dressing up as elves for charity!

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Page 7 Ingeus Youth Ambassadors visit parliament

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Continued...

Here we showcase just a few examples of what our teams have been up to.

Our employment services in-work support team dedicated hours to litter picking, filling multiple bin bags with rubbish, at Sefton Coast.

The Work and Health Programme team in Cumbria supported Cash for Kids, a charity supporting vulnerable children and children affected by poverty, illness, neglect. They supported with their ‘Mission Christmas’ project and helped with tasks which included organising donations from the local community, wrapping presents and raised a total of £770 on the day.

The Learning & Development team spent a day at Dudley & Canal Tunnel Trust

cleaning up the canals, scooping out four bags filled with items including a table, chairs and a hoover!

The Working Well Work and Health Programme team in Greater Manchester collected work clothing for charities Working Wardrobe GM and Smart Works. Both charities supply garments to those who need it, including for job interviews. Driving from centre to centre and sorting the clothes, they were delighted with the amount they had received, knowing the difference this would make.

They collected 362 items, including: 10 suits, 42 pairs of trousers, 26 shirts and 4 pairs of shoes!

Team members of our Restart Scheme in Central and West London volunteered their time at the British Heart Foundation

in Hounslow, and the team at Ealing spent a day at Ealing Soup Kitchen helping with food preparation, serving food and cleaning, as well as supporting with their summer donations providing items such as deodorant, sunscreen and water bottles.

Our Head of Service Design, Rachel Saunders, completed a sponsored mountain climb of Snowdonia and helped raise £12,055 for The Lily Foundation, UK’s leading mitochondrial disease charity and the largest charitable funder of mitochondrial research in Europe, who support families of people with Mitochondrial disease.

It is inspiring to see everyone who took time to help to enable better lives throughout the community, here’s to more volunteering for the year ahead!

Alisha Ripley, Perfo rmance and Delivery Manager, Donna Mitchell, CIF Coordination Ma nager and Tash Bernard gathe ring clothing for Working Wardrobe and Smartworks

the Work and Team Cumbria on North West e m m Health Progra for Kids supporting Cash as tm ris Ch Mission

The Restart Scheme team in Brent supporting The Loop, a community reuse hub

Issue no.27 / December 2023

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Coast up at Sefton Beach clean rvices ployment se with the em port team in-work sup

e Ealing rt Schem ta s e R Team aling ring at E e te n lu o v chen Soup Kit

Ajay Singh, Swiza l Pereria and Roopi Padda fro m Restart Scheme Central & West London team volunteerin g at British Heart Foundatio n

day volunteering The L&D team ust anal Tunnel Tr at Dudley & C

Design Rachel Head of Service pleting her friends com Saunders and donia ound the Snow a 50km hike ar Slate Trail

rnt Oak Volunteering at Bu Bank Community Food

Issue no.27 / December 2023

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Trail-blazer Alvina is fast-tracked to success promoting period dignity. This project provides cabinets in local libraries and community centres stocked with free sanitary products. Since joining the Restart Scheme, Alvina has been able to expand the number of cabinets from eight to 13.

“It’s making a huge, huge difference, the feedback I’ve been getting has been really positive,” Alvina says.

“We are looking to expand it across other London boroughs and get more funding to make feminine hygiene products more accessible to women.”

Enterprising single mum Alvina decided to capitalise on time at home bringing up her young children to launch her own communityminded business.

With little appropriate experience it was a struggle to make ends meet until the Restart Scheme, delivered by Ingeus and partners, helped turn her fortunes around. Her company, For The People From The People CIC is now a viable business and is enhancing the lives of low-income families and black and ethnic minority groups across Hammersmith and Fulham.

“The services we provide are based around the four pillars of health, finance, creativity and connection,” explains Alvina, 33. These include reducing poverty; organising food banks and helping with household bills; holding financial education workshops and tackling digital exclusion. There are also wellbeing workshops and events that focus on bringing communities together.

Issue no.27 / December 2023

Alvina, whose children are now aged six and 11, says: “For a long time the company wasn’t really sustainable, it wasn’t generating any money. When Jobcentre Plus told me about the Restart Scheme and Ingeus, I thought ‘this sounds great’. I needed selfemployment support, as passion alone does not sustain a business.”

Commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions, the Restart Scheme provides personalised, tailored help and advice for people who are out of work. Alvina’s Restart Advisor referred her to Ingeus partner Moment where she received self-employment support from Business Advisor, Kirsty.

This enabled Alvina to nail down a business plan, business strategy and financial forecasts. She then applied for more funding and began paying herself a wage. Meanwhile, Restart Advisor Laura was always on hand at Ingeus to provide moral support and signpost Alvina to relevant courses and training.

Thanks to the Restart Scheme and Alvina’s determination to succeed, the business is going from strength to strength. One of the key strands of the company is the Bloody Happy Project, now known as Flow Happy, aimed at reducing period poverty and

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Alvina’s drive to help others came after she experienced financial difficulties in her youth. “After university I was really struggling. I never knew about foodbanks, I was just not aware. This is why I do a lot of outreach work to make sure people are aware of our services.”

Alvina always had the passion to make her business work, but the help she received from the Restart Scheme has fast-tracked her to success. She says: “They helped me to compartmentalise everything. I had knowledgeable people giving me advice and support, and that’s what was needed. I don’t come from a finance or business background.

If you see the start-up statistics for low-income black women, it’s not very promising. I needed extra support.”

Alvina is now keen to advise others to join the Restart Scheme – and is also looking at ways of supporting Ingeus participants with the services her company provides. She adds: “For me, Restart was so helpful. Even just going into the office to use the facilities. It’s a nice environment to be in, with tailored support. You have a plan of action and it motivates you to do it, I wish I had done sooner!”

Ingeus delivers the Restart Scheme in Central and West London and Greater Manchester and is partner to Serco, which delivers the scheme in Central West Midlands.

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Ingeus Justice team recognised at New Leaf Awards going the extra mile in her work to support those with lived experience.

Suzanne is a true champion of our peer mentor scheme and dedicated Ingeus Academy, even helping to design it.

She said: “I’ve seen so many people turn their lives around, and the most rewarding thing for me is seeing them into employment. When I first started that was almost unheard of. Now a lot of my colleagues are former peer mentors.”

Congratulations are in order as we celebrate our two winners and two finalists at the New Leaf Awards 2023.

The New Leaf Initiative is a community interest company that provides support to those with experience of the justice system, to enable them to improve their lives and progress positively into stable employment. Helping individuals to overcome barriers such as homelessness, mental health, and addiction.

Issue no.27 / December 2023

Our justice services team are committed to supporting the employment of people with lived experience to help others with their own journey, whether that’s progressing into work with Ingeus or with other employers.

Leonie Plumtree was presented with the Employee of the Year Award; one that recognises an individual with lived experience who has used this to support others. Leonie is one of our Personal Wellbeing Advisors who joined following release from prison after 13 months. She works passionately to deliver a mentoring service to people in prison or on probation, who often face barriers to reintegrating into society.

Suzanne Hunt received the Network Ally of the Year award after consistently

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We were also shortlisted for Employer of the Year, for demonstrating the value of lived experience across our organisation, and Stuart McCarren, Finance Benefit and Debt Advisor, was shortlisted for Employee of the Year.

Starting off as a Personal Wellbeing Mentor in May 2022, Stuart has moved to different roles to share his experiences to support others, like himself, that have spent time in prison.

Bearing witness to the impact that lived experience can have on shaping and improving other people’s lives, and being a part of it, makes receiving these awards for our team’s hard work even more meaningful.

You can read more about our approach to Lived Experience in our report here.

For more information about New Leaf, visit www.newleafcic.org

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Ed makes a difference as an agent of change One of the perks of working at Ingeus is the training offered to all staff, including courses through our Continuous Improvement (CI) Academy.

To celebrate the CI Academy’s first birthday, we met some of our Agents of Change to find out more about their stories. One of those people was Ed Wild, Team Manager for the Work and Health Programme in the North West and proud Diversity and Inclusion Lead.

Ed understands colleagues could be hesitant about taking on extra training if they are neurodivergent or have learning difficulties. Yet having seen first-hand how Ingeus’ CI Academy has adapted the studies around his own needs, he would urge everyone to give it a go.

The free accredited learning in Lean Six Sigma methodology, gives employees skills needed to deliver continuous improvement via different levels known as belts. Having completed his White Belt training, Ed, who manages a team of employability key workers delivering the Work and Health Programme in the North West, wanted to reach Yellow Belt level.

“I wanted to learn the theories which would help to improve our projects,

Issue no.27 / December 2023

decision making and performance, identify weaknesses and deliver a better service,” said Ed.

Since the training, Ed has been promoted from key worker to team manager.

With the support of his manager, he attended monthly group sessions alongside personal study and learning.

“The training helped to prepare me for the role and the mindset and focus that a leader needs,” he added.

“Because I am neurodivergent, concepts can be difficult to comprehend and it can be harder for me to remember information,” he added. “The Academy has been very supportive, flexible and professional. They have explained things in a different way to help me to understand.

Ed didn’t open up to employers about his challenges until he started at Ingeus four years ago. The company has helped boost his confidence with encouragement and support, and assisted practically with equipment, software and technology. He is now pleased to be the company’s Diversity and Inclusion Lead.

“The course was adapted for me. For example, due to my dyslexia, voiceovers were added to some of the material and I was given more time to work through the stages.

“The Academy has worked hard to ensure someone who is neurodivergent can have the same successful outcome as everyone else.”

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“If anyone is interested in doing this training, it is really important to reach out, even if they have concerns related to being neurodivergent,” he said.

“The Academy is exceptional in being flexible, supporting everyone and making it happen.”

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Ingeus Youth Ambassadors visit parliament

We’re on the lookout for new Youth Voice Ambassadors Our Youth Voice Ambassadors are a dynamic team of young people aged 16-25, coming together from across the country to influence change.

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK invited our youth ambassadors to join them at a unique event at parliament.

The event was designed to bring together dynamic youth leaders and change-makers who are committed to making a positive impact on society.

They heard from a panel of guest speakers including Lord Dr Michael Hastings Chair of SOAS University of London; Sila Ugurlu, British Youth Council

Issue no.27 / December 2023

Trustee and Former Member of Youth Parliament; L’myah Sherae, Founder of Enact Equality; and Samuel Olajugba, Final Year Political University Student, about their political journey and took part in a Q&A session at the end.

Aaliyah commented: ‘Being in a room full of passionate young people who started their political journey inspired me to think about my own, and hearing from a panel of inspiring change-maker left many young people in the room inspired to make an impact’.

Rhiannon added: ‘It was a great experience to see inside parliament and meet some amazing people who are changing the world every day!’

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The Ambassador Programme is designed to give young people a platform to use their voice and to empower them to be better prepared for life and work. The team works together to provide Ingeus with a unique youth voice ensuring that we, as an organisation, are equipped to support young people with the right, high quality, flexible and responsive services.

They are an essential part in ensuring our services are youth friendly for today and the future.

Watch our Youth Voice ambassadors at the Big NCS Sleepover explaining how they make a difference, grow in confidence and showcase their skills for future jobs and careers.

Find out about the Ambassador Programme in our information pack.

Download it here.

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Getting to know you...

Lorcan Drysdale

We asked Gerald to answer life’s essential ‘this or that’ questions: Summer or Winter?

Summer Chocolate or sweets?

Both!! :-D

This month we stopped to take a minute to find out more about Lorcan Drysdale and his role at Ingeus.

Now that the UK GDPR has taken its place in the life of Data Protection compliance, I am responsible for making sure that Ingeus UK and all its programmes meet all Data Protection regulations and that we continue to uphold the protection of everyone’s data.

As part of the compliance, I write, review and update our privacy notices which are designed to give employees and service users the information they need to know their personal information is managed responsibly.

I work closely with the Information Security and IT Teams and also look after the archiving of hundreds of thousands of electronic and paper records generated by our activities, making sure they are kept securely and according to the legal requirements of programmes as well as the retention policies and legal responsibilities Ingeus has as an organisation.

Night or morning?

Night City or countryside?

Countryside Cats or dogs?

Dogs Dressed up or casual?

Casual Phone calls or emails?

Phone first then email Books or films?

Books Night out or night in?

Night in. Nights out take a bigger toll, the older I get!!

Holidays or home comforts?

Home Comforts

Business Disability Forum’s Disability Smart Awards 2024 We are pleased to sponsor the Business Disability Forum’s Disability Smart Awards 2024.

As a Disability Confident Leader with a commitment to removing barriers for people with disabilities, we’re proud to be sponsoring this year’s awards which shine a light on the importance of inclusivity in the workplace and what can be done to make a difference.

Issue no.27 / December 2023

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Find out more about the Business Disability Forum’s Disability Smart Awards here:

We’re encouraging more employers to get involved - your work could inspire others to change!

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