Date: 5 March 2008

 

An East London project which helps Bangladeshi ex-offenders overcome barriers to work has played an important part in helping the London Borough of Tower Hamlets secure a Beacon award for reducing re-offending in the borough.

 

The Kormo Shadin - or ‘freedom to work’ – programme run by Working Links in Tower Hamlets and supported by the London Development Agency (LDA), aims to guide and support jobseekers. It does this through a range of activities enabling them to become socially and financially better off and reintegrate back into the community.

 

The Beacon awards celebrate innovation, excellence and quality in local services and are now in their tenth year. They have been shown as key to driving improvement and resourcefulness among local authorities and winners have become an important source of information to authorities. The prestigious award ceremony took place yesterday at the Royal Horticultural Halls in Central London.

 

Award winners, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, works together with Working Links to deliver the programme. Since the Kormo Shadin began in June 2007, 150 people have registered on the programme and nearly 30 have gone in to work. The project is also delivered in Newham and Hackney.

 

Positive relationships with local criminal justice services, drugs treatment agencies, youth and community organisations, housing associations and the faith sector have been formed, which further assists clients on the programme and help them turn their lives around.

 

Working Links is well placed to deliver the programme. Founded in the year 2000 initially to address the issues facing long-term unemployed people, its role has steadily developed. Through its belief that sustained employment is the route out of poverty, it has helped change the lives of many people. Its varied programmes have a positive knock-on effect on the wider community. To date, it has helped more than 90,000 people into work across the UK.

 

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For further information please contact:

Charlotte Jackson, Regional Business Partner

Tel: 07966 801 165 or email: charlotte.jackson@workinglinks.co.uk

Or Nicola Doughty, Press Officer

Tel: 07792 445512 or email: nicola.doughty@workinglinks.co.uk

 

Notes to editors

 

• Working Links was founded in 2000 and operates in almost 100 locations across England, Scotland and Wales. It is a unique organisation that delivers services to tackle social exclusion and poverty by helping disadvantaged individuals and communities.
• The organisation’s belief that employment is the best route out of poverty has helped 100,000 people back into the workplace across the UK, and over 24,000 in London.
• It is a public-private-voluntary partnership between the Government’s Shareholder Executive, Manpower, Capgemini and Mission Australia. It delivers effective solutions by working in partnership with organisations including the Learning and Skills Council, Jobcentre Plus, Probation Service, One Parent Families and Daycare Trust.
• Profit is not Working Links’ driving force. Its shareholders endorse its social purpose and are interested in how Working Links can create long term value, investing in the quality of services and the communities where it operates. 
• Working Links helps and supports people who face significant challenges and barriers such as those who have been unemployed for a long time to former offenders, lone parents and older workers. It also works with employers and the prison and probation services to help prisoners in over 20 institutions.
• By helping the most vulnerable in society to improve their skills and help them move into jobs with a future, Working Links can create a greater sense of social inclusion. This leads to better health, education, reduced crime and brighter futures.
• The London Development Agency works to improve quality of life for all Londoners and drive sustainable economic growth.