We want to provide staff from working within Prison..
For the third time, Make Time Count has been successful in our InnovateUK smart grant application. According to Innovate assessor “the project tackles an important social problem in rehabilitation of ex prisoners into meaningful work to prevent reoffending.” We scored an amazing 88.9%, our best score yet.
During Covid, many of us got used to working from home, from bedrooms, dining room tables and other makeshift workspaces. Communication via video call and email became the norm, the word “teams” became synonymous with online meetings. Even after three years at least one person can be relied upon to forget the unmute button!
This development got us thinking. If we could all work remotely from our own private cells, could we not expand this way of working to those residing in His Majesty’s cells?
We have buy-in from several prisons around the country, and the feedback from people in prison is positive. But we need you, employers, to support us. What tasks do you currently send off shore or use third parties to execute. Can we do them from a prison?
Project and Roles
We are thinking about the following tasks:
- Software testing
- Accessibility testing
- Content moderation
- Other employer specific tasks
Our aim is to provide 20 hours service from each person employed. 16 hours per week working for you and 4 hours training. The training will be linked to post release career opportunities. We would seek to charge the national minimum wage plus a contribution for the IT infrastructure.
Upon release we hope that our employees will have three options
- To continue working for you, if a job exists.
- To use their experience, references and qualifications to find a job
- Work for Make Time Count as a sales manager selling further support staff.
We know that there are key skills gaps in the UK for digital employment and having a job upon release is a key driver in reducing the likelihood of reoffending.
If you can help us by providing employment within prisons, please get in touch hello@maketimecount.today.
This is our third successful Innovate application. Following two successful projects, firstly to digitise the out-of-court resolution process for police, and secondly to address the challenges of court backlog, we have once again been trusted by the InnovateUK assessors. This time to take on the challenge of prison employment.