About us

Blue Sky Development & Regeneration is a not-for-profit company established by the charity Groundwork Thames Valley. It was set up to give paid work to people coming out of prison, to enable them to move successfully into long-term employment.

Over the 5 years since it was set up, Blue Sky has employed nearly 300 ex-offenders - that's greater than the entire inmate population of some of Britain's prisons. And of these, less than 15% have re-offended - that's a quarter of the national average.

Blue Sky’s mission is to help break the cycle of re-offending and achieve long-term benefits for society.

A proper job with a proper company

• Blue Sky is a social enterprise, registered as both a company limited by guarantee and a charity
• Blue Sky employs solely ex-offenders in the grounds maintenance and recycling sectors.
• Our employees work in teams of 4-6 people with one supervisor
• Each team supervisor is also an ex-offender; he/she acts as a mentor and leads by example
• Blue Sky provides a skilled workforce in an employment sector where demand is high
• Currently Blue Sky’s commercial contracts meet approximately 60% of its running costs

Read more about Blue Sky in this recent independent evaluation report: (PDF document)