OperationsOur EmployeesThe ResultsNational Statistics
Blue Sky is expanding continuously and with the support of Groundwork, our parent company, we have established 3 franchises:
- 2009: Blue Sky North West
- 2010: Blue Sky Wakefield
- 2012: Blue Sky West Midlands
Blue Sky now manages over 20 commercial contracts across England
Since 2007, our commercial income has increased six-fold.
In 2011/12 we:
- diverted over 13,000 tonnes of waste from landfill
- maintained and improved over 2.5m square metres of land
- planted more than 40,000 trees
More than 700 ex-offenders have been employed since we began in October 2005.
- The average age of our employees is 29
- Over half of our employees have had drug and/or alcohol issues in the past
- 16% of our employees are PPOs and 10% are MAPPAs, i.e. the hardest to reach
- Only 15% of Blue Sky ex-employees have re-offended – a quarter of the national average
- 48% of our employees move into sustained employment once they leave Blue Sky – despite ex-offenders finding it eight times harder to secure a job compared to people with no criminal record
- 51% of our employees leave us with accredited qualifications
- For every 10 Blue Sky employees, benefits of their being in employment are felt on average by a further 17 family dependents
These are some of the statistics that motivate and inspire us to do what we do.
- Re-offending costs the UK £11 billion each year.
- England and Wales release 90,000 prisoners per annum. 60% re-offend within two years.
- Employment reduces the probability of re-offending by 33-50%.
- 75% of ex-offenders have no job on release.
- The estimated cost for every single re-offender is approximately £200,000 and it costs around £45,000 to imprison one criminal for a year.
- Every new prison built costs the country £400m.
- A combination of employment and accommodation has been shown to be the most effective intervention in reducing re-offending.