About Us

About Us

Fresh Start is a subsidiary of the RMF Group and has been assisting the most disadvantaged of candidates through expert training & employment since 2014.

We have a range of contracts with funding streams including the West Midlands Combined Authority and Adult Education Budget that allows us to provides employment led training to 2,000 candidates on an annual basis with an average employment rate of 65%.

Fresh Start has been integral in assisting over 330 ex-offender candidates into employment whilst providing employment within 18 prisons nationwide.

Purpose

The purpose of Fresh Start is to remove the systematic barriers to work for the underrepresented and minority groups within our society in order to bring about change in the construction and rail industries approach towards recruitment

Mission Statement

Fresh Start’s mission is to play an integral role in linking employers with the systematically underrepresented within our society.

We do this by satisfying our clients workforce requirements through the utilisation of our socially inclusive employee base, including ex-offenders as well as minority workers.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Fresh Start organically promotes corporate social responsibility by using its existing business functions to reduce the amount of crime, and subsequent victims of crime, by rehabilitating ex-offenders and providing them with the relevant training, development and qualifications required to find paid work and reintegrate back into society.

Furthermore, Fresh Start aims to benefit society by including the hardest to reach areas within its recruitment and employment opportunities, including minority groups and the homeless, in order to create the greatest social value possible.

Important Statistics

  • 90,000 prisoners are released every year
  • Each year over 100,000 people walk through the prison door
  • In August 2015 the prison population was just under 86,000
  • An average annual cost per prison place is £38,042
  • It costs £29,000 per annum to keep someone on benefits
  • Based on the figures above, every person we train and put into employment saves the Government and taxpayer £76,500 per person once we deduct our costs
  • Re-offending by recent ex-prisoners cost the economy between £9.5 billion and £13 billion per annum
  • 6 out of 10 employers automatically exclude those with a criminal record
  • 1 in 10 people in the UK have a criminal conviction for something other than a driving offence
  • During their time at school 7% of children experience their father’s imprisonment

Why Social Inclusion recruitment matters

01

Resolving Skills Shortages
The CIPD has found well over half of employers struggle to fill vacancies due to skills shortages. Being more open-minded about who you recruit can help you overcome this.

02

Societal Benefit
A socially inclusive recruitment process creates a multitude of benefits for local communities and local economies as it reduces unemployment and crime rates whilst also increasing the amount of economically active individuals that are in the community.

03

Increasing Staff Retention
Employees recruited from disadvantaged groups have demonstrated lower turnover rates than the wider workforce. The higher value placed on having a job for such groups often leads to higher levels of loyalty.

04

Reducing Staff Absence
Evidence suggests employees who have faced barriers to getting employment tend to have a below-average number of days off work.

05

Reducing Recruitment Costs
The CIPD has calculated that filling the average vacancy costs around £2,000. Social Inclusion initiatives, where employers work with specialist organisations to take people on from disadvantaged backgrounds can help reduce overheads.

06

Boosting Corporate Reputation
Providing employment for local people, from all walks of life, enriches the reputation of a company in its local community. It also improves the profile and brand of a company nationally, as it gains public exposure.

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