GFSL giving prisoners a second chance with work schemes
Ministry of Justice owned Facilities Management company, Gov Facility Services Ltd (GFSL), has been giving offenders a chance to gain valuable work experience since it opened for business in early 2018.
Art work created by HMP Hollesley Bay residents working alongside GFSL on the CRED work scheme
Over that time GFSL has provided around 1.7million hours of meaningful work experience to offenders in 35 of the 50 prisons across the South of England where the company provides facilities management services.
The work schemes are overseen by GFSL staff and include general painting and decorating, basic plumbing, electrical, carpentry, handyperson and stores activities. As well as providing beneficial work experience, these schemes help maintain the general condition of the prisons, while saving the prisons service time and money.
GFSL Chief Executive Paul Ryder said:
At some sites we have refurbishment programmes where a member of GFSL staff oversees a team of residents, at others we operate more of a ‘buddy up’ type system where we match our trades with one resident worker each who may already have experience in a specific skill or trade. Our placements and schemes vary from site to site but we are proud to offer on-the-job experience and try to help in the rehabilitation of offenders.
GFSL has also started to work closely with the The New Futures Network (NFN), a national network created to increase the number of prisoners in employment on release and working in prisons in England and Wales. This has led to the business recently opening up a number of vacancies across the open estate to ex-offenders. I’m delighted to say that we are also in the process of offering permanent employment to one of our ROTL (Released on Temporary License) team members who are coming to the end of their sentence. On release this individual should move straight from the ROTL team into permanent employment with GFSL.
Much of this work falls under the Clean, Rehabilitative, Enabling and Decent (CRED) scheme where residents actively contribute to improving their environment. The scheme aims to offer meaningful work experience and employment support to prisoners to help improve their employment prospects when they leave prison.
The programme also aims to involve prisoners in helping to improve living conditions in the prisons so they meet the safe and decent standards set by HMPPS.
Notes to editors:
Gov Facility Services Limited (GFSL) is a Ministry of Justice owned company. Set up in 2018, we work closely with Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to deliver a range of facility services to 50 prisons in the south of England.
Press contact: Ministry of Justice newsdesk 0203 334 3536
Case studies:
Bristol Refurbishment of D-wing
The refurbishment of D-wing began in September 2018 and focused on the complete refurbishment of all cells, the replacement of flooring, the upgrade of showers and food service, and the modernisation of the wing offices. This investment was particularly exciting because of the use of ‘resident’ (offender) tradespeople in the project design.
The scheme moved beyond the traditional approach of keeping residents involved in the lower skilled areas of delivery, to a scheme that provided the successive development of their skills and work experience and full integration into the workforce.
A key feature of the refurbishment programme was to take a consistent approach to the decoration of prisoner accommodation in creating a bright and safe environment. In recent years, the absence of a coordinated approach, has resulted in a mixture of colours being used to paint prisoner accommodation.
The project was successfully delivered using a high contingent of resident labour and helped to address significant issues on the wing. It also helped improve standards and has given prison staff a greater opportunity to hold prisoners to account in respect to maintaining standards of decency.
Hard at work at HMP Hollesley Bay
HMP Hollesley Bay has a resident working programme where sixteen risk-assessed residents work on an enhanced programme. This means they are cleared to work as members of the GFSL team across a small portfolio of sites during the normal working day.
This includes all trades dealing with reactive work including plumbing and electrical work as well as painting and decorating.
The residents recently stepped in when staff members had to self-isolate because of Covid-19.
GFSL Site Manager Richard Lummis said:
At different points we had either all electricians or all plumbers isolating at Hollesley Bay and the residents from the work scheme stepped in to keep things running. The team is lucky enough to include an 18th edition electrician along with plumbers. The residents have worked alongside the GFSL team and have the site knowledge to step in and cover.
This team also recently completed (February 2020) a shower refurbishment at the prison which saved HMPPS over £30,000 when compared to the outsourced cost projection.
The team also completed refurbishment projects at HMP Bedford visits centre and at Stirling House Training and Conference Centre which is the main unit for training new prison officers. At Stirling House, the team have replaced bathrooms and bedrooms.
Also at Hollesley Bay, one of the resident carpenters also supported a project to build a Coffee shop on site with all profits being donated to a charity for veterans. This has been so successful that the charity is looking at offering the carpenter full time employment at the end of his sentence.
In all such cases the resident ROTL worker is offered an enhanced rate of pay and assistance in the development of their personal portfolio to support future employment engagements. They are supervised by GFSL staff and make a valuable contribution to the ongoing maintenance and minor refurbishment activities within the estate.
Improving living conditions at HMP Pentonville
At HMP Pentonville, GFSL staff work with up to 18 residents as part of an ongoing cell refurbishment programme. This work includes general painting, decorating and minor repair works. This team will shortly be running a training programme designed to teach residents how to lay resin floor.
Similar programmes are planned at HMP The Mount where our staff will be trained in laying vinyl flooring. They will then pass on this knowledge to the residents.
All who complete the course will receive formal certificates of competence and will be used to support all such future works on site.
Once in place these initiatives will help provide further cost saving to HMPPS and the taxpayer.
Keeping the prison spick and span at HMP Swaleside
HMP Swaleside has a resident working programme delivering the painting programme. Led by the on-site GFSL Painting Supervisor, there are normally around 13 residents on the programme.
To date, this programme has continued to deliver works to a high quality and ahead of plan. The team is hoping to expand this service to include handyman tasks during the summer.
Pilot programme at St Catherine’s Priory Approved Premises in Guildford
A recent pilot project at an Approved Premises in Guildford gave one of the residents a fresh start and a realistic chance to rebuild his life.
Lawrence worked alongside the GFSL team on the complete refurbishment of four buildings. Work included internal decoration, replacement of flooring and small repairs.
This project provided a real-life working environment for Lawrence who delivered services in line with expected industry standard (pics attached). Health and safety training was also provided as part of this initiative.
MOJ Chief Estates Officer Andy Mills said:
After reviewing risk assessments and being sure that suitable measures were in place, Lawrence began working as part of the team to redecorate living accommodation. Lawrence has been extremely keen and worked to a very high standard. He was also very happy to gain the experience and confidence from doing the work.