Yorkshire cleaning firm aims to open career opportunities for ex-offenders

SBFM then offers progression opportunities for its workers to move on from cleaning and work with its partner firms which include companies such as Pure Gym and DPD, offering training and guidance for individuals to progress in their careers.

Matt Chapman, CEO of SBFM, who developed the programme alongside people and culture director Kelly Dolphin, said: “When you meet people in places such as Armley prison and hear some of their stories and about the sentences they’ve served, it's really powerful.

"These are people who, in my opinion, absolutely deserve an opportunity, and what we’ve done is put in some structure around how that can be created.

“Ultimately, what Evolve is designed to do is to bridge a gap, and give people further opportunities they may not have had in other establishments.

“There is a natural progression with us where people leave cleaning and front line jobs to get better pay, and we are celebrating that fact and actively helping people to progress onwards.”

Mr Chapman noted how as well as helping individuals to progress in their careers, SBFM’s Evolve programme is also able to help with worker shortages.

He said: “From the prison service, you have hundreds of thousands of people released every month, who are going back into society.

“So the programme also solved the problem of where we can get candidates from to fill all these jobs, because the market has been really turbulent over the last few years, particularly since Brexit and the challenges of covid.”

SBFM works with organisations including New Futures Network, The Timpson Foundation, Ingeus and Shaw Trust to identify and recruit talent from a wider pool of people who find it difficult to find work, and then recruit them into cleaning roles at its Evolve Partner sites.

By leveraging relationships with its clients, which include PureGym, A.P. Moller – Maersk, and DPD, SBFM is then able to provide candidates the chance to move into direct employment in more diverse industries.

The firm has now enabled several ex-offenders and care leavers to receive free personal trainer training with Pure Gym.

Niall O’Neill, who has worked with SBFM for a number of months following his release from prison, said: “When people like me come out of jail, one of the main issues is getting employment.

“One of my biggest aims coming out of prison was to get a job straight away, and I don't think I would have had one if not for SBFM.”

Since starting as a cleaner with SBFM, Mr O’Neill has now progressed to work as a call handler.

He added: “I normally don't stay in a job and switch jobs every few months, but I don’t want to do that here because I feel like I'm part of a team, and when you come out of jail that's all you want, to be accepted and to get on with your life.

"I go into SBFM every day and no one judges me. Everyone knows my past, but they all still sit and speak to me and have a laugh with me. I don't plan on leaving any time soon.”