Innovate UK has backed a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between Sheffield Hallam and the charity Tempus Novo, with six-figure funding to continue the work of the charity working with serving prisoners and ex-offenders looking to change their lives by breaking the cycle of crime through employment.
Tempus Novo is a charity based in Leeds set up to support ex-offenders into jobs after their release to reduce re-offending rates. The charity, founded in 2014 by two former senior prison officers at HMP Leeds with a combined experience of almost 60 years, mentors prisoners in the run up to their release and help to secure roles, and to date have secured jobs for 800 ex-offenders.
This is the first Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme where Sheffield Hallam University has partnered with a charity or social enterprise.
Sheffield Hallam’s contribution in this project is to embed financial modelling expertise and behavioural economics methodology to design and implement a novel revenue model supported by a scalable business model to help Tempus Novo achieve financial sustainability and successfully expand.
Jia Liu, academic lead on the Tempus Novo partnership, said: “I think this project is necessary because of the massive societal benefits of Tempus Novo’s work. Scaling up Tempus Novo’s work (placing more ex-offenders into sustainable employment) leads to more savings on prison cost, less benefit payments, more national insurance contribution, more tax collected, safer streets, positive impacts on ex-offenders and their families. This project fits perfectly well with Sheffield Hallam’s civic agenda.
“I’m keen to work with Tempus Novo because I share their view that people deserve a second chance, especially those who have never had a first real chance in life. Tempus Novo has achieved remarkable successes in a challenging area. We hope to build on the success and take it to the next level. There is a huge potential for Tempus Novo to grow to do more good.”
Tempus Novo are the only prison officer-led charity in the UK, and the only charity that fills the void by focusing on employment working with both service users and employers simultaneously. Over 70% of service users placed into work with Tempus Novo retain that job for over a year and do not re-offend, and of the 800 service users placed so far, only 33 have been returned to custody (4%).
Steve Freer, co-founder of Tempus Novo, says: “We are confident the KTP programme will assist with the growth of Tempus Novo, and this has the potential to unlock so many more opportunities both here in the UK and beyond.
“We hope to have a lasting relationship with Sheffield Hallam and see this as the first step of a journey that will create many more life-changing opportunities for many disadvantaged people. Using the power of good quality jobs is a successful model that reduces crime, creates safer streets and more prosperous communities.”
