Enrol Yourself

Enrol Yourself hosts inclusive, local peer groups that support adults at times of transition by building their personal and professional resilience over 6 months. Participants set their own learning question that they pursue as a part of a mutually supporting cohort. This provides motivation and perspectives, without the need for enrolling at an educational institution.

Enrol Yourself has completed five successful six-month programmes in London and Birmingham and supported a peer group of UK Government Digital Service content designers. Having recently piloted a train-the-trainer model to be rolled out in 2019, the goal is to quadruple the reach from 75 to 300 learners.

www.enrolyourself.com

ProxyAddress

An address is no longer just a location, it's now a de facto means of identification. This means that if a person becomes homeless, they are immediately cut off from the basic services they need to recover such as benefits, a bank account, and employment. Those who might have otherwise been able to get back on their feet with the help of some early support are instead left to become entrenched. ProxyAddress uses existing records of empty properties to create a 'proxy' address that can be used to access services and provide identification regardless of location.

www.proxyaddress.co.uk

Rochdale New Pioneers Programme

Rochdale Borough Housing is the first tenant and employee co-owned housing society with 13,000 homes. This pioneering model places members at the heart of decision-making, allowing everyone to enjoy a sense of security and belonging. The New Pioneers Programme will support residents from central Rochdale, one of the UK’s most deprived areas, into better jobs and healthier lives. It is collaboratively designed to enable employment progression for residents who we know aspire for better jobs but are currently stuck in under-employment and often benefit dependence.

 The programmes mutually supporting elements include; a basic income that provides financial stability and flexibility, dedicated career brokers offering personalised support and a New Pioneers Space creating a broader community of mutual support.

www.rbh.org.uk

Turnaround

Turnaround aims to help ‘turn around’ the futures of people serving sentences in prison or in the community and who want to leave offending behaviour behind. It also aims to ‘turn around’ the wider community, encouraging others to support those on their journey away from offending.

Turnaround’s holistic approach seeks to address the multiple factors impacting that journey. At its core are transitional training and employment opportunities provided within social enterprises established and run by Turnaround and offered before and after people complete their sentences. These enterprises provide a supportive environment, recognising the particular challenges faced by many of our trainees.

www.theturnaroundproject.org

Labour xchange

Labour xchange is a platform where workplace excluded groups such as the underemployed, parents and carers can register their upcoming availability to work on an hour by hour basis. Local businesses can then use the platform to access the free time of individuals and fill ad hoc staffing requirements. The platform has been designed to remove the unnecessary barriers in the employment industry ensuring individuals can access opportunities they would otherwise be excluded from. As the platform is fully automated and operating costs are low, Labour xchange can ensure individuals are always paid at least the real living wage.

www.labourxchange.uk

ACH

ACH has changed in the past ten years from a small-scale housing provider in inner-city Bristol, to a leading provider of resettlement and integration services for refugee and newly arrived communities in the UK. ACH works with 2,500 people per year, delivering services in the West of England and West Midlands, and offering advice and assistance across the UK and beyond.

Working with refugee communities since 2004, Richard Thickpenny has brought his lived experience into the design of innovative programs which challenge the status quo. He leads ACH’s ambitious research and consultancy plans, which links world-renowned academics with our #rethinkingrefugee ethos.

www.ashleyhousing.com

Dinghy

Dinghy is widely recognised as having launched the first ever on-demand Professional Indemnity insurance cover, aimed at freelance professionals and the ‘gig’ economy.  Its leading-edge technology platform enables customers to flex their insurance coverage up and down with a simple swipe to reflect their needs. This enables them to save money but remain fully covered when they are between projects or on holiday.

Dinghy targets ‘gig’ workers and freelancers working in the media and creative industries who make up the largest and most dynamic segment of the UK’s growing army of over 2 million freelancers and consultants.

www.getdinghy.com

earwig

earwig is a reviews platform for construction workers on temporary contracts. It’s the only platform of its kind in construction and shows relevant, detailed, worker-led intelligence about recruiters and workplaces so workers can give each other a heads-up and feel secure when choosing jobs.

Harrison Moore founded earwig based on his personal experiences as an electrician and temporary worker. Harrison is currently fundraising and looking for a technical co-founder. He has assembled several advisors and supporters including Unite the Union, to inform earwig’s development and impact.

www.earwigwork.com

Trezeo

Trezeo provides financial peace of mind for the increasing number of self-employed and gig economy workers by turning unpredictable income into a regular pay cheque.

The way people work is changing with a rapid shift to self-employment and gig-based work. While self-employment brings great flexibility, uncertain and volatile income are debilitating challenges for many self-employed workers.

Trezeo’s income smoothing account solves these challenges. Trezeo tops-up customer income interest-free during quiet periods, to ensure they receive a consistent pay cheque; provides interest-free income advances to help during emergencies; and helps build savings without having to think about it. This also provides a foundation to enable the self-employed to access financial products like disability insurance, pensions and even mortgages.

www.trezeo.com

Indycube

Indycube is a cooperative (Community Benefit Society) that supports freelancers and the self-employed. Founded nine years ago, the organisation started working in Wales and is in the process of developing networks across the rest of the U.K.

It offers a suite of benefits that help the self-employed be less isolated, work closer to home, and get supported with legal cover, late payments, HR advice and accountancy tools to make their businesses less precarious.

Indycube is also trying to practice what it preaches. For the past two years the cooperative has operated on a completely flat management structure (including flat pay structure) and has been running a 4 Day Week.

www.indycube.community

Workerbird

Workerbird helps workers collect what they deserve by understanding and improving their working conditions. With Workerbird, workers collect their own data, on their own terms and for their own benefit. We're developing easy to use, people-centred tracking that provides insights into the working day. This helps workers understand their working patterns in a broader context. Where needed we provide relevant information on next steps, such as reporting or where to access further help. We want workers to realise the power in their data.

Workerbird was part of the Bethnal Green Ventures Spring 2018 cohort and is one of the teams funded by the Tech to Unite Us grant programme from the Social Tech Trust.

www.workerbird.co.uk

Bob Emploi

Many job seekers find themselves alone and disarmed. The job market is complex, constantly changing and it is difficult to find help online. Bob is an AI employment advisor. Bob is a free online platform that uses AI to help jobseekers assess and improve their employability with data-driven advice. In just a few clicks, Bob offers a complete review of the jobseeker's profile, target market, and search techniques. Bob then gives a selection of personalized advice to no longer be alone in their search and find the next key steps to move forward. Bob is 100% free, open source, available online and accessible from a smartphone or computer.

www.bob-emploi.fr