Key4Life calls on Bristol businesses to help tackle crime

With crime figures ranking Bristol city centre as one of the most dangerous places to live in the UK, crime prevention charity Key4Life assembled business leaders in Bristol and the South West, at KPMG UK’s Bristol office, to call on their support to tackle crime in the region.

Key4Life has an unrivalled track record for rehabilitating young men in prison or at risk of going to prison and provides real solutions to help reduce youth offending. Renowned for pioneering equine therapy and employability training within its innovative seven-step programme, the charity’s reoffending rate is a maximum of 14 per cent compared to a national average of 64 per cent and a minimum of 60 per cent of the charity’s graduates are gainfully employed, versus a national average of 15 per cent.

Representatives from local businesses and dignitaries attending the meeting were given an overview of Key4Life’s rehabilitation programmes and how they can help support the charity to combat crime. On the panel, four graduates of the Key4Life programme - all now gainfully employed - shared their turnaround stories, and four young men enrolled on Key4Life’s current Bristol programme, who are all living in homeless hostels, talked about the challenges they face.

Natalia Colville, a volunteer on Key4Life’s Bristol programme whose son Zac spoke on the panel, said:  “I am so grateful to Key4Life for all the charity is doing for the young people it works with. Zac has been the most positive and happy I have seen him for years since he started the programme. Key4Life is providing such an important step on his path and I can't tell you how much it means for a mother.”

Nicholas Fox, Partner and Head of Government at KPMG UK,  said: “Key4Life’s rehabilitation programmes have turned around the lives of some of the most marginalised young men in London and the South West. KPMG UK is proud to have worked with Key4Life since 2017, delivering both mentoring and impact coaching to help former offenders obtain crucial employability skills, and by extension go on to attain gainful employment. It’s support like this that provides ex-offenders with an invaluable second chance to build a life of purpose and integrity, and it was an honour to bring so many businesses together today to get involved.”

Eva Hamilton MBE, CEO of Key4Life, said: “Our partnership with KPMG UK over the past five years has been extraordinary, working together in prisons, in the community, helping with mentoring and supporting our young men to get jobs. They have led the way in the Criminal Justice arena like we have never seen before, and they are total trailblazers within the social justice sector. We are hugely grateful for all KPMG have done to help break the cycle of crime.”      

The business breakfast meeting today comes hot on the heels of Key4Life completing a highly successful six-month rehabilitation programme in Bristol last month for young men at risk of offending - 81 per cent of the young men on this programme are now in employment, education or training, with many working for respected companies such as Yeo Valley, Voi Scooters and Willmott Dixon.  Key4Life has also just started facilitating its first place-based programme in Bristol which aims to transform the whole community of Easton.

Approximately £13.46 of social value is generated for every £1 spent on Key4Life.  And with research stating that 50% of corporate Britain would not hire ex-offenders (YouGov/DWP, 2016), Key4Life’s YOUNITED Flag Award is driving social change in the business world by encouraging businesses to employ ex-offenders.

Liam Meredith, a Key Mentor for Key4Life supporting other ex-offenders to turn their lives around, who chaired the panel, said: “With reoffending costing the UK £18.1 Billion a year, employment is the glue that keeps young men away from a life of crime and we urge more businesses in the Bristol area to offer employment opportunities to ex-offenders.”