ReGenerate

🚀 Thrilled to launch the #MidlandsEmployerAlliance today in partnership with Severn Trent, and to be featured as an #exclusive in The Times! 👉 https://t.ly/wU56D The Midlands Employer Alliance is a pioneering coalition of HR and talent leaders from leading employers, dedicated to helping employers in the Midlands fill their vacancies with marginalised talent, such as prison leavers, care leavers and people with neurodiversity. 📻 Don't miss Harry Brown, Director of ReGenerate’s #GoodJobsProject, speak about the Midlands Employer Alliance tomorrow at 11am on Times Radio: https://lnkd.in/e_kMCRkp Find out more about the Good Jobs Project: https://lnkd.in/eta3z8AM Thanks to our members & partners Greggs, Timpson Group, Greene King, Amazon, Birmingham Airport, Pertemps Network Group, PET-Xi Training, Kier Group, Wincanton, Culina Group Limited, Cadent Gas Limited, Balfour Beatty VINCI, Unipart Group, NEC Group, Youth Futures Foundation & EY Foundation, Fair Chance Business Alliance #DiversityAndInclusion #BusinessForGood #InclusionMatters  Andrew Ellson

💫 Great to see the government set out clear Milestones for Mission-Led Government in its Plan for Change – including a commitment to support #EarlyChildhoodDevelopment as part of its mission to Break Down Barriers to Opportunity mission. The goal is for 75% of 5-year-olds in England to be ready to learn when they start school—up from today’s 66%. A bold ambition, supported by expanded funded nursery hours launching in September 2025. This is by no means an easy feat. Current policy targets “working families,” but only 1 in 5 households earning under £20k qualify. This is significant—children from low-income backgrounds are 11 months behind their peers by age five. Achieving this milestone means ensuring many more families receive the support they need. Businesses have a key role to play too: ✅ Flexible working to help parents balance family and work ✅ Paid family leave for bonding in the crucial early years ✅ Parental support programs to reduce stress and facilitate returns to work When businesses support families, they build a more engaged, productive, and loyal workforce—while showing leadership on a critical social issue. 👀 Watch this space for more on how businesses can help drive change in early childhood development! 📖 Learn more about the government milestone here: https://lnkd.in/eMBXMb8m

👀 Interesting to see recent calls for environmental experts to sit on water company boards, in a bid to safeguard water quality and the environment. 🌱 Last week during a debate on sewage discharges, several MPs stated that local environmental experts should sit on company boards in order to hold them to account and "ensure that environmental concerns take precedence in the boardroom”. Experts would also help to set legally binding targets when it comes to sewage discharges. 📖 Read more here: https://t.ly/hy8vj

💫 Great to see Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall @Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) announce a series of employment reforms as part of the Get Britain Working White Paper. This is the first big intervention to reach an 80% employment rate. Specifically, from ReGenerate's #GoodJobsProject perspective, it's good news to see a strong focus on supporting people with additional needs into work and a recognition of how employers can play a huge role in this when they have strong government support to do so. A few key highlights below: ➡️ Empowering employers to support people with disabilities and health conditions: "the review will consider what more can be done to enable employers to increase the recruitment and retention of disabled people and those with a health condition and undertake early intervention for sickness absence and increase returns to work." ➡️ Ensuring all young people can access routes into employment; "Jobcentres [will be] transformed across Great Britain and every young person to have access to an apprenticeship, quality training and education opportunities." ➡️ Making young and disabled people's voices heard: "An advisory panel will also be set up to put young people at the heart of decision making. There will also be a disability panel set up to ensure the voices of disabled people are at the core of reforms." ➡️ Tacking mental health: "Mental health support [will] be expanded and extra capacity deployed to reduce waiting lists in areas with highest levels of inactivity." Read more here: https://lnkd.in/edzVP-KP

🙌 Shoutout to COOK Trading Ltd, who have been voted Food & Drink’s #1 Best Company to Work For! As close collaborators on our #GoodJobsProject work and the #MidlandsEmployerAlliance's People with Convictions Programme, we are huge fans of COOK Trading Ltd and the work that they do as part of their RAW Talent Programme, supporting people into work who would otherwise face barriers to employment, such as prison leavers or those experiencing homelessness. A well-deserved win! Find out more about COOK's pioneering RAW Talent Programme here: https://lnkd.in/gjJUVAhh. Annie Gale Rosie Brown Ed Perry

Fantastic to have attended the 3-Space event at Rothschild & Co, along with over 160 entrepreneurs, business leaders, investors and industry experts. We're delighted to have contributed by facilitating a discussion around helping purpose-driven businesses to thrive, including what policies support or hinder purpose-driven businesses and what changes are needed to create the right conditions for businesses to be at their most successful, while helping to tackle key social and environmental challenges. Huge thanks to Richard Brass, Douglas Sloan and John Dutton for such a brilliantly curated day.

💫 Great to see that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has announced that it will allocate £350 million of dormant assets funding across youth, financial inclusion, social investment wholesalers and community wealth funds. This will be key in helping to boost #ImpactInvestment, in turn supporting businesses that profitably tackle big social and environmental issues to scale their impact. Crucially, we're excited to see that the government has announced the creation of a Dormant Assets Strategy - an idea that we put forward earlier this year in our #GoodBusinessManifesto. In it, we also included some thinking on how such a strategy might help to ensure a strong pipeline of future dormant assets funding, including: ➡️ Establishing a Dormant Assets Scheme Participants’ Board, giving the Scheme’s biggest contributors a platform for feeding in their views on funding allocation ➡️ Giving the Scheme’s administrator, Reclaim Fund Ltd, an expanded remit to work proactively with industry champions and regulators to make participation in the Scheme standard practice across all eligible sectors. ➡️ Launching work with industry on the next phase of expansion with a view to passing secondary legislation enabling new asset types to be included in the Scheme by 2026. ➡️ Launching an end-to-end review of the Dormant Assets Scheme, including considering the impact of dormant assets funding across the UK and assessing Reclaim Fund Ltd’s reserving policy to ensure value for money and inform future funding decisions, including for 2029 onwards. 📖 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gAifhYsZ 👀 Check out our full recommendation on a new 5-year Dormant Assets Scheme Strategy here: https://lnkd.in/eiV4Tree 

Fantastic news! #GoodJobsProject partner and #MidlandsEmployerAlliance member Greene King has announced the opening of two new kitchens to train up inmates and provide them with the skills to build careers in hospitality – aiming to reach a total of 400 prison leavers within their workforce by the end of 2025. This is the kind of purpose-driven initiative we love to see - good for business, good for individuals and good for society. A triple win. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/dYTnPm5c Thanks Graham Briggs for being a valued #GoodJobsProject partner!

Are you signed up to our monthly newsletter, The Purpose Digest? 🚀 Our next edition comes out tomorrow! Sign up to stay informed about the latest news in the purpose-driven space, key upcoming events and access exclusive guest perspectives from purpose-driven leaders. This month we are spotlighting: - How momentum is growing around purpose-driven business & the impact economy - Youth Futures Foundation & Workwhile's new research on what 'good work' means in the words of young people - The launch of ReGenerate's exciting new Early Childhood Development Programme - Employers speaking out about the benefits of recruiting prison leavers Sign up here so you don't miss it! https://lnkd.in/eqeua3h9

A brilliant launch event yesterday by Youth Futures Foundation and Workwhile on defining what 'good work' means to young people. Great to hear directly from four young panellists who have helped shape the following definition, which places a significant emphasis on the importance of open communication, fulfilment and workplace inclusivity: "Good work means feeling valued, fulfilled and supported. It means being respected and treated fairly in a workplace that is diverse and inclusive, where there is open and honest communication and decent pay. Everyone should have a voice. Good work is done to a high standard and gives you a sense of achievement. It happens in a place where you can make change happen. Good work protects your health and wellbeing. You're excited to tell your friends and family about good work, not because they ask but because you're proud of it." Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/eKVNbvzv