PeoplePlus

05/10/2026

We’re proud to share that PeoplePlus has received a Silver Award under the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) at His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant’s Awards in Bristol.

The award recognises our commitment to supporting serving personnel, veterans, reservists and military families, reflecting our dedication to the Armed Forces Covenant and creating an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.

Read more about this achievement:
👉 https://peopleplus.co.uk/newsitem/peopleplus-honoured-with-silver-defence-employer-recognition-scheme-award-at-his-majesty-s-lord-lieutenant-s-awards

01/10/2026

🌟 Exciting News 🌟

We're delighted to share that Gloucestershire Carers Hub, delivered by PeoplePlus will continue supporting unpaid carers across Gloucestershire for the next five years.

Thank you to every carer, volunteer, colleague and partner who has been part of our journey so far. We look forward to continuing to ensure carers are recognised, valued and supported.

💙 View our October Be Connected Programme: https://gloucestershirecarershub.co.uk/news/october-be-connected/

💙 Read our latest carers newsletter: https://gloucestershirecarershub.co.uk/news/newsletter-important-updates-for-carers/

📞 0300 111 9000
🌐 www.gloucestershirecarershub.co.uk

Gloucestershire County Council

22/09/2026

We're delighted that Gloucestershire Carers Hub, delivered by PeoplePlus, is a finalist for Outstanding Carer Service at the Carers UK Awards 2026! 🎉

This recognition reflects the hard work of our team, partners, and most importantly the unpaid carers we support every day across Gloucestershire. We're proud to be among so many inspiring services and organisations championing carers across the UK.

Good luck to all the finalists. We can't wait to celebrate with everyone involved!

21/09/2026

Learners in 49 of our prisons received 676 Koestler Awards this year, and Charlotte, an art tutor at HMP High Down, knows exactly what sits behind that number:

"Prisoners never cease to amaze me with their talent and ability to be creative in the most challenging of environments and circumstances."

24 of this year's awards went to learners at High Down, where Charlotte has taught art for years. She has seen what entering does for people:

"The creative arts: music, writing, painting and drawing can be incredibly therapeutic and provide a valuable form of escapism especially for those suffering from addiction issues and mental health. I have seen for myself over the many years I have taught art in prisons how much prisoners benefit from entering the Koestler Awards and the confidence and positivity it generates."

Run by Koestler Arts every year since 1962, the awards recognise creative work made in prisons, young offender institutions, secure hospitals and immigration centres. Arts professionals review every entry, and everyone who enters gets feedback on their work.

58 of this year's awards went to people entering for the first time.

The work spanned 49 categories: painting, drawing, calligraphy, ceramics, needlecraft, printmaking, graphic design, matchstick models, barbering, stage plays and podcasts.

23 of the awards were Platinum, the highest honour Koestler gives. They include a needlecraft piece called "My Castle" from HMP Perth and a painting called "Rootless" from HMP Edinburgh (both pictured below).

Several pieces are going to the Koestler Awards exhibition at the Southbank Centre in London, running from 16th October to 29th November and showing work from prisons across the UK. Ours include "Kurdish Traditional New Year" from HMP Barlinnie and "Positive Route at Crossroads" from HMP Castle Huntly.

Congratulations to everyone who entered, and to the education teams behind them.

We'll be sharing more over the next few weeks, looking properly at some of the individual pieces and at the Southbank exhibition.

07/09/2026

At PeoplePlus, we're delighted to share that Gloucestershire County Council has awarded our Gloucestershire Carers Hub a new contract, meaning we'll continue supporting unpaid carers across Gloucestershire from October 2026 for the next 5 years.

This means carers will continue to have access to information and advice, Carer's Assessments, wellbeing support, emergency planning, financial guidance, opportunities to connect with others, and much more. We'll also continue providing dedicated support for parent carers and young adult carers.

We're proud to continue working alongside carers, ensuring you are recognised, valued and supported for years to come.

To find out more click here: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/gcc-news/news-september-2026/continued-support-secured-for-unpaid-carers-across-gloucestershire

24/08/2026

Connor joined The Restart Scheme not expecting much. Since then, he's gone on to work in security with a licence, a job he chose, and a story he's now sharing with others.

Employment advisor Hemang Patel got things moving, helping Connor build his skills and confidence. When a first job fell through after a month, Connor went straight back to our Folkestone office and got support from a Rapid Response Advisor.

Employer Relationship Manager Candice Skinner spotted his potential and pointed him towards an SIA training course with DGC Security. Connor passed, got his licence, and was soon fielding three interviews and two job offers, choosing to join DGC itself.

PeoplePlus backed him along the way, funding work clothing and travel to get him there.

Weeks into his new job, Connor came back to the Folkestone office, unprompted, to speak with participants still completing their SIA training. He encouraged them to stay committed to the course and shared his own story, showing first hand how the support available through The Restart Scheme can lead to genuinely life changing opportunities.

Connor joined The Restart Scheme with fairly low expectations. He assumed it would be much like previous prgrammes he'd tried, and wasn't sure how much support…

19/08/2026

Fresh Start is a programme we deliver in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, supporting people who have been touched by the justice system to move into lasting employment.

Programmes like this don't just change their own lives. They benefit families, communities and society as a whole, reducing reoffending and giving people a genuine stake in the future they're building.

Like this person......

He came to Fresh Start with previous convictions standing between him and steady work, and low expectations of how much support he'd actually get.

Working one-to-one with a key worker, he built his CV, sharpened his interview skills, and learned how to manage disclosure with employers instead of letting it hold him back.

The support didn't stop when he got the job. Fresh Start helped with travel costs in his first week, stayed in touch through his early days at work, and helped him get to grips with budgeting his new income.

Today, he's in full-time work, his confidence transformed, with driving lessons booked and his own flat firmly in sight.

He's since recommended Fresh Start to others facing the same barriers he did.

Read his full story here:

Helping people move on from the justice system and into sustainable employment doesn't just change their own lives. It benefits families, communities and socie…

13/08/2026

£120. That's what the after-school club cost, three days a week, for Aisha's youngest.

£100. That's what the job would have brought in, after tax and the Universal Credit she'd lose.

The job itself was a good one. Admin at a GP surgery, hours 8 till 4. Aisha applied, interviewed well, got the offer. She asked, politely, if there was any flexibility on the hours. There wasn't. The role really did need to be 8 till 4, the manager said.

She went home and spent two weeks trying to make the sums work. When they didn't, again, she phoned the surgery back and turned it down. Then she cried, and wasn't sure who for: the job, or the version of herself who might have done it, or both.

This is easy to miss on paper. What decided whether Aisha worked or not wasn't her skill or her will. It was a job built on the assumption that someone else, somehow, was doing the school run.

Here's what moved the needle for two other parents in her position: a GP practice manager sat down with an advisor and looked at when the surgery was actually busiest, 8 till 11, then 2 till 4. They redesigned two admin roles around 9 till 3, term-time. Thirty strong applications came in for those two roles. Both hires had been out of paid work for years for caring reasons. Three years on, one has been promoted to lead receptionist.

That's what the Social Recruitment Covenant looks like in practice: jobs redesigned around real lives, not a form signed once. Find out what employers signing the Covenant actually commit to → https://peopleplus.co.uk/socialrecruitmentcovenant

11/08/2026

Michael came out of prison at 31 with every intention of working, a probation officer who backed him, and a brother willing to put him up in a spare room while he found his feet. What he didn't expect was how complete honesty would work against him.

He declared his conviction on twelve separate job applications, carefully and truthfully each time, and heard nothing back from a single one. On the thirteenth, he left it off the form. He was offered the job, and then had it withdrawn once the disclosure check came back. The employer's stated reason was the dishonesty, a distinction that mattered enormously to him even as it cost him the role.

What turned things around was an advisor at a charity that specialises in supporting people with convictions into work, who did three things that made all the difference. She told him plainly which employers on his list were known never to hire someone in his position, and gave him a different list instead. She rehearsed the disclosure conversation with him until it was honest, brief and forward-looking rather than something to dread. And she introduced him personally to a small construction firm whose owner had, himself, been to prison many years before, and had built his business in part to give people like him a genuine chance.

Michael worked there for two years and has since moved on to a larger firm. About a third of the people that construction firm employs have a conviction in their past, and turnover among them runs lower than the average across the wider workforce.

The snake: an application form with a tick box that filters people out before anyone reads a word they've written.

The ladder: an advisor who knew which employers would give him a fair hearing, and one of them who had stood exactly where he once stood.

What's the biggest myth you've heard about hiring someone with a conviction? We'd like to know, tell us in the comments.

06/08/2026

It might be summer, but Christmas came early to our Torfaen office this month.

The team welcomed local employer Festive for a recruitment event with a difference, transforming the office with decorations and festive hats to make them feel right at home.

Behind the scenes, Employment Relationship Manager Leanne had spent weeks pre-screening candidates and lining up CVs to make sure interview day ran without a hitch.

The result? Sixteen participants attending interviews and a delighted employer with Festive being so impressed with the quality of candidates they are considering a high number of them for roles within their shop department.

Festive loved it so much they're coming back later in August to recruit for more vacancies, and have already asked to make it an annual event. They've even referred candidates who weren't quite right for retail roles on to a local agency supplying their warehouse operation, opening up even more opportunities.

A brilliant example of what partnership working and a bit of Christmas spirit can achieve. Well done, Torfaen team!

Christmas came early to the Torfaen office as the team welcomed local employer 'Festive' for a fantastic recruitment event – despite it only being summer time!…