In Autumn 2021, we became one of only a handful of companies to receive the Key4Life YOUNITED Flag.
The YOUNITED Flag award was launched in September 2019 by music icon Nile Rogers and the crime prevention charity, Key4Life, with an overarching objective to encourage companies to employ ex-offenders and give them another chance, rewarding those that do with the prestigious YOUNITED Flag kitemark.
We started working with Key4Life in 2018. Through mentoring programmes, work experience placements and opportunities, and have supported the charity in its goal to break the cycle of crime.
Meet Yassin
Key4Life introduced us to Yassin in 2020, where he participated in a work trial with us. In early September an opportunity came up for Yassin to start his BTech Level 3 Construction in The Built Environment Engineering apprenticeship.
Yassin is employed through Evolve Apprentices Ltd, with Willmott Dixon providing funding to cover his college course costs. He works in our London and East region, supporting the Watkins House project. Once Yassin completes his apprenticeship in July 2022, he plans to apply for our Management Trainee programme and become a site manager.
Long term ambitions
Our work with Key4Life is just one of the ways in which we are supporting ex-offenders. In 2019, we opened a DryLining Academy within HMP Elmley, supporting individuals to gain new skills so they are work-ready upon release. Through our 2030 sustainability strategy, Now or Never, we aim to support 1,000 people facing societal barriers into work.
Sarah Fraser, Head of the Willmott Dixon Foundation, comments:
“We are delighted to receive Key4Life’s YOUNITED flag award. We’re a keen supporter of the charity - both financially and through our time and programmes with the people they support. We are so proud of what we have achieved together to help people to find a path into work, away from crime.
"We have always maintained that the best way to improve a person’s life chances is through access good quality work. If people like Yassin do the hard work to make a difference in their own lives, the least we can do is support them and give them fair opportunity. Our partnership with Key4Life enables us to do so.”