- Paul Riseborough, Metro Bank’s Chief Commercial Officer, launches StrongTomorrow platform to help connect Code 4000 trainees with employment opportunities
In the first initiative of its kind in Europe, ground-breaking UK charity Code 4000 is teaching prisoners to code – a life-changing skill that can help get them back into the job market and help companies secure much-needed coding skills.
StrongTomorrow – a new platform, independently founded by Metro Bank’s Chief Commercial Officer, Paul Riseborough – will help connect these prisoners with employers in the outside world to secure starter roles in banks and fintechs on release.
According to the Government, which supports Code 4000, reoffending is estimated to cost the UK around £15 billion a year. The challenge of securing a job following release is often cited as a key reason why prisoners return to crime – with 46% of all prisoners re-offending within a year of release.
Metro Bank is proud to support the scheme and will hire at least one colleague trained via Code 4000 later this year.
Danny Harmer, Chief People Officer at Metro Bank said: “Metro Bank has a long track record of supporting social mobility initiatives – from the launch of our apprenticeship scheme in 2012 and signing up to the Government’s social mobility pledge, to Metro Bank’s approach to ‘hiring for attitude and training for skill’ in customer facing roles. Our support for the Code 4000 and Strong Tomorrow initiatives is another great example of this.”
Paul Riseborough, Founder of StrongTomorrow and Chief Commercial Officer at Metro Bank said: “Code 4000 has demonstrated how coding can change lives in the most unlikely of places by helping prisoners learn the skills they need to thrive. The next step is to connect these Code 4000 graduates with businesses to get them back into the job market and help address the country’s demand for digital skills. That’s what the StrongTomorrow platform is there to deliver and I’m really proud that Metro Bank is leading the way in getting involved to give prisoners relevant employment and a new future.”
Tariq Hassan, CEO at Code 4000 said: “The StrongTomorrow platform allows our graduates to exit the prison gates at the end of their sentence and have a life changing opportunity to enter employment in the fintech industry – with a network of support around the individual and the company, to provide sustainable long term success and an end to the cycle of crime."