Furnish puts £30k to good use

Published by Joanna Charlton for Shepherds Bush Housing Association in Housing and also in Central Government, Environment

Hammersmith MP and Shadow Justice Minister Andy Slaughter visited the furniture re-use service Furnish to see how money from a national pilot scheme is being used in the local community.

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS), an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice, awarded Furnish £30,000 of European funding to help young offenders pay back their debt to society. The cash provides up to 45 Community Payback (formerly known as community service) placements at Furnish for the next year.

The unpaid work completed by offenders must benefit the local community. This includes collecting unwanted household furniture from homes across west London. The furniture is then sold to families in need at affordable prices at the Furnish warehouse in White City.

The Ministry of Justice is funding 10 pilots across the country, one of which is Furnish, to identify ways of reducing reoffending through social enterprises.

Furnish, which is part of the Shepherds Bush Housing Group (SBHG), is a social enterprise and charity driven by social and environmental concerns.

Mr Slaughter saw firsthand the work being done by the charity and the Community Payback placements.

Furnish manager Mark Hardy said: “Our work with Community Payback has given us the extra manpower to support the warehouse and its services. This has helped hundreds of people across west London as well as giving vital work experience and stability to offenders.”

The charity also makes a big difference to the environment by saving unwanted furniture from landfill. For every one tonne of furniture saved from landfill 8.8 tonnes of carbon emissions are saved.

After the tour Mr Slaughter said: “As the constituency MP I am interested in the work of Furnish, but wearing my justice hat I wanted to see the work being done to rehabilitate offenders. All parties are very keen that we have worthwhile productive projects. It is not easy to achieve but when it works, it works well and benefits everyone.”