The Lived Experience Project

Everybody loves a good comeback story. Until it's time to hire one.

We turn expertise, access and opportunity into skills, real work and ownership for the people the door never opened for. We start with people affected by the justice system, and the work pays for the mission.

Same door. Same width. For everyone.

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People love lived experience. On a stage. In a documentary. In the bit of the awards speech where everyone goes quiet.

It's celebrated. It's just not yet embraced. Celebrated is a round of applause. Embraced is a contract, a login, a "yes" on the form. We think the applause is lovely. We're aiming past the job, at ownership.

0%

None of this is a feeling. It's arithmetic.

67.1% of adults leaving prison on sentences under twelve months are proven to reoffend within a year.

Across everyone who offends, it's 29.6%.

Same country. More than double the rate. The problem was never whether people can change.

We're changing one number.

Not with charity. With skills the market pays for, and a door that opens the same width for everyone.

Source: MoJ Proven Reoffending Statistics, April to June 2024 cohort (published April 2026).

£18.1bn
what reoffending costs England and Wales a year, on the 2019 official estimate
34.5%
of prison-leavers are in work six months after release
35.3%
of unemployed prison-leavers reoffend within a year, against 16.8% of those in work

Sources: MoJ economic and social costs of reoffending (2019 estimate, which MoJ calls an underestimate); MoJ and DWP offender employment outcomes to March 2025, for those whose employment status was known.

The whole ask

It's not the person. It's the system, and a system can be rebuilt. We're not asking for charity. Not a sympathy hire. Not a lower bar. We're asking for lived experience to lead. And for one kind of fairness: not equality of outcome, but equality of opportunity. Same door. Same width. For everyone.

Why it works

Skills get you the job. Purpose is what keeps you out.

You can have the job, the flat, every box society says to tick. If you don't know who you are or why you want any of it, you're floating, one bad week from where you started.

Behaviour changes when purpose does. So we don't only hand people skills. We help them understand where they've been, why, and what they actually want, then build a life worth protecting around it.

We don't teach in a classroom. We ship real work.
Learn the skillsthe skills Earn from real workfrom real work Own your futureyour future

A pipeline, not a course, and we build it in the order that proves it: understand the demand, train against it, then take the model through the gate.

01 · Network

LDN:KNEKT

First, map the ground: who needs this across London, what it's worth, and where the real problems are.

Starting here

Here's the deal: we build real digital solutions for community organisations and eligible charities, free or at a community rate, start-up packages that would cost tens of thousands commercially. In return, the people we train get real practice on live briefs, and we learn what London actually needs.

So bring us your gnarliest problem. We want to know what you're wrestling with, how you're using AI, and what a fix would be worth to you.

  • An eligible charity? A full digital start-up package, free.
  • A community group or non-profit? A build at a community rate, so cost is never the barrier.
  • A business that can pay commercially? Even better. We take on paid commercial work ourselves, and every fee funds the mission. Same team, same quality, and your budget puts someone through the pipeline.
  • Want to be found? We're building a directory so people can discover and connect with you.

How this works: LDN:KNEKT is delivered by The Lived Experience Project and, as each cohort comes through, built by the people we train, free for eligible charities and at a community rate for organisations that genuinely can't meet commercial prices. When a business can pay a full commercial rate, we do that work too, and the money funds the mission instead of leaking out to private benefit. One house, one mission. The commercial work pays for the community work, and every fee stays locked to the cause.

02 · Training

UP:SKILL

Then we train, against a real pipeline of work the network just uncovered. Real briefs, real clients.

The proof

Once we know who needs what, we run the course, and learners build the actual solutions those organisations asked for. A portfolio and references, not just a certificate. No dummy exercises. The skills are general-purpose, so we are training owners, not placements. Alongside the build runs RE:SET, the inner work that finds purpose and self-belief. Give someone that and a real shot, and there is no ceiling we put on where it goes. We just never turn it into a promise.

To do it we need partners: real briefs to work on, and organisations whose tools and tech we can build on while we grow.

  • Got a project we could build? Bring it, and help prove the model.
  • Have tools or tech we could learn on? Lend it while we get funded.
  • Want the skills yourself? Register and we'll tell you how to join a cohort.
Partner with us
03 · Programme

RE:ENTRY

Once the model's proven, we take it through the gate: a real year with the people it's hardest for.

The vision

With the model working, we run our own year-long programme with people coming out of prison, built before release and backed long after, so a sentence doesn't quietly become a life sentence. The aim is the same as everywhere else: not a placement, but a person who owns their next step.

It starts with sport, not screens. Twelve weeks of mentoring through rugby, boxing and group coaching, led by qualified coaches with lived experience, because teamwork, leadership and trust have to come first. Nothing built on top of them holds otherwise. The skills follow.

And we turn it into a research project of its own. If you're a prison, a resettlement service, or a university that might want to work with us, or study the framework, we'd love to talk early. How we do it is shared directly, not posted online.

Start a conversation
Who's behind this

Theone

Founder

Released in 2007 and rebuilt a life through skills and a flat refusal to be written off. This whole thing is built by someone who has lived what our learners are living. That is the credibility, not a line on a poster.

Sara

Neuroscience coach

The neuroscience of change: why habits form, how they break, and what actually rewires. The reason "support" here means real, qualified help, not a motivational speech.

Fraser

Developer

Builds the AI automations and tools that make the model run. The engineering quietly doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes.

Previous clients Work with us →

Every brief we take on is real client work.

No mock projects, no classroom exercises. This is real commercial work the project does for clients who can pay, and the money funds the mission. The businesses and organisations we've delivered for appear here, so you can see the model working on real briefs.

These are the kinds of businesses we work with. Real client logos take their place as projects complete. Every project funds the mission. Want real digital work done? Let's talk →

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