For NHS, ICBs, PCNs & Public Health
MEM Academy CIC is the contracting partner for ICBs, PCNs, local authorities and public health teams. We provide the governance, safeguarding framework, coach verification and live outcome reporting — backed by a verified network of community coaches delivering exercise referral, social prescribing and physical activity programmes on the ground.
Years direct delivery in community & justice settings
In programme grants successfully managed
Prison sites supported via social value pipeline
Specialist fitness-led SaaS-for-good infrastructure for community health delivery
The commissioning gap
Mainstream exercise referral and generic VCSE social prescribing serve general populations well. Engagement and outcomes are typically weaker for the cohorts where commissioners most need prevention spend to land — and where workforce capacity is thinnest.
Underserved cohorts often disengage from mainstream referral
Exercise referral and social prescribing pathways work well for many residents, but engagement is often lower among groups facing the highest preventable health risk — including residents from underserved communities and justice-experienced backgrounds.
Limited lived-experience capacity in the local workforce
Trust and therapeutic alliance are strong predictors of engagement. Generic leisure-centre instructor models can struggle to build that relationship with the cohorts where commissioners most need uptake.
Reporting cycles can lag delivery
Commissioners often receive quarterly spreadsheets and narrative reports. Live visibility of referral intake, attendance and engagement between contract review meetings is rarely built in.
Few routes from participant to local workforce
Most physical activity programmes end at week 12–16. There are few structured pathways from participant into qualification, professional identity and self-employment as a community coach.
The model
MEM Academy CIC is the contracting entity — accountable for governance, safeguarding, quality assurance, and impact reporting. Our platform deploys a verified network of community coaches who deliver under MEM's framework. Commissioners get a single accountable partner with built-in scalability.
MEM Academy CIC enters into the ICB, PCN, or local authority contract. We carry the insurance, governance obligations, safeguarding accountability, and data sharing agreements — not individual coaches.
Every coach accessing NHS-funded referrals is verified through MEM's platform — qualification checks, DBS, CIMSPA registration, insurance, and safeguarding induction. The platform gates access to programme delivery until all checks are complete.
Delivery is logged in real time through the MEM platform. Commissioners access a live dashboard showing referral intake, attendance, engagement, and outcome measures — without waiting for a quarterly report.
What we bring
The division between MEM's contractual obligations and coach-level delivery is clear and auditable. Commissioners are not managing a network of freelancers — they have a single accountable CIC with documented processes.
Track record
MEM Academy CIC was not built as a response to a funding opportunity. It was built by a founder with over a decade of lived and professional experience at the intersection of criminal justice and fitness — beginning with direct delivery inside HMP Pentonville via referral from Penrose London CRC in 2015.
Operational comparators
MEM's operational peers include community-rooted VCSE delivery organisations rather than leisure-centre chains or generic fitness SaaS. The differentiator is specialist fitness-led delivery combined with proprietary digital infrastructure.
Grant management
£850k in programme grants successfully managed, including funding from the National Lottery Community Fund. Demonstrated capability in funder reporting, governance and community delivery at scale.
Social value workforce pipeline
MEM's wider ecosystem supports aspiring coaches from underserved and justice-experienced backgrounds to move toward qualifications, professional identity and self-employment readiness — a social value asset commissioners can reference in NHS Social Value Playbook scoring.
Live programme signal
Aggregate, anonymised numbers drawn from MEM's live delivery and outcomes data. Small cells (n<5) are suppressed server-side so nothing identifies an individual. Refreshed on every page load.
Live delivery — tracked weekly across MEM sites
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Sessions delivered
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Total attendees
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Active sites
Mean wellbeing change
Awaiting first cohort
Cohort participants
Across active sites
Placements achieved
Coach + work placements
Qualifications achieved
L2 / L3 fitness + adjacent
No attendance recorded in the last 12 weeks.
Outcomes refresh as cohorts complete · n<5 cells suppressed
Social value
Alongside commissioned NHS delivery, MEM operates a wider ecosystem that supports aspiring coaches from underserved and justice-experienced backgrounds to move toward qualifications, professional identity and self-employment readiness. Commissioners can reference this against the NHS Social Value Playbook and Procurement Act 2023 social value weighting.
MEM engages residents from underserved London communities and lived-experience cohorts — including individuals with prior justice contact — through community delivery, partner referrals and our own platform.
Aspiring coaches are supported toward recognised fitness qualifications (Level 2 / Level 3 pathways), CIMSPA registration and CPD — building professional identity, not just a certificate.
MEM's platform provides the operational scaffolding — booking, insurance signposting, finance literacy, client management — so emerging coaches can sustain self-employed delivery in their own communities.
Once verified, coaches become eligible to deliver under MEM's commissioned contracts — meaning commissioned investment recycles back into local workforce development as additional social value.
The justice-experienced strand of this pipeline draws on MEM's decade of community delivery — including referral-based work with HMP Pentonville, YOI Isis and HMP Belmarsh — but the NHS commissioning offer on this page is independent of that programme. Pipeline coaches enter NHS-funded delivery only once fully verified through MEM's standard framework.
Digital infrastructure
MEM's SaaS platform is proprietary infrastructure built specifically for commissioned community health delivery — owned by M.E.M Fitness Limited and purpose-built for referral intake, coach verification and live commissioner reporting.
Live read access for ICB and PCN contract leads. View referral intake, session attendance, engagement rates, and outcome measures without requesting reports. Updated in real time from coach-side session logs.
Live dataNo coach accesses NHS-funded delivery without completing MEM's verification workflow — qualification evidence, DBS status, CIMSPA registration, insurance confirmation, and safeguarding induction are all required and logged.
Audit trailLink workers and PCN social prescribing teams submit referrals through a structured digital workflow. Status tracking shows intake, acceptance, first contact, and enrolment. No referrals fall through the gap.
TrackablePlatform captures WEMWBS scores, PAR-Q completion, session attendance, 6-week and 12-week reviews. Outputs auto-generated impact reports formatted for NHS contract monitoring meetings.
NHS-alignedBuilt-in incident and concern logging with named Safeguarding Lead workflow. Auditable trail for all safeguarding activity across every programme. Accessible to MEM's safeguarding lead and shared with commissioners on request.
Auditable900+ resources, coach education content, and CPD tracking built into the platform. Commissioners can confirm that coaches delivering under MEM's contract are maintaining continuing professional development.
CPD trackedGetting started
MEM can enter contracts via ICB direct award, competitive tender under the Provider Selection Regime, and local authority commissioning frameworks. The route depends on contract value and local procurement rules — we can advise on the most appropriate pathway for your area.
A 45-minute call with MEM's leadership team. We walk through the model, your population priorities, local delivery footprint, and how the platform would be configured for your programme. No obligation, no pitch deck.
Typically within 5 working daysMEM works with your team to scope referral volumes, target populations (social prescribing, exercise referral, justice-leavers, young adults), and intended outcomes. We map this against the verified coaches available in your borough or ICB area.
Collaborative scoping document providedDepending on contract value and your ICB's procurement policy, we agree the route to contract — direct award under PSR, competitive tender, or spot purchase. MEM can be listed on your community asset directory immediately, ahead of formal contracting.
PSR compliant · Procurement Act 2023 readyMEM provides a NHS-specific data sharing agreement template and data processing schedule. We complete your supplier onboarding requirements, including DPA confirmation, Cyber Essentials Plus evidence, and insurance documentation.
Governance-ready pack providedCommissioner dashboard access is provisioned before the first referral arrives. Your contract monitoring team has live visibility from day one. First contract review meeting supported with auto-generated impact report from the platform.
Outcome data from session oneCompliance readiness
We believe in transparency with commissioners. Below is an honest assessment of where MEM currently stands against the standard requirements for NHS community health contracting.
| Requirement | Detail | Status |
|---|---|---|
| CIC registered status | MEM Academy CIC, Company No. 09702792. Mission-locked community interest company structure. | Confirmed |
| Audited accounts (3 years) | Full audited CIC accounts available on request. £850k grant income managed with full funder reporting compliance. | Confirmed |
| GDPR / Data Protection | UK GDPR-compliant Data Protection Agreement in place. NHS-specific data sharing schedule available for commissioning. | Confirmed |
| Safeguarding policy | Safeguarding policy covering vulnerable adults and young people. Named Safeguarding Lead within MEM leadership. Incident reporting process documented. | Confirmed |
| DBS checking process | Enhanced DBS required for all coaches accessing NHS-funded delivery. MEM manages checking and renewal cycle via the platform. | Confirmed |
| Cyber Essentials Plus | Certification currently in progress via NCSC-approved assessor. Expected completion Q3 2026. | In progress |
| Public liability insurance | Commercial PL insurance at NHS-acceptable levels. Policy documentation available for supplier onboarding. | Available on request |
| Coach verification framework | Minimum Level 2 Fitness Instructor, CIMSPA registration, and relevant CPD required. Level 3 Exercise Referral required for GP referral delivery. All verified and gated within the platform. | Confirmed |
| NICE PH54 alignment | MEM's physical activity delivery methodology references NICE guidance PH54 on exercise referral schemes. | Confirmed |
| Outcome reporting capability | Platform captures WEMWBS, PAR-Q, attendance rates, and referral-to-engagement conversion. Commissioner dashboard provides live access. | Confirmed |
| Social value evidence | Extensive social value track record — employment outcomes, prison delivery, community cohesion, lived experience workforce. Directly aligned to NPPS five missions and NHS Social Value Playbook. | Confirmed |
| Penetration test | Independent platform penetration test scheduled alongside Cyber Essentials Plus. Evidence available to ICB IT security review on request once complete. | Available on request |
We work with ICBs, PCNs, local authorities, and NHS trusts across England. Whether you're looking for a social prescribing delivery partner, an exercise referral provider for harder-to-reach populations, or a justice-sector physical health programme — we want to hear from you.
