M&S stores set to become ‘safe spaces’
- M&S colleagues across the business have been given access to enhanced features within the WalkSafe Pro personal safety app
- These features include journey sharing, SOS alerts and real-time safety information – all designed to give confidence as colleagues travel to and from work, as well as in their free time
- Delivered in partnership with Mitie, which provides the app’s 24/7 monitoring and response capability, M&S colleagues will have access to enhanced support and incident response via the app
- In time, M&S stores will become designated ‘safe spaces’ within the app for other users, extending wider support to local communities
M&S is introducing WalkSafe Pro, the UK’s leading personal safety app, designed to help colleagues feel safer when travelling alone or commuting at night, reinforcing its commitment to colleague wellbeing.
Powered by location-based insights from police, local authorities and community partners, WalkSafe Pro helps colleagues make more informed journey decisions by providing information based on both police data and precautionary insights from other app users.
Colleagues can share their live journey with trusted contacts, while SOS alerts connect directly to Mitie’s 24/7 control centre, enabling real-time monitoring, assessment and a coordinated response where required.
The app can also be used outside of work, ensuring colleagues stay connected to help should they need it.
Over time, M&S stores will also be marked as designated ‘safe spaces’ within the app, supported by colleague training to ensure a consistent and confident response for the wider community. This means users will be able to identify nearby stores as a place to step inside, feel reassured and seek support if they feel unsafe during a journey.
Thinus Keeve, M&S Retail Director said:
"Our colleagues’ need for safety doesn’t stop when a shift ends – and our colleagues have told us that travelling to and from work can be when they feel most vulnerable. WalkSafe is a simple but powerful way we’re responding. It’s another way we’re continuing to invest in security – helping our people stay connected and supported wherever they are. And as our stores will become WalkSafe Safe Spaces, we’re to extend our role into the communities we serve, helping to create safer environments for everyone."
Jason Towse, Managing Director, Business Services, Mitie said:
“Everyone deserves to feel safe, whether they’re at work, travelling home or out in their own time. Our partnership with M&S is a fantastic example of how we can work together to better support colleagues in those moments where they feel most vulnerable. “This is an important step towards building safer communities, helping people feel more confident wherever they are. By combining WalkSafe’s technology with Mitie’s frontline expertise, 24/7 monitoring and response capability, we’re able to provide practical, real-time support when it’s needed most.”
Emma Kay, Founder, WalkSafe added:
“WalkSafe was created to address a simple but important problem: too many people don’t feel safe when travelling alone, particularly after dark. Built from lived experience, it brings together real-time information and practical tools to help people better understand their surroundings and take control of their personal safety. Through partnerships like this one with M&S, we’re extending that support further, helping organisations play a more active role in giving colleagues and local communities greater confidence, reassurance and access to help when they need it.”
ENDS
About Mitie: The Future of High Performing Places
Founded in 1987, Mitie employs 90,000 colleagues and is the leading technology-led Facilities Management, Transformation and Compliance company in the UK. We are a trusted partner to around 3,000 customers across the public and private sectors, working with them to transform their built estates, and the lived experience for their colleagues and customers, as well as providing data-driven insights to inform better decision-making.
In each of our core services of engineering (hard services) and security and hygiene (soft services) we hold market leadership positions. We also deliver transformational projects in the areas of power and grid connections, building fit outs & modernisation, decarbonisation, fire safety & security and telecoms infrastructure, alongside compliance capabilities in fire safety & security and environmental services. Our sector expertise includes central government, critical national infrastructure, defence, financial services, healthcare & life sciences, local government & education, retail & logistics, manufacturing & media and transport & aviation.
We hold industry-leading ESG credentials, including a place on the CDP Climate change A List, and we have received multiple awards including Best Low Carbon Solution and Net Zero Carbon Strategy of the year. We have validated science-based targets that support our ambitions to reach Net Zero. We have been recognised as a UK Top Employer for the seventh consecutive year and Most Admired Company in the Support Services sector. We are also ranked 10th in the Top 100 Apprenticeship employers and ninth in the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers list. Find out more at www.mitie.com
About WalkSafe
The WalkSafe app is a free personal safety app providing safer space information to users on a handy interactive map. Clear icons for different safe space types make the app easy to use and navigate, alongside other useful features such as journey plotting and crime zone information. These safe spaces are rolled out in partnership with Councils, Police and BIDs to support safer communities across the UK, alongside the app’s crime reporting functionality and community icons. To give users a further layer of safety on journeys, the app also includes the following sharing features:
- Safety Map: Helps people see the location of safety accredited venues across the UK, using interactive icons, so they can plan safer nights out.
- HomeSafe: Set a specific place and a specific time, and share your journey plan with loved ones. If you don’t successfully complete your journey, your loved ones are notified. (This feature is non-location sharing)
- Follow Me: Walking the dog? Going for a run? Just wandering? Follow Me allows you to start a journey with no destination in mind. Simply select a length of time to share your location for and select friends to keep you safe then you’re good to go!
- WalkSafe: Going somewhere? WalkSafe journeys differ from HomeSafe by allowing you to share your location with your trusted friends. Your location will update in real-time allowing your loved ones to keep you safe on your journey.