Inclusion - offenders

Information about the theme

Offenders and ex-offenders

ESF has worked for many years to help offenders and ex-offenders to develop skills and find employment. In this area of ESF-Works, you will find information about work with offenders across ESF (including but not limited to the NOMS programme).

The barriers faced by offenders in finding and keeping work are often complex, far reaching and touch on all aspects of life. In this area, we are looking at issues that can help the transition to work, including:

• basic skills, qualifications and effective learning methods
• how partners work together to tackle barriers simultaneously and effectively
• finding, keeping and affording a secure and stable place to live
• the role of mentoring and the benefits and challenges of peer involvement
• the health dimension and the challenge of substance abuse
• attitudes, prejudices and misconceptions
• how to work with employers
• working with offenders as a specific target, in prison and the community
• delivering effective provision in a changing and complicated environment of policies, programmes and services
• locating, gaining and keeping a job

We would like to hear from anyone with insights to offer or challenges to overcome in working with offender and ex-offenders.

The NOMS co-financing programme

With the launch this year of projects under the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) co-financing programme, ESF is at the forefront in tackling one of the most challenging issues in social policy, but one with enormous potential to make a difference. The NOMS CFO programme operates across all English regions. The underpinning principle is to provide added value to existing services by filling gaps in existing services and supporting ex-offenders to access mainstream employment and skills services that they often find difficult to access. The overarching aim is to provide greater cohesion between offender-specific skills and employment services and the transition and access to mainstream employment and skills provision. Participants will have access to greater support to address their barriers to employment, including help and continuing support for issues such as substance abuse, debt counselling, and employer-facing skills.

Reducing Reoffending Through Social Enterprise

The NOMS co-financing plan also prioritises social enterprise. A NOMS-commissioned report published in November 2009 explored the current extent of social enterprise activity in the offender field and scoped the potential development.

NOMS Co-financing Providers Group

A national co-finance providers group has recently been established and will meet quarterly. Membership is a mix of prime providers, their subcontractors, and representatives from key government departments. Regular bulletins will be posted on this site. Contact mike.stewart@cesi.org.uk for more information.

European Offender Employment Forum (EOEF)

The EOEF was established in the early 1980s to promote links between employment and training providers, lobby on issues regarding offender employment, provide a central information source for policy-makers and providers.

EOEF has a database of contacts numbering more than 600 organisations working in this field from across the European Union. It is currently administered by the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (www.eoef.org).

Coalition government plans

The coalition government is promising to introduce a 'rehabilitation revolution' that will pay independent providers to reduce reoffending, paid for by the savings that this new approach will generate within the criminal justice system.[1]

With deficit reduction the key priority for the new government, major public spending cuts are anticipated. The extend use of independent providers in helping to tackle disadvantage and the role of ESF funding to support that is likely to become even more significant than it is now.

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[1] The Coalition: Our programme for government, HM Government, May 2010