Filing cabinet and files

The NOMS ESF co-financing programme

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) ESF CFO programme represents the largest concentration of ESF investment in work with offenders. Operating across England, the aim of the programme is to provide added value by:

  • bridging the gaps between existing services
  • supporting ex-offenders to engage with mainstream employment and skills services that they often find difficult to access
  • providing greater cohesion between offender-specific skills and employment services, and the transition to mainstream provision.  

Participants benefit from the support provided by dedicated case managers, the core ‘model’ of the NOMS programme who help to address their multifaceted barriers to employment.

Reducing re-offending through social enterprise

The NOMS co-financing plan also prioritises social enterprise. A NOMS-commissioned report published in November 2009 explored the role and extent of social enterprise activity in the offender field and scoped potential development. NOMS has appointed David Preston as a social enterprise champion to lead this programme; this role includes commissioning of action research projects that aim to increase the role of social enterprises within the criminal justice sector.

The National Employment Offender Network 

The National Employment Offender Network (NEON) has been funded by NOMS CFO to provide providers with an interest in offender employment and related issues with the opportunity to meet quarterly. Members consist of NOMS CFO prime providers, their subcontractors, and representatives from key government departments. Membership is open to other organisations that work with offenders in relation to employment and skills. The meetings also provide the opportunity for providers to showcase their work. E-bulletins are published every quarter. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  for more information. 

European Offender Employment Forum (EOEF)

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

EOEF is a membership organisation with a database of contacts numbering more than 600 organisations working in this field from across the European Union. The 2011 conference was held in Edinburgh in late March 2011: full details, including presentations and key themes, are now available.

It is administered by the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion and sponsored by Working Links. 

Government plans 

The comprehensive spending review announced last October included cost reduction measures over the next four years amounting to around 25 per cent, or over £1 billion from administration. The measures include reducing the prison population by more than 3,000.

Policing and Criminal Justice Minister, Nick Herbert, announced in a speech to the Howard League that to reduce re-offending, 'we need both fundamental reform of our criminal justice system, and a new focus on preventing crime'.

He emphasised the important role of the 'vast, untapped enthusiasm and expertise of voluntary and private sectors to help with offender management and rehabilitation'.

Noting that independent providers would be paid according to the outcomes they achieve he said, 'We call this payment by results, but you might call it "justice reinvestment". Whatever the name, it represents a radical new focus on rehabilitating offenders, recognising that it no longer makes sense to incur such costs on the public purse through high rates of re-offending.

Rehabilitation Green Paper 

Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders is a green paper presented to Parliament in December 2010. It sets out the Coalition’s plan for reforming the criminal justice system by addressing three priorities:

  • to address how offenders are punished
  • how the public are protected
  • how reoffending is reduced.

The green paper sets out how an intelligent sentencing framework coupled with more effective rehabilitation will break the cycle of crime and prison which creates new victims every day.

The Ministry of Justice Structural Reform Plan 

Published in July 2010, the plan set out a commitment to introduce a 'rehabilitation revolution' and conduct a review of sentencing policy.

This consultation set out the resulting proposals which aim to break the destructive cycle of crime and protect the public, through more effectively punishing and rehabilitating offenders and reforming the sentencing framework.

The opportunity for feedback on this consultation document has now closed, and ESF-Works will bring you news as it emerges.