The Government are today publishing our “Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan”. The delivery plan sets out how the Government will deliver four overarching priorities to improve outcomes for women in, or at risk of contact with, the criminal justice system over the period 2022 to 2025:
Fewer women entering the justice system and reoffending;
Fewer women serving short custodial sentences with a greater proportion managed successfully in the community;
Better conditions that support rehabilitation for women in custody; and
Protecting the public through better outcomes for women on release.
The delivery plan includes specific and measurable commitments aimed at reducing women’s offending and reoffending, in turn making communities safer for the public. We will publish a “one year on” progress report on implementation of our delivery plan.
Effective community support is essential for women in, or at risk of contact with, the justice system, and the Government recognise the vital role played by the women’s community sector in supporting vulnerable women and helping to reduce their reoffending. On 1 September we announced that up to £24 million will be invested in women’s community services until 2025, through multi-year grant competitions. These grants will allow us to improve the sustainability of women’s services by meeting organisations’ core costs such as rent and utility bills, to improve the join up of local services, and to test and build our evidence base by investing in new or additional services or interventions.
The Government recognise that community sentences also play an important role in supporting women with complex needs, which often underlie their offending behaviour. While women who commit the most serious crimes will always be sent to prison, custody should be a last resort. A robust and effective community sentence delivers benefits to wider society as well as the individual. An effective community sentence means women will be less likely to lose their accommodation and employment, making it less likely that they will have to call on statutory services. An effective community sentence will enable them to receive targeted support to address their individual needs, reducing the likelihood of reoffending. Targeted community sentences can help to limit the disruption to women’s families, particularly their children, in turn helping to address the cycle of intergenerational offending. We are working with courts to raise awareness and increase understanding of the specific issues faced by women who offend, including piloting a women-specific problem-solving court.
Although the number of women in custody reduced by 24% between 2011 and 2021, we are committed to improving conditions for those women who do need to be in custody. We will be funding measures such as family engagement workers, additional support for women in their early days in custody and a social workers pilot with up to £14 million between 2022 and 2025 to improve outcomes, including reducing self-harm. The delivery plan will also highlight wider Government work on reducing reoffending through effective resettlement by focusing on what we know works: a home, a job and access to treatment for substance misuse, focusing on the particular issues that women face when seeking to address the causes of their offending.
Alongside this delivery plan, we are publishing two related progress reports on the Farmer review for women and on the national “Concordat on Women in or at risk of contact with the Criminal Justice System”. Outstanding commitments from both the Farmer review and the concordat will be taken forward under this delivery plan.
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