Interventions Alliance to provide new Ministry of Justice rehab services aimed at reducing reoffending across four English regions

Interventions Alliance will provide support to a number of the 89,000 offenders the probation service currently supervises across these regions each year. The contracts include education, training and employment, accommodation, and personal wellbeing support. The aim is to decrease offenders’ motivation to commit crime in future, boosting their chances of securing a job or finding a suitable place to live. 

Working with national criminal justice charities the Forward Trust and Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT) to deliver the new personal wellbeing support services in Kent and Cheshire, Interventions Alliance will look at the social care challenges that prevent offenders from making more progress on their rehabilitation journey. The focus will be on rebuilding their family ties, limiting the negative influence of their peers involved in crime, and engaging them in targeted pro-social activities. There will also be courses aimed at building offenders’ parenting skills and relationships with their children through the personal wellbeing contracts Interventions Alliance has secured.

Employment provides structure in an ex-offender’s life, helping them reintegrate back into society after exiting the criminal justice system, but many of these individuals face barriers to getting a job. The Department of Education reports that more than three in five (62%) people entering prison were assessed as having a reading age of 11 or lower—over three times higher than in the general adult population (15%). A YouGov survey commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions in 2016 found that half of employers automatically reject applicants with a criminal record.

In the year to March 2018, one in seven people who left prison were homeless. This increased to more than one in five people serving a prison sentence of less than six months. Finding suitable accommodation after release unlocks other important areas of an offender’s life that can hold them back from fulfilling their potential, such as finding work, accessing treatment for addictions and mental ill-health – all of which can further reduce an individual’s likelihood of reoffending. 

These new services will support the Government’s aim to address the £18.1 billion annual cost of reoffending each year as finding more offenders a job or a safe place to live can help to halve reoffending rates.

Suki Binning, the Group’s Chief Social Worker and Executive Director of Justice and Social Care at Interventions Alliance, said:

“At Interventions Alliance, we believe that no one should be left behind in the criminal justice system. These new services are an opportunity to deliver targeted interventions to improve the outcomes for offenders who are far too often overlooked by society. 

“Finding a job or a place to live are crucial steps forward as an ex-offender looks to rebuild their life after release. The truth is that many ex-offenders face barriers to making more progress as they continue on their rehabilitation journey.

“Some of the key factors that contribute to the reasons why people are trapped in a pattern of reoffending are poor social environments and poverty. Addressing these factors through targeted support helps individuals to turn a corner on their criminal past and benefits society in the long run.

“Promoting and protecting the wellbeing of ex-offenders, helping them rebuild family ties and new circles of support will provide more structure in their lives. This holistic approach has wide-ranging benefits for individuals, their families and society as a whole. We know the risk of becoming an offender starts early in life and is linked strongly with social exclusion and mental ill-health. The interventions we will provide not only reap health and social benefits for offenders’ families, but they will also be a positive step forward in helping to reduce the number of victims of crime in the future.”

Part of the employee-owned Seetec Group, Interventions Alliance is an evidence-led provider of public services, bridging the gap between the justice and social care sectors to build better futures and improve wellbeing. The organisation is experienced at supporting 19,100 offenders each year as they progress on their rehabilitation journeys through its four probation services in Wales and the South of England. 

Seetec Group, through its employability and health pillar (Seetec Pluss) has also just been awarded the Department for Work and Pensions Restart contract for South West England. This contract starting in June 2021, will empower 106,000 people over the next four years to break down any barriers that might be holding them back from finding employment. Restart is a brand-new government programme that will support thousands of people who have been out of work and claiming Universal Credit for at least 12 months to build confidence, skills and find work. It is part of the Government’s wider “Plan for Jobs”’ to help people who have lost their jobs because of COVID-19 to get back on the road to recovery.

ENDS

Notes to Editor 

Interventions Alliance will deliver the following commissioned rehabilitation services to the Probation Service in each region:

Find out how Interventions Alliance has helped to break the cycle of offending by a prolific offender by finding him a place to live here. You can also read how the service has helped a previously unemployed ex-offender to secure a construction job, here. 

Watch a short video about Interventions Alliance, here.

About Seetec 

Seetec is an employee-owned business group committed to supporting an economic and social recovery from COVID-19 that is built around the principles of inclusion and opportunity. Its vision is to create an inclusive society where individuals, employers and communities across all the regions of the UK and Ireland can thrive and fulfil their potential. 

Originally founded in 1984, Seetec is a leading provider of employment, skills, justice and social care services. In 2020, Seetec supported 125,000 people through its Employability and Health, Irish, Justice and Skills business divisions:

The business group currently holds an Ofsted inspection rating of ‘Good’, it is B Corp certified and has achieved the Gold Investors in People Award which only the top seven per cent of accredited organisations across the UK receive. With a workforce of over 2,500, it has an Employee Council and an Employee Trustee Director within its employee ownership structure, who support and work with the senior leadership to influence the direction of the business group which is committed to delivering first-class public and related commercial services.

For more information visit www.seetec.co.uk or follow Seetec on Twitter: @SeetecInspire

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