Written evidence from the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Justice (SEO0033)

Introduction

1)      The Government is committed to supporting offenders into meaningful and lasting employment, including self-employment. Work is essential if prison-leavers are to break the cycle of offending, turn their lives around, and contribute positively to their community. Prison is an important part of justice, but it is in all of society’s interests that offenders are given a second chance. Only if this happens can we achieve full employment, improve life chances, and ensure that everyone in our society is able to fulfil their potential and aspirations.

2)      The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Ministry of Justice (MoJ) have a shared ambition to improve the employment prospects of offenders, including prisoners upon release, in England and Wales.[1]

3)      In his speech of 8 February 2016,[2] the Prime Minister outlined this Government’s plans for prison reform, developing a prison system that does not see prisoners as liabilities to be managed, but as potential assets, and supports them accordingly.

4)      The last Government reformed the system so that almost every offender will receive support when they leave prison to help them reintegrate back into society. This Government’s prison reforms will build on this, by addressing what can be done whilst offenders are in prison.

5)      Our focus on rehabilitation will help to cur reoffending so there is less crime on our streets. The Prime Minister said that there can be no “no-go areas” if we are to tackle the deepest social problems and extend life chances – and that this must include prisons, where social problems are most acute and life chances most absent.

Rationale for reform

6)      Our prison system needs reform. It fails to rehabilitate or make sure criminals are prevented from offending again. Currently, nearly half of adult prisoners are reconvicted within one year of release – and almost 60% for those serving under 12 months.[3]

7)      We need to change how we treat offenders and provide them with skills needed to become productive citizens. The Government intends to change the way that we run prisons, so there is an unremitting emphasis on rehabilitation and redemption. It wants prisons to be places of hard work, rigorous education and high ambition, with incentives for prisoners to learn and for prison staff to prioritise education and work.

8)      Supporting offenders into work is crucial for rehabilitation. Employment significantly reduces the chances of re-offending. Findings from the most recent data share between the MoJ, DWP and HM Revenue and Customs showed, based on P45 employment, a reduction in re-offending of 9.4% for those sentenced to less than 12 months imprisonment and 5.6% for those sentenced to more than 12 months[4].

9)      Work is essential for offenders to achieve independence and stability, and create real life chances for themselves and their families. At present, too few offenders (around a quarter) leave prison and go into a job; and ex-offenders make up a large proportion of those on benefits (around one in four out-of-work benefits are claimed by someone with a criminal conviction).[5]

Ensuring prisons are places of rehabilitation

10) One of the most important things we can do is to make sure that prisoners get the literacy and numeracy skills they need to make them employable and productive members of society once released. For those serving longer sentences, education, training and work is a key part of their rehabilitation.

11) There are approximately 86,000 adults currently in prison[6]. A 2005-06 survey estimated that 47% of prisoners had no school qualifications, including GCSEs.[7] It is therefore essential that while prisoners are in custody they receive effective education, including in literacy and numeracy, to help them become employable. The Justice Secretary has asked Dame Sally Coates[8] to lead a review of education in prison, investigating how quality and methods can be improved.

12) This will explore how we can significantly improve education for all prisoners, how the quality and methods of prison teaching can be improved including in classrooms and workshops, how prisoners can be encouraged to positively engage with learning, and the potential for employers to advise on the curriculum to ensure that prisons offer the right courses and qualifications to enable prisoners to secure jobs on release. Dame Sally’s report is expected to be published in spring 2016.

13) One plank of the report’s recommendations is to encourage more top graduates to teach in our prisons. David Laws, the former Education Minister, will be working with Dame Sally to establish a teach-first type social enterprise scheme to get the best graduates working as prison officers with a specific remit to support prisoners’ education.

14) The Government seeks to equip ex-offenders with the self-discipline, skills and qualifications tailored to jobs in the local and regional economy to help them make a success of life on the outside. As announced by the Prime Minister, the Civil Service will be “banning the box” and will not ask about criminal convictions at the initial application stage, aside from jobs with specific security requirements.

Modernising the prison estate

15) The current prison estate is overcrowded and out of date. £1.3billion is being invested to reform and modernise the prison estate to make it more efficient, safer and focused on supporting prisoner rehabilitation.

16) The Government will build nine new, modern prisons – five of which will open this Parliament – with better education facilities and other rehabilitative services, while selling ageing, inefficient prisons. The intention is to invest in a high-quality modern prison estate with appropriate facilities for learning, training and rehabilitation. Our new prisons will create the physical conditions for Governors to achieve better educational, training and rehabilitation outcomes.

Increased autonomy and freedoms

17) It is important that we put the tools to drive change in the hands of those at the frontline who know best what works. Governors will have more freedom to innovate, use evidence based solutions, alongside sharper incentives and more focused performance management to drive better outcomes.

18) One structural lever we will use to start making these changes is to create Reform Prisons, where the prison governors will be given freedom over budgets, staffing and their local relationships. They will be able to opt out of national contracts and services and choose their own suppliers - such as education providers - who they can then hold to account for the quality of the service provided. In addition, they will have much more freedom to tailor their own regimes - for example, deciding on additional visits to support family ties, or the amount of time spent doing purposeful activity.

19) Prisons will be measured against outcomes that matter, including employment outcomes for prisoners, reoffending levels as compared against a predicted rate, whether or not the offender went into permanent accommodation and their progress on basic literacy and key skills.

20) The involvement of the private and voluntary sectors in prisons has been one of the most important drivers of change in the prison system. The Government will ensure there is a strong role for businesses and charities in its prison reform programme.

21) As part of the work on devolution to local areas, there will be a move to look at devolving elements of the criminal justice system to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) and elected mayors. This agreement between the Government and the areas will make the commissioning of local services to support offenders more focused and relevant to the needs of the community in which the offender is released (as the services can be better tailored for the area by the area), further supporting the aims of the prison reform programme and governor autonomy.

22) An example of this is the Manchester Combined Authority[9] who through the recently announced Memorandum of Understanding have committed to “…work with the Government, the CRC (Community Rehabilitation Companies) and local prison governors to link adult education and skills training provision in the community with education provision in prisons”; Manchester have a combined Police and Crime Commissioner and elected mayor to oversee this.

Young Offenders

23) Reducing reoffending and improving outcomes for young people who have been in custody is a key priority for the MoJ. As announced by the Justice Secretary in September last year, Charlie Taylor[10] is conducting a review of the youth justice system. An interim report of emerging findings was published on 9 February.[11]

24) Education and skills should be at the heart of our approach to tackling youth offending and is a key focus of Charlie Taylor’s proposed new approach to custody. Improving the educational attainment and future employment prospects of children in custody is vital to successful rehabilitation and reducing reoffending.

How are prisoners helped to find employment?

25) The information provided in response to the Select Committee questions has been based on the current systems and structures that are in place to support offenders.

26) We recognise that this is not enough.  The Government believes that as well as punishment, prisons should become places of reform, where offenders can change their lives and turn away from a life of recidivism. Prisoners should be seen as potential assets, individuals who can contribute to society and give something back to aid their reconciliation with society.  Our reform agenda is about achieving that.

27) As the Prime Minister announced in his recent speech on prison reform, we need to put the tools to drive change in the hands of those at the frontline who know best what works. Prison governors need freedom to innovate and find better ways of rehabilitating offenders in a system geared towards innovation and local partnerships.

28) Reform Prisons will give prison governors the freedom to find better ways of rehabilitating offenders. We will begin these much needed changes by creating six Reform Prisons initially, with further change to follow.

29) Reform prisons will have one resource budget and discretion over how they spend it. They will be able to opt out of national contracts and services and choose their own suppliers - such as education and training providers - who they can then hold to account for the quality of the service provided.

30) And they will have much more freedom to tailor their own regimes - for example, deciding on additional visits to support family ties, the amount of time spent ‘out of cell’ doing purposeful activity or to work with local employers to develop tailored opportunities for their prisoners.

31) With greater freedom will come sharper accountability, so governors will be held to account for their prison’s performance. We will publish prison league tables so it will be transparent how each prison is performing, and to allow meaningful comparisons to be made between different prisons.  This will include measurement of employment outcomes for prisoners and and what progress was made on basic literacy and key skills.

Employment, Education and Training

Employment

32) Supporting prison-leavers into work is vital to rehabilitation and improving life chances. Gaining employment is associated with reduced reoffending.

33) All prisons currently provide opportunities for offenders to work and learn new skills which can help them find a job on release and support their rehabilitation. A number of training academies have been established where commercial businesses[12] provide the necessary skills and work experience to give prisoners real work experience and the offer of employment following release. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) also runs Prison ICT academies that provide prisoners with IT skills training including industry standard qualifications.

34) This work is frequently complimented by the voluntary sector who can bring specific skills, innovative approaches and strong links to business or potential employers.  For instance, Working Chance, working with women prisoners provides training and places staff with employers such as Virgin Trains.  In addition, the Clinks restaurant charity,[13] works in partnership with the MoJ operates projects that train and give practical skills to prisoners to aid their rehabilitation. There are currently four restaurants, enabling prisoners to learn, engage with the public and take their first steps towards a new life.

35) DWP Employment and Benefit Advisers (EBAs) – Jobcentre Plus staff working in prisons - provide employment advice to prisoners and work with local partners and employers to secure training, work experience and employment opportunities for prisoners during their sentence and on release. DWP has recently reviewed the EBA role, to bring about a greater focus on employment throughout custody, and a more standard approach with the flexibility to meet local need. DWP will start to phase in a new approach for EBAs from spring 2016.

36) The Government’s Work Programme[14] provides prison-leavers with the intensive and personalised support they need to find and stay in work following their release. Prison-leavers who claim Jobseeker’s Allowance and, in most cases, Universal Credit within 13 weeks of release are mandated onto the Work Programme immediately. Since 2012, over 8,000 prison-leavers have been helped into lasting employment through the Work Programme. An evaluation[15] of day one mandation of prison-leavers to the Work Programme was published by the DWP in 2014.

37) The Spending Review 2015 announced the introduction of a new Work and Health Programme in 2017, following the end of referrals to the existing Work Programme. DWP is currently developing eligibility criteria for the new Programme. The Department will ensure that ex-offenders continue to be given the right support to get into work as quickly as possible following release from prison.

38) Self-employment is an option for some prisoner leavers and the MoJ has piloted entrepreneurship training with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), to help prisoners develop business plans and skills in running their own businesses as well as offering access to the Start Up Loans Company where appropriate.

39) Prison-leavers who claim Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance or Income Support and have a viable business idea, can be supported by the New Enterprise Allowance[16] (NEA) to build a sustainable business. EBAs can refer prison-leavers to NEA support for business mentoring and financial support to help in the early stages of their business.

Employer engagement

40) The Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending[17] (EFFRR), chaired by James Timpson, is a group of around 200 employers who are committed to employing offenders. A series of Minister-led roadshows, in conjunction with EFFRR, in prisons across the country has led to additional employers coming to the table.

41) The Government is keen to use the experience of members of EFFRR and also of the members of the Business in the Community Reducing Re-offending Network to improve the offer from ONE3ONE Solution. To this end, MoJ is developing a Business Advisory Group from these businesses and from existing customers of ONE3ONE. In the first instance, MoJ will be seeking their views on ways in which we might review the ONE3ONE Solutions Code of Practice

42) DWP’s See Potential campaign,[18] launched in 2015, is persuading employers of the business and societal benefits of giving ex-offenders a chance of employment. The campaign has the support of around 100 employer organisations, who call on employers more widely to review their recruitment practices when it comes to ex-offenders.  

43) See Potential showcases the talents and skills of people from disadvantaged groups, including ex-offenders, through social and mainstream media, employer engagement and events. This activity highlights the advantages to other organisations of what can be achieved by tapping into a wider talent pool. A recent YouGov[19] survey on behalf of the Government found two thirds of employers have no concerns over ex-offenders’ skills.

44) The Government wants to work with businesses and professional bodies to help ensure ex-offenders are assessed on their merits and to encourage greater endorsement of the Business in the Community ‘Ban the Box’ campaign.[20]

Education

45) Currently, most education in prisons is delivered by the Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS)[21]. OLASS Phase 4[22] has run since 2012, is commissioned by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and delivered by three Further Education colleges and one training provider. The curriculum has a strong focus on vocational training and employability skills to get prisoners’ job ready. Over 100,000 prisoners participated in a broad range of education in the 2014/15 academic year.[23]

Vocational Training

46) The MoJ is working with DWP, OLASS and other providers (like the National Careers Service) to ensure that prisoners are trained, where possible, to meet identified skills gaps, including rail track maintenance and HGV driving. One3One Solutions[24] already trains many prisoners to industry standards, where an individual employer might need workers skilled in a particular area to address local shortages.

47) A gold standard for employment opportunities is where a business is prepared to train prisoners in custody, offer them opportunities on release on temporary licence (ROTL) and then into employment on release.

48) Dame Sally Coates review will look closely at education and training in prison to make sure that offender learning is focused on ensuring offenders study for quality qualifications that will give them the right skills to enter employment on release.

Resettlement Service

49) Twelve months ago radical reforms were made to the probation system, so that when offenders leave prison they are given the best possible support to reintegrate into society. Probation staff have worked hard to make transformation of rehabilitation successful, and we are hugely grateful to them for their dedication, commitment and professionalism.

50) As part of the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms,[25] the law was changed to enable those serving custodial sentences of less than 12 months to receive statutory support and supervision on release. As part of the probation reforms the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) deliver a ‘Through the Gate’ (TTG) resettlement service in prisons. These services have been in place since 1 May 2015 and include employment brokerage as well as accommodation retention and brokerage, finance and debt advice, and support for sex workers and victims of domestic abuse.

51) Whilst in custody and in the community, offenders can also access a range of services that can help with their rehabilitation such as specialist Offending Behaviour Programmes; education and vocational training; work experience; and appropriate health and substance misuse programmes. A central element of the TR reforms was giving the new probation providers the flexibility to innovate. This means that CRCs have the freedom to decide how and with whom they engage to help them to succeed in reducing reoffending.

Do the employment and education programs available in prisons prepare prisoners for formal employment?

52) Prisons report[26] that just over 26% of prisoners enter employment on release, while the percentage of prison-leavers with an education or training place to go to at the end of their sentence is reported to be just 16%. This leaves just under 60% leaving prison without  an identified employment or education or training outcome.

53) It is essential that what is taught or learned in prisons is relevant to employment and rehabilitation. Although there are some good examples of prisons and education providers delivering vocational training linked to labour gaps, both known and forecast, there still appears to be a significant amount of vocational education that is delivered without clear reference to the impact it will have on an individual’s future employment. This issue is being considered as part of Dame Sally Coates review.

54) The Government’s reforms – including consideration of Dame Sally Coates’ recommendations, devolution to local areas and greater autonomy for Prison Governors through Prison reform – will deliver support for prisoners that fully prepares them for work and maximises their chances of getting a job on release. 

55) Findings from the Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR) [27] survey showed that:

• 79% of prisoners were involved in some form of paid work during their sentence.
• Prisoners who were involved in work or vocational training during their sentence were more likely to be employed on release.

56) The importance of core employability skills, such as communication and reliability, as well as basic skills such as literacy, has been identified by research with employers who take on former offenders.[28]

57) Programmes focussed on employment are the largest category analysed through the MoJ Justice Data Lab[29] (82 analyses in total), with nearly a quarter (23%) of these results showing statistically significant reductions in the one year proven re-offending rate. Nearly a third (31%) showed statistically significant reductions in the frequency of re-offending.

58) Researchers have also concluded that employment programmes are unlikely to be effective unless they are combined with motivational, social, health and educational support services to help address other needs that may act as barriers to finding employment (for example, learning difficulties, mental illness and substance abuse).[30]

59) NOMS is introducing a change to the current CRC contract to enable the consistent and verifiable recording of interim resettlement outcomes. This is to ensure that the accommodation, employment and education status are recorded at the start of any sentence, as well as at the end of the sentence and the end of the licence supervision period, ensuring that the MoJ is able to track more effectively the impact of the support provided to an individual in enabling their rehabilitation. The previous mechanism for the recording of these outcomes was obtained through offender self-reporting, which proved to be unverifiable and so the process is being amended.

60) An evaluation of changes to prisoner learning (jointly commissioned by MoJ and BIS) is currently underway and considers the impact of OLASS Phase 3 (August 2009 to July 2012) and Phase 4 (from August 2012) provision. The full report is planned for publication in summer 2016.

What benefit payments are available on discharge from prison?

Support with transition from prison to work

61) The Government is committed to providing the right financial support for prison-leavers to get into work quickly and prevent re-offending. It is vital that ex-offenders have security and stability in the first few weeks after release, when many can be most vulnerable and prone to a relapse in their rehabilitation. Assistance with living costs – including housing - must go hand-in-hand with employment support to help prison-leavers turn their lives around and achieve long-term independence.  

62)    As part of the support EBAs provide on accessing training and employment opportunities, they advise prisoners on the most suitable benefits to support them as they prepare and look for work on release.

63) Since 2012, prison-leavers have been supported by EBAs, to make a claim for Jobseeker’s Allowance up to five weeks prior to being released from prison. This ensures that the claim is ready to be activated by DWP on day one of release so that financial support is in place on leaving. Prisoners can also be supported by EBAs to claim Employment and Support Allowance in advance of leaving prison, if applicable.

64) Prison-leavers eligible to claim Universal Credit currently do so immediately on release. DWP is exploring options for prison-leavers to make advance claims to Universal Credit once roll–out is complete. Prisoners entitled to Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit on release can apply for an advance of benefit to support them until their first scheduled payment.

65) Short-sentence prisoners in receipt of the Universal Credit Housing Element on entry to prison are able to keep their claim open for up to 26 weeks to prevent them being homeless on release. Housing Benefit claimants can remain entitled to help with their housing costs, as long as their sentence is not expected to exceed 13 weeks. For prisoners on remand, Housing Benefit support continues for 52 weeks.

Release from Custodial Estate

Discharge Grant

66) All eligible prisoners aged 18 or over, who have served more than 14 days in custody, after serving a custodial sentence receive a discharge grant of £46. The grant is not intended to provide for all the prisoner’s needs after release, but rather to assist them in the first few days, before they might reasonably be able to get a job or begin to access state benefits. 

Travel Warrant

67) All discharged prisoners are issued with a travel warrant or fares paid to their release address within the UK (incl. the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland) and are issued regardless of the prisoner’s eligibility for a discharge grant.

What support do offenders receive to help them find suitable accommodation on leaving prison?

68) The CRC TTG service includes accommodation retention and brokerage, finance and debt advice and is integral to the rehabilitation of offenders and can facilitate their access to other support services such as drug treatment or healthcare.

69) As a part of the reforms to probation services, MoJ has established a network of Resettlement Prisons to support the implementation of the TTG resettlement services. MoJ is supporting these services by ensuring that the vast majority of offenders are held in a prison designated to their home area at least twelve weeks prior to release.

70) Those offenders that are being managed by the National Probation Service (NPS) and are released from a non-resettlement prison will have their resettlement and rehabilitation needs assessed by the NPS Offender Manager who will decide how best to meet those needs. NPS can purchase services from a CRC, deliver the service themselves or make arrangements with another provider.

71) The MoJ provides guidance to CRCs and prison governors on the TTG services, including accommodation brokerage. MoJ monitor the CRC contracts rigorously.

72) The introduction of TTG resettlement services, as well as the enactment of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014[31] (ORA 2014) means that virtually every offender will be supervised for a minimum of 12 months, enabling probation services to promote engagement with identified resettlement needs.

How does benefit and employment support integrate with other services for ex-offenders?

73) EBAs are well placed to work with Governors, CRCs, Jobcentres, training providers, Local Enterprise Partnerships and employers to provide employment support and opportunities for prisoners. DWP’s EBA review will consider how to bring greater consistency to this partnership working, to help ensure continuous, integrated employment support from prisons and into the community.

74) The Offender Employment and Skill Board in NOMS has a focus and interest in ensuring that DWP, BIS and MoJ work collaboratively to support the integration of Community Rehabilitation Companies work to ensure effective outcomes for offenders. A key part of this is developing the effective use of partnerships to improve communications, and delivery of services that meet offenders’ needs.

75) The TTG services that CRCs are expected to provide in Resettlement Prisons are to identify immediate resettlement needs, provide services to try to meet those needs in custody by developing a resettlement plan and provide services in the mandated areas to meet need in custody and on release.

76) The Government is continuing to evaluate delivery of TTG services across England and Wales to make sure offenders are being appropriately supported on their return to the community.

Is there specific support for different groups such as young offenders and female offenders?

Women Offenders

77) The Women’s Custodial Estate Review[32] was published on 25 October 2013 and recommended that the women’s prison estate be reconfigured to make sure that women are held closer to home, with access to the right interventions, and with opportunities for meaningful resettlement, including enabling them to find appropriate employment both during and post custody.

78) As part of the review implementation, a 25 bed open unit at HMP Styal was opened outside of the perimeter fence in January 2015, focussed on helping female offenders into jobs on release. The purpose of the unit is to provide more opportunity for low-risk women to take greater control of their lives.

79) The Clink Restaurant opened at Styal[33] in April 2015, giving women the opportunity to train in a professional environment, achieving the required skills and qualifications to enhance their employment prospects upon their release within the hospitality industry.

80) Work was also commissioned following the review to develop and expand the opportunities for women to access paid and/or unpaid employment in the community, subject to eligibility and risk assessment and in line with revisions to ROTL policy. This is now business as usual and subject to monitoring through the Women’s Estate Governing Governor’s Meeting.

81) Peer mentoring programmes have been expanded across the women’s estate. Mentors will be able to enhance their employment opportunities through gaining a formal qualification and experience that supports the rehabilitation of other female prisoners.

82) All women prisons are designated as resettlement prisons and in recognition of the geographical challenges, the Through the Gate resettlement services have a different operating model to the men’s estate. All women prisons have a “host: lead provider”, which is usually the area in which the prison is situated or in some cases the CRC with the largest cohort of prisoners within the establishment, where they are different.

83) MoJ is working with local areas to encourage a more effective, multi-agency approach to address the often complex needs of female offenders, many of whom are some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged women in society.  Through early intervention and holistic support throughout a woman’s offender journey, including support to address training and employment needs where appropriate, the aim is to see fewer reoffending and serving short custodial sentences.

84) Recognition of the more complex needs of some female offenders has resulted in some prisons trialling new “Personal and Social Development” (PSD) programmes.  PSD provision is generally aimed at facilitating learners’ development of underpinning wider life and employability skills in areas such as confidence building, communication and problem solving.  Intended benefits of appropriately tailored PSD provision include increased engagement in learning and skills activities.

85) The CRC decides what specialist services they want provided, and who they want to provide those services. NOMS has produced a Good Practice Guide on Commissioning Services for Women[34] which has been shared with CRCs to help them make informed decisions about services for women offenders.

86) As part of prison reform we will look at alternative ways of dealing with women offenders with babies, including through tagging, problem-solving courts and alternative resettlement units.

Young Offenders

87) Resettlement planning should begin as early as possible and young people in custody receive a tailored sentence plan, based on an assessment of their needs, which puts in place interventions to help them to turn their lives around. This plan should follow the young person throughout their sentence. As part of their time in custody young people should receive a broad and balanced education, with the aim of allowing them to progress to further education, training or employment on release. 

88) Resettlement of young people is the responsibility of the Youth Offending Team[35] (YOT), the secure estate and the local authority. Maintaining strong links between services in custody and those in the community is key to successful resettlement.

89) Young offenders are supervised on release by their local YOT, a multi-agency team which is often embedded in the local authority. Intervention and support provided by a YOT may include assisting the young person to find employment, education or training or to access other services (housing young people who do not have suitable accommodation is the responsibility of the local authority, either Children’s Services or the Housing Authority, depending on the age and particular circumstances of the young person).

90) In recognition of the priority status of this cohort of young people who continue to show high rates of re-offending and face barriers to resettlement, the Youth Justice Board[36] (YJB) has established four resettlement consortia in high custody areas. The four consortia undertake work to address issues in their areas depending on the needs of their cohort and adopt a multi-agency working approach across the public and voluntary sectors.

91) To date this includes work to improve employment, training and education prospects, help to broker accommodation arrangements, health services for young offenders, and mentoring and life coaching (all four consortia have funded link workers for the four young offender institutions which help to support young people both in custody and in the community). The consortia also provide parenting and family interventions with the aim of helping young people to return to the family home.

92) As part of the Transforming Youth Custody Programme, in 2014, the YJB also established the Turn Around to Work programme in two high custody areas (London and Greater Manchester). This programme aims to support young people into work placement and training opportunities.

93) And we are doing more.  Charlie Taylor’s review of the youth justice system will look at what more we can do to better rehabilitate young offenders. 

94) Education should be at the heart of our approach to tackling youth offending. Improving the educational attainment and future employment prospects of children in custody is vital to successful rehabilitation and reducing reoffending.

Young Adult Offenders

95) In the criminal justice system, young adult offenders are currently primarily defined as 18 to 20 years old as the sentence of detention in a young offender institution captures this age group. It is also widely known and accepted that young adults, particularly males, are still maturing until the age of 25.

Male Offenders

96) The process for access to resettlement services for young adult male offenders is largely similar to that of the adult male estate. Once the Basic Custody Screening Tool is completed at a local resettlement prison the young adult offender will, if serving more than 12 months in custody, be transferred to a Young Offender Institution.

97) Those serving a sentence of more than 12 months in custody will be transferred to a resettlement prison 12 weeks before release, as in the adult male estate. If the offender is not transferred back to a resettlement prison to prepare for release, the Offender Manager will decide how best to meet their resettlement needs. All young adult prisons, except Aylesbury and Deerbolt, are designated as resettlement prisons.

Female Offenders

98) Access to resettlement services for young female offenders is largely similar to that of the adult female estate. Whilst the Basic Custody Screening Tool is completed with each offender on their reception to prison, all young female offenders are held in the adult female estate with older female offenders. All female prisons are resettlement prisons, where the Offender Manager will decide how best to meet each prisoner’s resettlement needs in preparation for release.

What are the impacts of factors such as homelessness and unemployment on the propensity to re-offend?

99) Evidence shows that both homelessness and unemployment are associated with greater propensity to re-offend:

Homelessness

• Offenders who reported being homeless prior to entering custody had higher rates of reoffending within one year of release from prison (79% compared to compared to 47% of prisoners who did not report being homeless). [37]
• Those who reported being homeless or living in temporary accommodation two months after release had higher rates of reoffending (approximately 66% went on to re-offend, compared with 51% of those living in stable accommodation).[38]

Unemployment

• Just over one in four respondents (28%) reported that they had been in paid employment at some point shortly after release from prison. Of those who reported being in employment after release, 39% went on to re-offend within a year, compared to 59% of those who had not secured employment.[39]
• A joint MoJ-DWP report showed that offenders who got P45 employment at some point in the year after being released from custody were less likely to re-offend than similar offenders who did not get P45 employment.[40]
• For custodial sentences of less than one year, the one year proven re-offending rate was 9.4 percentage points lower for those who found P45 employment after release than for the matched comparison group.
• For sentences lasting one year or more, the one year re-offending rate was 5.6 percentage points lower for those who found P45 employment than for the matched comparison group. [41]

April 2016