More than £14 million has been invested into women's services in
the community as part of the government's Female Offender
Strategy and Delivery Plan, helping female offenders get clean,
move away from abusive relationships, and find work and stable
accommodation.
One year on since its launch, hundreds of female offenders have
been supported into employment after their release from prison –
up four per cent on the previous year.
Specialist services have also provided female offenders with
tailored mental health or drug treatment support. The number of
female offenders being sent to prison has reduced by over a
quarter since 2010.
This support is key to cutting crime as around one-third of
female offenders have a history of drug abuse and more than
three-fifths of women have experienced domestic abuse.
Prisons and Probation Minister, , said:
We know many female offenders have suffered trauma in their lives
or are battling addiction issues and it's key that we tackle
those underlying factors to help stop their offending and to make
positive choices about their futures.
Our approach is clearly working as the number of women serving
short sentences is falling and more women are now in work, giving
them the best chance to truly turn their backs on crime and keep
the public safe.
Tackling the root causes of female offending and providing women
with the specialist support they need is a key part of the
delivery plan, which aims to steer women away from prison. The
Government has completed over a third of the commitments since it
was published last year.
This is alongside the launch of a new Intensive Supervision Court
for women at Birmingham Magistrates' Court which uses a
problem-solving approach to divert low-level female offenders
away from short prison sentences.
The women sentenced through the court will have one-to-one
meetings with judges to track their progress as well as access to
wraparound multi-agency support to target the root causes of
their offending.
Without this wider support, around half of women who have been in
prison will go on to re-offend, hitting taxpayers in the pocket
to the tune of a total of £1.7 billion a year.
Willowdene Residential Women's Centre in Shropshire is one
organisation that is receiving nearly £690,000 in funding between
2022 and 2025 to continue their support for vulnerable women
through employment and life-skills training.
Matt Home, Director of the Willowdene Rehabilitation Centre,
said:
Our approach has demonstrated that when we focus on the reasons
why people commit crime or live a chaotic lifestyle then lives
are transformed.
The majority of women referred to Willowdene for committing an
offence are victims and we believe that if we can deal with the
trauma of their past then lives can be rebuilt - and that
everyone should have the opportunity to realise their full
potential.
Notes to editors
- the publication and the data
dashboard can be viewed on GOV.UK
- in 2022 to 2023, 233 women were employed at 6 months
post-release, compared to 164 in 2021 to 2022. This is the
highest the number has been since this data was first recorded in
2020
- over 250 mental health treatment requirements were undertaken
between April to June last year; an increase of 53.6% from the
same period in 2022
