Investor Programme - Aim 3

Rehabilitation for Young Offenders

The aim is to provide young people who are or have been involved with the criminal justice system with a rehabilitation programme designed to obtain the skills, confidence and personal support networks to enable them to lead fulfilled and successful lives

The objectives of this aim are:

To promote services to enable young people in custody to obtain the life skills needed to lead a successful, fulfilled life
To encourage the development of stable family and other social networks to support young people leaving custody to lead a successful life
To promote services designed to assist young people leaving custody to access suitable services that address their housing, health, financial and other needs

There are more young people in custody than ever before, but instead of it acting as a deterrent, re-offending rates for this group are over 80%. Furthermore, children involved in crime by the age of 14yrs are more likely to become persistent offenders with long criminal records.

In England and Wales, there are over 3,200 people under 20 years of age in custody, at any one time, around 200 of whom are female
70% of young offenders re-offend within 12 months of release
70% of young offenders do not have key stage 1 literacy (that of a 7yrs old)
In Young Offenders Institutes, at least 25% of male detainees are fathers
Almost 80% of children and young people who offend are male
25% of female young offenders and 40% of male young offenders have reported suffering violence in the home. (source: Social Exclusion Unit Report: Reducing Re-offending by Ex-Prisoners, 2002)
Young black men are significantly over represented in custody
The average sentence length for a person aged 18-20yrs is 6 months
Offending by young people is at one of its lowest rates ever, but despite this, more young people are being sentenced to custody

The current system does not offer young people enough support when they leave custody to find an alternative to their offending behaviour. Young people need support, training, education and employment opportunities to give them access to a life away from crime.

The Investor Programme offers six selected charities long term, flexible, core funding with a grant of up to £150,000 over three years. The charities supported through Aim 3 of the Investor Programme are:

Addaction is a national charity supporting people affected by alcohol or substance abuse. The Nationwide Foundation is funding a transitional worker to deliver an age appropriate rehabilitation programme for offenders with substance misuse problems aged between 18 and 25yrs being released into the Newcastle area.

Construction Youth Trust helps young people who wish to enter the construction industry, but who face barriers to do so, to overcome those barriers and gain training and employment. The Nationwide Foundation is funding an innovative initiative. Working with corporate partners in the construction industry, the programme will provide work placements and employability training to young offenders. This experience coupled with the input from a support worker and an allocated 'buddy' will be invaluable in the rehabilitation of the young people supported.

Motiv8 South works with 1000 young people in Portsmouth and Hampshire each year to support them and offer access to better life chances, thereby helping to reduce offending and anti-social behaviour. The Nationwide Foundation is funding a project to develop a 'buddying' programme. Young people will take part in a volunteer training programme and will provide support to other young people who are leaving custody and returning to the Portsmouth area.

PEOPLE (Providing Ex-Offenders Positive Learning Environments) provides intensive support and training to prison leavers to help them have a successful transition back into their community and to help prevent them from re-offending. Funding from The Nationwide Foundation will enable the charity to provide an accredited education programme to young people in custody, a mentoring service to support offenders on their return to the community, and support and advice to the families of young offenders.

Safer Wales has a number of projects throughout Wales which work towards its aim that every member of the community should feel safe. With the funds from The Nationwide Foundation they will offer support to young people returning to Wales after leaving prison through the provision of mentors. The mentors will provide support and assistance with issues such as accommodation, substance abuse, basic life skills, anger management and more.

St Giles Trust prevents re-offending and improves community safety by enabling disadvantaged offenders and homeless people to build independent and successful lives, and contribute positively to their communities. The Nationwide Foundation is funding a peer mentoring project which trains young offenders in custody in Advice and Guidance NVQ Level 3 so that they can support other young offenders in custody, with issues such as housing.

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The Nationwide Foundation is a registered charity (no 1065552) and has limited liability being a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (no. 3451979). Registered office address: Nationwide House, Pipers Way, Swindon, SN38 1NW.
Site updated: 13 October 2008