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NEON - National Equal Offenders Network

The National Equal Offender Network (NEON) represents the Equal DPs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland which are working exclusively with ex-offenders, each with different specific target groups or issues.

 

 

 

 

 

They are working collaboratively to share new learning and emerging best practice, exchange materials and expertise and to maximise the potential for dissemination and mainstreaming at a national and European level.

NEON has established a National Policy Reference Group, which includes all relevant national agencies and stakeholders, to ensure that the effective models and practices which are being developed by the projects are considered by policy makers.

Core Partners

EXODUS (lead partner SEEDA)
EXODUS aims to model good practice in anticipation of the implementation of Custody Plus and is developing an integrated induction and assessment process in custody to facilitate effective “through the gate” services.

Women into Work: Moving On (lead partner SOVA)
This project aims to identify and challenge barriers to employment, training and education for women who have experienced disadvantage, particularly through their experience of the Criminal Justice System.

Women Building Futures (lead partner SOVA)
This project if focussed on facilitating disadvantaged women, including ex-offenders, into employment sectors in which women are currently under-represented.  The project is building on the evidence from a previous project (Women into Work) to promote employment opportunities for women in the construction industry, ICT, arts and media and transport sectors. 

RESET (lead partner Rainer)
RESET aims to challenge and influence cross departmental government policy by re-engineering resettlement practice for imprisoned juveniles. Ultimately the aim is to enable young offenders to achieve sustainable integration in the labour market.

Unlocking Potential (lead partner South Wales Probation Area)
Unlocking Potential’s partnership brings together Probation Service, Prisons and Jobcentre Plus in South Wales along with the Welsh Development Agency, Welsh Assembly Government, Careers Advisers and other relevant employer and voluntary organisations.  The partnership is working to develop effective ways of working with employers and ex-offenders to “unlock potential” both in terms of meeting employers’ labour requirements and in order to improve ex-offenders’ opportunities to access the labour market.

IMPACT – Changing Directions (lead partner HMPS)
This project is focussed on barriers to self-employment for prisoners classified as either sex offenders or presenting “Risks to Children” and will involve an element of action research with approximately 75 prisoners serving sentences as either HMP Risley or HMP Wymott.  The project will include the trialling of intensive community based supervision, the development of risk assessment tools and work closely with the Police, National Probation Service and other relevant partners. 

IMPACT – Ascend (lead partner HMPS)
This project is focussed on ex-offenders from Black and Minority Ethnic communities, who are doubly disadvantaged in the labour market.  Ascend will tackle cultural and institutional barriers and issues facing BME ex-offenders by engaging community and voluntary sector organisations to deliver key resettlement objectives for the target group. 

IMPACT – Asset (lead partner HMPS)
This project is focussed on three categories of ex-offenders:

  • 16-21 year old adult males
  • 50+ year old males
  • 16-65 year old females

The project aims to prove that a multi-agency case management approach coupled with a holistic delivery model is key to place the target groups on an equal footing with regard to economic reintegration.  It will do this by engaging the voluntary sector to deliver key resettlement objectives, development of tools, methodologies and networks to enhance employability to test the support mechanisms needed to help the target groups to access the labour market.  It will also build links to employer groups to promote the business case for a diverse workforce and employment of ex-offenders.

Engage (lead partner National LSC)
The Engage Development Partnership aims to pilot and test a number of projects that will support offenders to increase their skills and improve their employability.  Led by the Learning and Skills Council, the organisation responsible for Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) in England, partners will build on basic skills (literacy and numeracy) tuition delivered in custodial settings to improve offenders motivation, skills, and links to employers which could ultimately lead to a positive employment outcome. 

Reachout (lead partner NIACRO)
This project, based in Northern Ireland, is building on the outcomes of a previous project (Personal Progression System) which focussed on pre-release employability training.  In the current project, the focus is on ex-offenders in the community and building links with employers with “hard to fill” vacancies.  The Reachout project will develop strategies that engage employers thereby ensuring that the demand side of the labour market is prepared to engage with the motivated, trained ex-offender.  This will take the form of customised training to employers who are referred by Business in the Community, and by the generation of work based training and placement opportunities for ex-offenders, based on models developed in the disability sector (incentives etc.).  This project is developing models of peer mentoring and works very closely with the Northern Ireland Prison Service and the Probation Board for Northern Ireland.

Ex-offender Policy forum, held in Poland

Ex-offender Policy forum, held in Poland played host to a number of UKGB Equal DPs, that sought to share their experiences of effective resettlement of offenders to a variety of policy makers from across Europe. The Prison Services IMPACT DP trailed its Portfolio of Achievement which was developed in collaboration with their French partners . The Portfolio of Achievement is effectively a highly detailed curriculum vitae. Specifically it is a simple method for recording achievements, qualifications, experience, aspirations and attitude and behaviour. The portfolio is aimed at employers, training providers and colleges , helping them to see steps that the offender has taken to being fully re-integrated back into the community. The policy forum provided delegates with the opportunity to explore the methodologies currently being used to support offenders across Europe and learning from the event will be seen as key in shaping policy that targets offender need directly.

For information on the Portfolio of Achievement please contact Francesca Emmett or Bill Spiby on 0044 1925 805238.

For further information on the policy forum please visit   and http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/equal/news/200703-offend_en.cfm

Products

Click here to read the activity report produced by NOMS – National Offender Management Service to demonstrate the range of work and shared learning of Development Partners using European funding to research, develop and pilot initiatives to reduce ex-offender re-offending.

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