Probation services

Tender description

The CFO Activity Hub Model has been designed to provide safe and supportive spaces for offenders to reintegrate into society. The Hubs and their respective operating model will enable programme participants to access tailored support, receive advice and guidance, interact with positive role models and peers at a similar stage of their resettlement journey, develop plans to move forward and ultimately be supported into education, employment and training, as well as importantly equipping them with the necessary skills needed to desist from offending and successfully contribute to their local communities. HMPPS CFO has secured additional European Social Fund monies to deliver further services to offenders considered furthest away from the labour market. HMPPS CFO existing ESF monies are used to support domestic priorities, as well as those of the ESF Operational Programme. The CFO Resettlement Hub programme will allow expansion of the CFO approach to delivery designed to maximise the benefits of available provision for offenders (particularly in the community). The CFO Resettlement Hub Model has been designed to provide safe and supportive spaces for offenders to reintegrate into society. The Hubs and their respective operating model will enable programme participants to access tailored support, receive advice and guidance, interact with positive role models and peers at a similar stage of their resettlement journey, develop plans to move forward and ultimately be supported into education, employment and training, as well as importantly equipping them with the necessary skills needed to desist from offending and successfully contribute to their local communities. In recognition of the difficulty of engaging with the target group, a programme of group activities centring on sports, media and arts and craft will be provided, which will both make the Hub somewhere where participants want to come and help them develop key team working and personal skills. The provision of these activities will allow providers to embed education and training in non-traditional ways, more likely to be successful with this cohort. The aim will be to translate this early engagement into a more sustainable interest and commitment to a more formal approach to education/skills provision. This in turn will be delivered via providers as required. The Hubs will operate in community locations throughout the country, with the exception of a pilot scheme focusing on veterans in custody which will initially operate in one prison in the North East EPA (The North East Contract and the veterans contract will run as separate competitions). The nature of the Hubs themselves will also require a collaborative approach and partnership involvement. The aim will be to become an integral part of local communities. The HMPPS CFO Resettlement Hub Model will focus on engagement of participants at risk of re-offending following release from custody, as well as those serving community sentences. Emphasis will be on effective targeting of the most appropriate participants, who are unlikely to benefit from other services as a result of facing complex barriers.