Nacro's response to Breaking the Cycle Green Paper

Breaking the Cycle: Nacro’s response | 21Section 3Offenders into workQ15 How could we support the Department for Work and Pensions’ payment-by-results approach to get more offenders into work?Nacro supports the principle of payment by results. It will create financial incentives fororganisations that are able to prove they can reduce reoffending and offers the following:• Growth in the number of effective programmes which support offenders back to work.• A commitment to outcomes-based commissioning.• An opportunity for outcome-focused organisations to grow their work and their impact.The real benefits of payment by results come about when more than one social outcome isachieved and different government departments are able to realise the savings made from theinterventions in which they have jointly invested. This requires unprecedented levels of crossgovernmentworking and a complicated set of calculations to get the metrics right.Employment opportunities for offenders are central to their rehabilitation, so it is crucial that theMinistry of Justice keeps at the forefront of government minds the need for a commitment toprovide opportunities for offenders, some of whom have complex needs and are not instantlyjob ready.As Lipsey argues, employment is the biggest single most important factor in reducing offendingin young men, and is, in addition, a significant factor in helping reduce offending for all sectorsof the population. In addition, the costs of reoffending are alarmingly high. In 2002, the SocialExclusion Unit calculated the annual cost at £11 billion. 10 Other studies show that employmentoffers ‘an increase in structured time; an income which enables home leaving [for youngpeople] and the establishment of significant relationships; a legitimate identity; an increase inself-esteem; …financial security; daily interaction with non-offenders…and ambitions and goalssuch as promotion at work.’ 11 One of Nacro’s partners has commented that finding and keepingwork is dependent on having appropriate systems of support in place. These include positiverelationships, appropriate housing, help to overcome debt, and services to deal with healthproblems and to move away from drug and alcohol misuse. 12 Lipsey M (1995) ‘What do we learn from 400 research studies on the effectiveness of treatment with juveniledelinquents?’ In J. McGuire (Ed.) What Works: Reducing reoffending Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 63-7810 Social Exclusion Unit (2002) Reducing Reoffending by Ex-prisoners London: Social Exclusion Unit11 Farrall S (2002) Rethinking What Works With Offenders: Probation, social context and desistance from crimeDevon: Willan Publishing, p.14612 Working Links (2010) Prejudged – Tagged For Life: A research report into employer attitudes towardsex-offenders London: Working Links