Clinks Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) Special Interest Group, has published a report on a ‘Whole Systems Approach’ for women in contact with the criminal justice system. The RR3 convenes Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to advise on specific areas of policy and practice as the need arises.

This SIG follows the establishment of the Women’s Justice Board (WJB) and was instituted in order to provide feedback to both bodies from the perspective of the voluntary sector working in criminal justice.

The report’s findings are based on consultation with 44 individuals drawn from both voluntary and statutory organisations with experience in supporting women through ‘whole system approaches’ (WSAs). The report also includes information from the MoJ on the 4 WSA pilots in an Annex to the report. A Rapid Evidence Review of the impact of women-specific WSAs is being conducted by the MoJ and findings from this will be published in the future.

The report defines an effective WSA for women as delivering gender-responsive, holistic support through joined-up local service provision, which is locally led; partnership-focused & evidence-based.

This report outlines its findings and recommendations in four main sections. Section One examines three WSAs and their common factors. Section Two explores additional critical success factors, as well as the challenges and barriers to delivering WSAs. Section Three highlights the importance of evaluation and impact, and Section Four provides collaboratively developed recommendations for effective WSA implementation.

The report recommends that the structure for a WSA should feature a lead organisation, with a clear co-ordination role to ensure effective communication and information sharing between all relevant agencies. It also emphasises accessible and streamlined data systems, combined with joint working arrangements across agencies.

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