The West Yorkshire Finding Independence (WY-FI) Education, Training and Employment (ETE) Team are pursuing a new partnership in collaboration with West Yorkshire Liaison and Diversion Service. 

The pilot will give the ETE team, which will continue to be delivered by Touchstone, the opportunity to continue supporting people with multiple needs, as part of the West Yorkshire Liaison and Diversion (L&D) service.

This service provides support for people in contact with the criminal justice system who have mental health, learning disability, substance misuse or other needs.

The multi-agency Liaison and Diversion Team, comprising specialist staff from West Yorkshire Police, women’s services, substance misuse services, youth justice and mental health services, works with people at various stages of their journeys through the criminal justice system. 

They will now have the option of obtaining specialist ETE opportunities and pathways into work. They’ll be referred to the former WY-FI team for ongoing one to one and group support, which is aimed at diverting them away from future contact with the criminal justice system.

Support will include the accredited Peer Mentor training that the ETE team developed during their time with WY-FI. There will also be new pathways created for people to progress towards a variety of volunteering and paid roles. 

WY-FI supported more than 400 people with a range of ETE needs between 2014 and 2020, as part of the National Lottery Community Fund’s Fulfilling Lives programme.

The pilot has created a great opportunity for the former WY-FI ETE team to be part of a lasting legacy for The WY-FI Project, ensuring that people in West Yorkshire with multiple needs continue to get the right support to achieve their education, training and employment goals.

‘Keeping a face for the world’ is a new report from West Yorkshire Finding Independence. The report focuses on women with multiple needs, considering how custodial sentences have affected women’s journeys through WY-FI. The report also considers how COVID-19 has influenced the recovery of women.

Read/download the Executive Summary report

Read/download the full report

The report recommendations that alternatives to prison should be prioritised, especially in the case of lesser offences or recall, where there is no threat to people. These alternatives gives women more opportunities to access community-based support to sustain their recovery and ensures the best possible outcomes for them. They also help to reduce the costs to public services, including the criminal justice system.

The report goes onto say that alternatives to prison should include a person-centred, trauma-informed, gender specific and multi-agency package of support. This is the approach that has underpinned WY-FI delivery in West Yorkshire, led by Multiple Needs Navigators alongside Peer Mentor support.

Mark Burns-Williamson, the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner in West Yorkshire says, ““I am very pleased and proud to be able to support this research work, which shines a light on how it feels to be a service user, and how our service delivery model needs to change.  I am already supporting work to ensure that those women most at risk of returning to prison, are offered an alternative, with a bespoke package of care and support in place for them. 

Mark goes onto say, “the criminal justice system in general requires reform, and this research provides fresh evidence of what Baroness Corston told us some years ago; that using a model of rehabilitation based on the needs of men, when we are treating women, can be catastrophic, and will continue to impact negatively on generations to come.”

WY-FI has based its report on detailed analysis of the experiences of 296 women whilst they were on caseload with the project. This analysis has looked in detail at their needs on entry into WY-FI, how long they were on caseload, the services they used in relation to their needs and their outcomes and exits.

The data and evidence used was gathered by WY-FI between June 2014 – May 2020, when it was providing direct support to more than 820 people with multiple needs from across West Yorkshire – 296 of these people were women.

The report also includes peer research, with members of the WY-FI network holding focus groups to gather insight on multiple needs, and in particular reoffending needs, amongst women.

‘Keeping a face for the world’ is the first in a series of reports that WY-FI s producing for the National Lottery Community Fund Fulfilling Lives Programme and the West Yorkshire Office of Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC).

West Yorkshire Finding Independence has contributed to the latest report from the Fulfilling Lives Evaluation Team at CFE, which has been released this week.

The report draws together the experiences and perspectives of staff in various roles at four Fulfilling Lives partnerships whose direct work supporting beneficiaries has come to an end. This includes WY-FI – our direct support ended on 31st May 2020.

The report covers the following areas of project close down:

• Internal planning and preparation
• External preparation and system change considerations
• Supporting beneficiaries through the transition

Visit the Fulfilling Lives Evaluation website for full listings of all the reports they’ve produced.