Ex-Service personnel in the Criminal Justice System: Finding better ways to offer support through learning from our projects

November 4, 2020

In 2015, the Trust awarded £4.6 million to 14 projects under the Ex-Service Personnel in the Criminal Justice System Programme.

The programme sought to reduce reoffending and provide support to ex-Service personnel who had come into contact with the Criminal Justice System (CJS).

In 2018, we awarded a further seven continuation grants worth £1.1 million.

The projects and services funded under the programme are dedicated to helping identify and support ex-Service personnel throughout the various stages of the CJS, including custody, pre-sentencing, the point of sentence and post-release from custody.

Evaluating our impact

The Trust commissioned RAND Europe to evaluate this programme; exploring the impact of the programme and areas of good practice that have emerged from the funded projects.

Projects that focus on enacting system-wide changes within the CJS were found to be the most promising in terms of sustainability of impact. The report makes several recommendations to build on the learning from the projects funded through this programme. 

We invite you to watch a video summary of the of the evaluation’s findings, below.

You can also click to read the report.