Lincolnshire Action Trust (LAT) has launched its first ever programme designed to address the specific needs of female offenders and help them achieve their full potential.

Over 40 people from within the criminal justice system, including representatives from the Probation Service, attended the launch today (Tuesday 23rd May) at Lincoln Drill Hall.

During the event Sandra Chatters, Director of the Humberside, Lincolnshire & North Yorkshire Community Rehabilitation Company (HLNY CRC), and Christina Hall, Director of Operations at Lincolnshire Action Trust, shared their vision for the service and discussed plans to expand it across the county.

Christina said: “Historically our community-based work has supported women affected by the imprisonment or prosecution of a partner, father or brother, so to be able to help female offenders through this funding partnership with HLNY CRC is a new and exciting opportunity for us.

“We’re really pleased to be working with HLNY CRC, whose aim is to manage offenders given community orders, suspended sentence orders or who are subject to prison sentences or licences.

“We share a vision to help offenders use their rehabilitation time effectively to gain new skills and repair their confidence so they can make a lasting change.”

The Women’s Services programme began establishing links with community centres across Lincolnshire in January 2017 and aims to support at least 200 women each year within their own communities.

“Two new members of staff have joined the LAT team to help us deliver this programme,” added Christina. “All four members of the team have extensive experience of working with families and women and are looking forward to making a positive impact on the lives of our clients.”

Thanks to funding from the HLNY CRC the LAT team will be addressing female offenders’ individual needs in group and one-to-one sessions held in community centres in Lincoln, Boston, Grantham, Gainsborough, Scunthorpe, Skegness and Grimsby.

Sessions will be tailored to the needs of the women in attendance and could include topics such as debt management, housing, mental health and positive relationships.

Christina added: “We really want to address the needs of the women we’re working with, so we’ll offer a range of sessions to enable them to voice their concerns and then provide support, guidance and reassurance to help them overcome these challenges.”

The service has been shaped by the publication of the Corston Report – a review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) Better Outcomes for Women Offenders report.

In 2007, the original Corston Report made 43 recommendations for specific areas in need of urgent attention and improvement. Baroness Corston’s overarching aim was to adopt “a distinctive, radically different, visibly led, strategic, proportionate, holistic, women-centred, integrated approach”.

For more information about Lincolnshire Action Trust and its women’s services please visit www.latcharity.org.uk.