The Female Offender Strategy (June 2018) launches a new programme of work to improve outcomes for female offenders and make society safer by tackling the underlying causes of offending.

The strategy sets out our vision that custody should be a last resort, reserved for the most serious offences. It makes clear that, where appropriate, women should be given the support they need to address their offending behaviour in community settings, and that early intervention is essential to reduce the number of women entering the justice system. By taking a gender-informed approach, we want to improve the outcomes for female offenders at all points of the system.

We will deliver this vision by:

empowering local areas to build on the early success of models such as the multi-agency, whole system approach (WSA), to meet the needs of female offenders and women at risk of offending

a focus on partnership working, with a joined-up approach across government at a national level and between agencies and services at a local level to deliver a holistic response

an evidence-based approach to what works, and pilots to test potential solutions and to ensure scalability

For more information about the £3.5m Female Offender Community Investments Fund competition launched alongside our Female Offender Strategy, please see details on the Bravo e-Sourcing portal https://ministryofjusticecommercial.bravosolution.co.uk under reference ITT 2020. Applications close on 12 September 2018.