Influencing criminal justice policy

Introduction

Clinks' work has a significant focus on government policy, both at a national and local level, with two aims:

•    To keep members informed about, and engaged in, the development of criminal justice policy
•    To ensure that the voluntary sector’s role, knowledge and expertise in reducing reoffending is reflected in policy decisions.

Our members

Our policy messages are based on what voluntary organisations working in the criminal justice system tell us. The voluntary sector’s extensive knowledge and experience informs the basis of all our policy positions.
 
In turn, the intelligence we gather from the sector is based on what they observe and what the people they support tell them about how policy and practice affects their lives.
 
Many of our members use this knowledge and intelligence to inform their own policy influencing activity. We work with the sector to support them to do this, and in partnership with them to strengthen their voice.

If you would like to contribute to our work to influence the government look out for our consultation events and calls for evidence in our Light Lunch ebulletin.

Clinks thinks

Clinks Thinks sets out our key principles, ambitions and recommendations, developed in consultation with voluntary sector organisations. The principles are:

  • Strengthen the sector’s voice
  • Ensure the voluntary sector is sustainable
  • Make all services person-centred
  • Join up services
  • Involve people with lived experience at all levels
  • Reduce the prison population
  • Tackle racism
  • Prevent the imprisonment of children
  • Deliver an effective approach for young adults
  • Improve health and wellbeing
  • Implement an effective approach for women
  • Support people to to maintain and develop family and other significant relationships
  • Encourage creativity and inspiration

Read more about our ambitions and recommendations here.

What Clinks is doing

State of the Sector 2023

Our latest State of the Sector report reflects the views of organisations in the sector and provides a snapshot of the 2022/23 financial year. The report looks at the profile of the sector, its finances, its future, and the changes it wants to see from the government that wins the expected upcoming 2024 election.

This is the tenth year that Clinks has carried out research into how criminal justice voluntary organisations are faring.

Influencing government

We have strong relationships with government. This allows us to represent the views of voluntary organisations at a senior level. This relationship enables us to act as a critical friend to the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, as well as other departments whose policy has an impact on the lives of people in the criminal justice system. This includes Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Ministry of Health and Department for Work and Pensions.
 
To ensure we represent the voluntary sector effectively, we regularly consult our members and others by convening workshops, roundtables and conferences and through online calls for evidence.

We communicate our findings to key decision makers through informal and formal meetings, including evidence to parliamentary select committees, written responses to government consultations and independent policy reports.

Informing the sector

The policy landscape can change rapidly, making it difficult to keep abreast of everything that is taking place.

Our briefings support our members to digest significant developments quickly, indicate potential implications for the sector and assist in planning organisational responses.

Members also receive our monthly Policy briefing ebulletin, which includes important news and developments relating to policy affecting the voluntary sector and the criminal justice system as a whole, key research publications and interesting blogs. 

Showing your impact

Clinks is hosting a tool which aims to help voluntary organisations working in the criminal justice system to show their impact. The tool has been designed and built by Optimity Advisors with support from The Monument Trust. You can use the tool to generate a business case - simply answer a series of questions about your service or intervention, and it will generate a business case report which you can save as a PDF. It also has guidance and key considerations on how to show impact. Click here to get started.

Advising the Ministry of Justice

Clinks chairs and provides the secretariat for the voluntary sector advisory group to the Ministry of Justice.

RR3 logo

The Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) provides the key interface between the voluntary sector and the Ministry of Justice, in order to increase mutual understanding and build a strong and effective partnership. The group is made up of senior experts from the voluntary sector and meets quarterly with civil servants to provide guidance and feedback on MoJ policy developments. We’ve written a guide to the RR3, which gives more detail, its membership and key achievements. You can read the full terms of reference here.

To see the members of the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group, click here.

If you would like to discuss any specific areas of the RR3’s work, or how you can engage with the group’s activities, please contact Bronte Jack.

Keep informed

We publish the meeting notes of all RR3 meetings. You can also stay up-to-date with the activity of the RR3 by looking out for notes and announcements in Clinks’ Light Lunch ebulletin and monthly policy briefings. Click here to browse all of the RR3's publications.

Advisory group members

Visit our Meet the team page to see the members of the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group.

Join the advisory group

News about recruitment to the RR3 and to its Special Interest Groups will be posted on Clinks’ Jobs board. 

RR3 Special Interest Groups

We develop Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to advise on specific areas of policy and practice as the need arises.

Special Interest Group on Accommodation - March 2023 - March 2024

This SIG has been convened to explore the barriers to accessing accommodation faced by people leaving prison or people with criminal records. It follows on from a previous focus on this policy area, through the 2018 Special Interest Group on Accommodation (see the final paper from that group, here).

This group will seek to build an evidence base testifying to the following barriers in accessing accommodation:

  • Problems accessing temporary accommodation, suitable settled accommodation via homeless legislation or accessing a suitable social tenancy – including supply allocations and the benefit cap
  • Problems accessing the private rented sector (PRS), including Local Housing Allowance (LHA), guarantors, upfront costs and discrimination
  • Problems accessing adequate housing-related support – housing provided alongside, supervision or care to help people to live as independently as possible in the community.

Please see the group’s terms of reference, here.

Special Interest Group on Employment - March 2023 - March 2024

This SIG is working to develop solutions designed to boost the employment outcomes of people leaving prison, alongside exploring how to ensure that education provision and work in prisons are supporting people to thrive on their release into the community.

The group is focusing on (but is not limited to) the following:

  • Prison workshops
  • Prison pay
  • Employer engagement
  • Addressing complex needs
  • Service coordination

Please see the group’s terms of reference, here.

Special Interest Group on Commissioning - March 2023 - March 2024

This SIG has been brought together to focus on the re-tendering of the next generation of commissioned rehabilitative services (CRS) – known as core services.

The group is focusing on the following areas:

  • People-centred and outcome-driven services
  • Effective multi-agency delivery, access to data and information, and efficiency of processes
  • Building a robust supply chain incorporating the expertise of smaller, specialist organisations.

Please see the group’s terms of reference, here.

Special Interest Group on Staffing - December 2023 - March 2024

This SIG has been convened to explore the current staffing issues within the criminal justice system – across prison and probation services and the voluntary sector – and to develop the solutions needed to mitigate them.

The group is focusing on the following areas:

  • Recruitment and retention within both statutory organisations and the voluntary sector
  • Reducing burnout within the existing workforce
  • Exploring reward and incentive schemes for staff
  • Developing career pathways across the system
  • Encouraging and developing careers for people with lived experience
  • Understanding and offering solutions to ongoing vetting challenges

 

What's new

Blogs

Publications

Latest on X

Events

Why gender matters in the criminal justice system - 2 part workshop
Date
Monday 23 September
Location
Online
From
£95
Navigating the criminal justice system workshop
Date
Thursday 26 September
Location
Online
From
£75

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