Housing support for ex-offenders 'could save taxpayer thousands'
Lauren Higgs
Friday, February 25, 2011
Providing teenagers leaving custody with suitable housing could save the taxpayer almost 70,000 for each young person, research by Barnardo's has found.
But if every young offender were to receive the support they need, this could create savings of £67,000 per child.
The Barnardo’s report argues that suitable accommodation and support for young people leaving custody is crucial to achieving the government’s "rehabilitation revolution".
But the charity is warning that significant numbers of children as young as 13 are leaving custody without a safe place to live.
In 2009/10, Barnardo’s received 4,147 referrals asking it to help young people in custody. Within these referrals, housing came out as one of the top five concerns.
Barnardo’s is now calling on government to develop a cross-departmental action plan to make suitable accommodation for young people leaving custody an urgent priority.
Anne Marie Carrie, Barnardo’s chief executive, said young people leaving custody are all too easy to ignore.
"Young people who offend are among the most vulnerable; a quarter have special educational needs and almost a fifth have depression, yet children as young as 13 are sent back to families who can’t cope and end up without a safe place to live," she explained.
"The government is on the verge of a self-styled ‘rehabilitation revolution’ — but there are gaps in the Ministry of Justice’s plans which must be filled to ensure we do right by these children and society by bringing down crime levels.
"We don’t say this lightly, we are all too aware of the cuts being made across the UK in an effort to fight the effects on the economic crisis we are in, but surely, if ever there is a case for return on investment this is it."
