In February 2010, the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition and the Ministry of Justice announced the creation of a joint £2m fund to divert women from custody.

The Women’s Diversionary Fund focuses on:
- Supporting organisations to develop new community diversionary services for women offenders and women at risk of offending
- Building the capacity of existing women’s community diversionary services further
- Building the capacity of the women’s community diversionary sector

Grants made in the first round of the Women’s Diversionary Fund, in April 2010, can be accessed here. Grants made in the second round, in August 2010, can be accessed here.

In the final round of awards, the projects supported, by theme, were:

Service development
Ormiston Children and Families Trust – to develop an early intervention service and one-stop-shop for women offenders and their children in Ipswich
Tees Valley Women’s Centre – a small grant to enable the centre to develop a proposal for a one-stop-shop service, Teeside
Female Prisoners’ Welfare Project (Hibiscus) – to develop a service for Roma women in London

Building the capacity of organisations delivering women’s community diversionary services
New Economics Foundation (NEF), Brighton Women’s Centre, Escape Family Support, Women@theWell, The Trust Women’s Project and Turning Point Women’s Centre – to enable five one-stop-shop centres to carry out a Social Return on Investment (SROI) study of their work, supported by NEF

Building the capacity of the women’s community diversionary sector
Women’s Centres Forum – two grants to enable the project to begin to realise its role at the centre of the agenda for women in the criminal justice system or at risk of offending, representing and supporting women-centred community-based provision

Please contact Antonia Bance at the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition with any queries about the Women’s Diversionary Fund. Please note that the fund is not accepting applications, so please do not contact us seeking funding.

In February 2010, the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition and the Ministry of Justice announced the creation of a joint £2m fund to divert women from custody.
The Women’s Diversionary Fund focuses on:
- Supporting organisations to develop new one-stop-shop services for women offenders
- Developing existing one-stop-shop services further
- Building the capacity of the women’s offending sector

Grants made in the first round of the Women’s Diversionary Fund, in April 2010, can be accessed here.

In the second round of grants in July 2010, the projects supported, by theme, were:

New one-stop-shop services
Safe Exit Toynbee Hall – to provide a supportive alternative to the criminal justice system for women involved in prostitution in the Olympic Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham, Greenwich and Waltham Forest
Together Working for Wellbeing – to provide a women-specific Forensic Mental Health Practitioner service at Thames Magistrates Court serving the London boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, to help reduce the use of custody for vulnerable women offenders with mental health needs.
Together Women Yorkshire and Humberside – to support the newly opened Women’s Centre in Sheffield, a venture developed in collaboration with South Yorkshire Probation and the police.

Development and capacity-building of existing one-stop-shop services
Derby Women’s Work – towards the costs of a business development manager and casework database
Turning Point Women’s Centre, Leicester – towards the costs of evaluation and demonstration of impact
The Trust Women’s Project, Lambeth – towards the costs of workforce development, data gathering and financial planning
Women@theWell, Camden – towards the costs of consultancy to develop a three-year business plan and funding strategy
Escape Family Support, Northumberland – towards the costs of an external evaluation and for consultancy to support the Support for Women Around Northumberland (SWAN) partners to develop a 3-5 year business plan
Brighton Women’s Centre – towards the costs of consultancy support to develop a sustainability strategy, to implement a quality assurance system and to develop relationships with local commissioners
Anawim, Birmingham – towards the costs of quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation and infrastructure development
Asha, Worcester – towards the costs of consultancy support to review governance and strategic development plans and for fundraising training and support

Building the capacity of the women offenders’ sector
Homeless Link – to set-up and maintain for three years a UK-wide database of women offenders’ provision

Please contact Antonia Bance at the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition with any queries about the Women’s Diversionary Fund. Please note that the fund is not accepting applications, so please do not contact us seeking funding.

The Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition is very pleased to note the new government’s commitment to the Corston report’s recommendations. Asked in Parliament on 20th July 2010 about the effectiveness of short prison sentences for women offenders, the new Prisons Minister, Crispin Blunt, replied:

Short sentences for men have proved pretty ineffective, and I think that short sentences for women are even more ineffective and deleterious. We support the conclusions of the Corston report, we are conducting an analysis of the effectiveness of different sentences as part of the current sentencing review, we are committed to reducing the number of women in prison, and a network of women-only community provision is being developed to support robust community sentences.

In 2009, the Ministry of Justice allocated over £15m to develop a range of services to divert women from custody – that is welcome (if funding is sustained) but it is loose change compared with the cost of keeping a growing number incarcerated at a price of £41,00 per year, per prisoner. If community-based punishment and a reduction in recidivism is to be achieved, that requires a proper investment with a view to the long-term savings not a cheap-rate move driven by cuts. Reducing the prison-building programme while offering inadequate community punishments and insufficient support to step through a door to a different life may put the public at risk, while exacerbating reoffending and setting penal reform back even further.

In February 2010, the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition and the Ministry of Justice announced the creation of a joint £2m fund to divert women from custody. The Women’s Diversionary Fund focuses on:
- Supporting organisations to develop new one-stop-shop services for women offenders
- Developing existing one-stop-shop services further
- Building the capacity of the women’s offending sector

The projects supported are:
Nottingham Women’s Centre – to develop the centre’s services and diversionary activities for women offenders
Advance – to fund a criminal justice worker for its Minerva women offenders’ project in Brent and Hammersmith & Fulham
The Relationships Centre – to develop their services for women offenders at Halton Women’s Centre
Novas Scarman Group – to provide a court and outreach service for women offenders in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire
One25 – to fund a criminal justice caseworker to work with female street sex workers in Bristol
YWCA England & Wales – to develop their services for women offenders in Cornwall
Hafan Cymru – to expand its work with young women offenders in Powys and Ceredigion
Clean Break – to expand its work with women offenders in London
The Women’s Centre Forum (grant held by WomenCentre Ltd) – to develop and independent national forum for diversionary and community services for women offenders and women at risk of offending.