Reoffending in Peterborough dropped since social impact bond pilot

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 1 Dec 2011

Local police in Peterborough, where the inaugural social impact bond is being piloted, say there have been lower incidences of reoffending in the area, according to a new report from Social Finance.

The report, The One* Service. A Year On, looks at the progress of the social impact bond pilot in Peterborough, and finds that anecdotally clients report better control over their lives, and that police have conveyed lower incidences of reoffending.

However, firm results for the project – which involves a coalition of charities working with newly-released short-sentence prisoners in the area to reduce re-offending, will not be available until the programme has been running for four years.

The programme aims to reduce the number of reconvictions among 3,000 short-sentence prisoners by 7.5 per cent over the period of the bond. Investors into the social impact bond will receive a return if the number of reconvictions falls by at least 7.5 per cent overall.

If the social impact bond delivers a drop in reoffending beyond 7.5 per cent, investors will receive an increasing return capped at a maximum of 13 per cent per year over an eight-year period. But if the 7.5 per cent target is not reached, the investors will get nothing back.

The One Service comprises a variety of interventions both pre- and post release, provided by organisations including the St Giles Trust, Ormiston Children and Families Trust, SOVA and YMCA. It is the only programme anywhere in the country that offers support to short-sentence prisoners after they are released from jail.

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.