Willowdene Rehabilitation Service Evaluation
Task
The Female Offender Strategy recognises that women in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) are often more vulnerable, with distinct needs, and require tailored, community-based interventions to address their far-reaching needs. The Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) has a duty to align commissioning of local services with this strategy, to support victims and vulnerable women; this includes an appropriate range of effective, specialist services to divert them from custody and help them recovery regardless of situation or circumstance.
The OPCC in West Mercia funds two ‘Lots’ of accessible support at Willowdene Rehabilitation to ensure an appropriate range of specialist services:
Lot 1 - Willowdene’s Whole Systems Approach (WSA): Designed to support the integration of residential and day services in West Mercia into a Local Initiatives Nurturing Change (LINC) service, bringing together multi-agency services to provide an effective rehabilitative and diversionary pathway for women in or at risk of contact with the CJS. The LINC service is enabled through the WSA, supporting vulnerable women with access to gender-specific and trauma informed provisions.
Lot 2 - Willowdene’s Out of Court Referral (OOCR) Service: Developed to improve the integration of the WSA by expanding diversion options to enhance rehabilitation support, strengthening multi-agency collaboration further to address the complex needs of women in or at risk of contact with the CJS.
The contract for ‘Lot 1’ commenced on 24th February 2022 for a period of 3 years. The contract for ‘Lot 2’ commenced on 1st April 2023 for a period of 2 years.
West Mercia OPCC commissioned TONIC to independently evaluate the integration of the women’s services in West Mercia into a WSA. This included current residential and community support provided through the LINC service (Lot 1) and amalgamation of the OOCR service (Lot 2), evaluating provisions against the specifications and scope, to provide recommendations for the future commissioning of these services.
The aims of the project were informed by stakeholders and partners in the WSA. The evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of the WSA delivery model, focusing on the performance outcomes for each Lot, the impact of the services on service users and the local community, in addition to any gaps that currently exist and recommendations for how those may be filled. Reoffending rates were also assessed to determine the impact of the services on service users, as well as the wider economic and social cost savings associated with lowered offence rates, including those to the CJS.
Our Approach
TONIC used a mixed-methods approach, analysing quantitative performance and outcome data, alongside conducting 35 interviews and focus groups with service users (n=20), service provider staff and management (n=10) and West Mercia Police stakeholders (n=5). Reoffending analysis was conducted on a small cohort of women (n=54) referred through the OOCR, matched in a comparable analysis with a control group (n=67). Reoffending outcomes were complemented by an estimation of economic and social cost savings associated with any reductions in recidivism. All findings were triangulated and summarised within a report produced for the client.
Outcome
Quantitative performance and outcome data supplied by Willowdene was collated and analysed, indicating that overall, the main services were meeting targets established by the OPCC. High engagement rates with limited drop out and outcomes were generally positive across identified treatment needs. Monitoring and performance data reflected that Willowdene consistently met expectations and targets set for the various programmes. The one target that was not fully achieved by the LINC programme was referral numbers which were slightly below the intended outcome between 2023-2024, and 2024-2025.
Reoffending data provided interim evidence for positive outcomes for women referred into Willowdene’s OOCR service. Crime rates, frequency of offending, and time to first re-offence indicated improvements compared to pre-referral data and the matched control group, suggesting a positive impact on the engagement with Willowdene. Although it was reflected overall that reoffending rates were positively impacted by the service, it is important to note larger sample sizes would be needed to generalise the findings.
Cost benefit analysis estimated savings associated with the OOCR service and reduction in reoffending would alleviate the overall financial burden on the CJS, lowering costs associated with recorded crimes following referral. Comparative analyses indicated that the OOCR induced lower crime-related costs on average when matched with the control group, in addition to potential long-term savings across other public services.
Thematic analysis was utilised to explore and consider themes emerging across the collected qualitative data, using an inductive method. The services provided at Willowdene were well-known across West Mercia, with an excellent reputation for providing high-quality, gender-responsive support to vulnerable women, with strong working relationships with partnering agencies within rural communities. Overall the findings indicated that the impact of Willowdene’s services were significant and far-reaching, as the team were praised for their genuine and non-judgemental support. Feedback did highlight areas of consideration in relation to the new OOCR service, with a main area of improvement emphasised by stakeholders as the need to establish stronger partnerships with some Local Policing Areas (LPAs), as well as working more closely with the central police pathways team. There were several barriers identified by TONIC, extracted from overarching themes identified throughout interviews with service users and providers. These informed the actionable recommendations within the report.