Justice and Women

Grant funded opportunity to advise the Weavers – closed

Application Process Closed

The process to select a team of experts to design an intervention which will deliver better outcomes for convicted women is now closed. This page will remain on the site for reference purposes.

About

Introduction

The London livery companies have been funding projects within the criminal justice sector for over fifty years. In 2030, the Worshipful Company of Weavers will celebrate both the livery movement being 900 years old and their support of the justice sector since 1973. To mark this anniversary, the Weavers have agreed to continue their support for the sector up to 2030, with plans including:

Funding a Justice for Women summit in January 2025 to consider alternatives to women in custody. To get more information on the Summit and apply for tickets, please visit: Collaborating to change the shape of justice for women (https://clinks.org/event/609)
Announcing the design phase of a major sector-identified proof-of-concept intervention that will tackle the challenges of women in custody
Implementation of the proof-of-concept intervention

Background

The Corston Review made clear that women who are sent to prison are more likely to reoffend. With the Labour Government making criminal justice a key area for reform, now is the right time to look at how new initiatives can be embedded for future success.

Custody is ineffective and leads to higher reoffending rates and greater family breakdown, whilst community interventions are often significantly more effective and deliver better outcomes for women and families.

Our plan is that the intervention will receive significant investment focused on tackling the issues of women in custody and specifically test an alternative approach which could then be scaled. It is recognised that work ‘upstream’ (i.e. early intervention and prevention) is invaluable in halting women’s progress into the justice system. This initiative will focus on community-based approaches that provide alternatives to custody and/or minimise offending post-custody.

The Weavers recognise that whilst they have a long history of supporting the criminal justice agenda they are not professionals. In order to develop an approach that will produce a case study for government scaling, they wish to be advised by a team of sectoral professionals.

Phase One – Justice for Women summit – 30^th January 2025, London: The Weavers have commissioned research to examine ‘problem solving approaches’ to women’s justice. Findings will be presented at the Summit in January 2025 to explore “where next” for justice for women. The event will bring together experts and key stakeholders to discuss how to end the imprisonment of women who would have better outcomes if their offending was addressed in other ways. The Summit will offer space for innovative thinking and networking to generate ideas for change.

Phase Two – Proof of concept intervention design – 2025-26: The Weavers are offering a grant for a team of experts to design an intervention which will deliver better outcomes for convicted women.

Phase Three -Proof of concept intervention implementation – 2026-28: The Weavers’ and partners will provide funding to implement and independently evaluate the model designed by the team. The output will be an evidence-based model that can be scaled up to achieve wider and sustainable impact.

Phase Two (detail)

Applications are invited from a team of experts to apply for a grant of £35K to develop a model that will be implemented and tested in Phase 3. The model could be implemented in one local area with potential to be scaled-up nationally in different contexts, and potentially adapted to other groups or environments if relevant (e.g. to support men).

The successful team will:

be experts in the field of criminal / social justice with specific experience in understanding and meeting the needs of women (including mothers) in the justice sector
be, or have access to experts in, the relevant fields to support the proposed model (eg housing, benefits, education, employment etc.)
demonstrate skills and experience in communicating and influencing at the highest level
be known to and networked across the sector
have (or can draw on) expertise in sentencing/probation, female justice, community sentences, accommodation/employment of offenders, offender management, government policy reform.
have relevant experience of building business plans, raising finance and developing evaluation models

We do not want to restrict thinking or to suggest specific models ourselves so are keeping guidance to a minimum. We also cannot give an exact figure as to the funding that will be available to implement the model. However, we recognise that the design will be dependent to some extent on the level of investment so we would indicate an amount upwards of £1mln.

Expected outputs

The main output from the team’s work will be a report that sets out;

a rationale for the proposed model and evidence that supports it (including drawing on the lived experience of women in the criminal justice sector)
a description of the model including who it targets, where it will be delivered, which agencies will be involved in delivery and how sentencers will be engaged
a draft business plan setting out the costs, investment approach and operating model
an evaluation plan that explains how the model will be tested
a summary making the case for investment in implementation of the model

How to Apply

Your application should outline draft terms of reference for the expert team and address the following points:

Who is leading the expert team
The proposed members with brief biographies and evidence of their expertise
Evidence of working together or other multidisciplinary teams
The specific roles each individual member will play and what elements of work will they lead
The guiding principles the expert team will apply in designing the initiative
How the team will draw on the government’s developing approach to women and criminal justice and how the model will contribute to the Justice Secretary’s stated aim of reducing the numbers of women sent to prison
The methods that will be employed by your expert team to design the initiative
How the lived experience of women involved in the criminal justice system will inform the work
Any particular cohorts of women the model will target
What methodology will be used to evaluate the model and how will evaluation be delivered

In addition, please address how your approach will:

Deliver a holistic approach to need
Be specific to the female estate, attractive to sentencers and be trauma informed
Potentially be applicable to the male estate (with adaptations as necessary)

In your application you do not need to put forward a specific intervention but rather give us the rationale for the team you are proposing and the approach you will take. The model/intervention itself will be identified and shaped following award of the grant.

As this is a strategic partnership we want to hear about the quality of your expert team, the specific individuals / consultants that will support this endeavour and their experience. This can be provided in any manner but should be of no more than 6 pages of A4 in 12pt and will be followed by a series of interviews. In addition, a simple administration form should be completed which can be found below.

Additional background material that is specific and relevant can be provided as appendices. Please note that material that is generic will be discounted. Applications should be emailed to: admin@weavers.org.uk and titled “<Name>_Female custody tender response”

Administration form for those applying for the grant to advise the Weavers

Evaluation criteria

Opportunity to design a ‘proof of concept intervention‘ that will tackle the challenges of female custody

The following questions from the opportunity will be assessed as per the evaluation criteria below:

be experts in the field of criminal / social justice with specific experience in understanding and meeting the needs of women (including mothers) in the justice sector
be, or have access to experts in, the relevant fields to support the proposed model (eg housing, benefits, education, employment etc.)
demonstrate skills and experience in communicating and influencing at the highest level
be known to and networked across the sector
have (or can draw on) expertise in sentencing/probation, female justice, community sentences, accommodation/employment of offenders, offender management, government policy reform.
have built business plans, raised finance and developed evaluation model

All the details are on the attached document.

Evaluation criteria_published_v1.0

FAQs

Is there a required number of participants for the team bid?

A team of between 6-8 core individuals is expected to be optimal with one individual/organisation acting as Prime. Additional consultants could be added to meet ad-hoc needs.

How are you expecting us to interact with the Weavers when shaping the intervention

This will be agreed with the selected team but roughly we would expect four to six face-face/hybrid core meetings in 2025 and 2026 with a number of supplementary online meetings.

Is there a budget?

The Weavers have earmarked an initial £35,000 budget to cover your costs during this shaping and business case phase. The development of the model will have a separate budget.

Is the winning team expected to deliver the intervention

That depends. It is not a requirement and it may be that the team in part/full will or will not be best placed to support the PoC intervention.

Are just the Weavers behind this initiative

The Weavers are the oldest livery company and are celebrating the movement’s 900 year history in 2030. The Weavers are spearheading this initiative but will be working with partners both inside and outside the livery once the PoC intervention is agreed.

What is the deadline for applications

Applications should be received by 23:59 on 31st March 2025.

We have a number of questions. Who should we send these to?

Questions should be emailed to admin@weavers.org.uk.