St Giles

St Giles Trust enables disadvantaged people to maximise their potential. The Trust supports those who have multiple problems such as homelessness, poverty, unemployment, mental or physical health problems, disability, poor basic skills and addiction. They are among the most vulnerable and excluded members of society. We reach over 15,000 people a year across London, the South East, East Anglia, the Midlands and the South West. We currently have 20 projects in prisons focusing on homelessness, resettlement, education, employment and training. We also provide community-based housing, education and training projects that support homeless or at risk people to reintegrate into the community.

St Giles Trust runs a number of projects which contribute to providing homes and employment for people who are socially excluded:

PIANO
This is a Through the Gates-type service run with London Probation for London prisons and Wayland (although others might be included). It includes meet at the Gate activities delivered by a combination of paid staff and peer advisors, some 'in custody' job club delivery, delivery of advice and guidance NVQ level 3 in community with peer advisors and community recruitment of offenders who are economically inactive and providing learning and job search support for them.
  
Real Employment Project
REP is for 19-and-under London returners, and is being run jointly with Bovis, Springboard, Fairshare and Millwall FC. The project will deliver support into employment and training for 500 young ex-offenders, aged 18-19 years old. Delivery is based on our Through the Gates model within a multi-agency staff team including partners employer facing in focus. By involving agencies normally involved with ex-offenders once assessed as 'job ready' early in the resettlement plan it will provide with a package of support which is consistent, flexible and focused on specific employment goals. Participants will have a single point of contact through resettlement to employment; be able to taste different employment sectors within the same support package.
  
Keep It Moving (KIM)
KIM offers enhanced education, training, empoyment and resettlement support to reduce re-offending rates of young women from all boroughs in London. The project targets young women aged 15-19 year olds from London who are serving Community Orders or custodial sentences in Holloway and Downview Youth Offending Institution, supporting them into sustainable employment, education or vocational training opportunities.
  
WIRE
This is a Through the Gates-type service for female London returners with complex needs.

Daedelus
A partnership with Rathbone and St Mungo's, resettling young offenders from Feltham to LBs Southwark, Croydon and Lewisham.
  
Vigilance Bexley and Vigilance Redbridge
These are partnerships with Community Safety Teams and Police providing resettlement support to sub-prolific and other priority offenders engaged in burglary and robbery.
  
Southwark Inside Out
This gives Through the Gates-type support to HMP Brixton prisoners returning to LB Southwark.

Meet at the Gates
A long-running project providing Through-the-Gates-type support to prisoners returning to London, either on or off Probation supervision. Much of our most effective work is done by projects using a 'Through the Gates' model. St Giles Trust pioneered this approach in 2006 and has run a number of projects of this kind since then. Essentially, the model involves community-based workers meeting released prisoners either at the prison gate as soon as they are released, or at an agreed transport hub such as a railway station. The worker then helps and supports her/his client to achieve whatever is necessary to begin their resettlement, for example:

  • Securing accommodation, initially at temporary address if necessary
  • Attendance at probation appointments
  • Help to claim welfare benefits
  • Help to start on ETE outcomes
  • Referral and accompanying to other specialist services.

Five features of this approach:

  • Many of the staff on our community-based projects have been trained as 'Peer Advisers' while in prison, enabling them to deliver a housing advice service to other prisoners. This increases our capacity to deliver good quality advice to prisoners, whilst the fact that advice workers are themselves prisoners can give them greater credibility amongst those they are helping.
  • Once released, former Peer Advisers are in a much better position than they would otherwise be to obtain full-time work, with a consequent reduction in re-offending.
    Former prisoners often become the most effective mentors for other newly-released prisoners; they are able to relate well to others who have had similar experiences, and achieve good resettlement outcomes, again reducing re-offending rates.
  • Our caseworkers are very successful in accessing accommodation through persistent advocacy for clients going through homelessness applications or seeking supported housing. We also have a dedicated private sector housing worker who finds and supports landlords as a separate function to community-based caseworkers who support their clients.
  • Our caseworkers have access to in-house second-tier support in their work on accessing housing, welfare benefits and other help for clients. They also receive good quality information and training.

St Giles Trust recently closed its Through the Gates project in London. This highly successful project, operated in partnership with London Probation, was the subject of a recent independent evaluation. 

There is more information on the St Giles website at www.stgilestrust.org.uk