Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Rejected
Ensure acquitted individuals receive resettlement support, accommodation assistance, and discharge grants.
Recommendation
It is simply wrong that those who are remanded to custody, potentially for long periods of time, and are then acquitted, have no entitlement to resettlement support. Although they may not fall technically within the responsibility of probation services, the Government must nevertheless find a way to ensure acquitted individuals are supported to return to the community in a way that is at least equivalent to those who are released having served a custodial sentence. As a minimum, they should be assisted in finding temporary accommodation following their release and be entitled to the same discharge grant as those who are sentenced and then released. The renegotiation of accommodation support contracts would appear to be a good opportunity to consider how similar support can be given to those who are acquitted. We would therefore like to see progress in relation to this matter by April 2023, the target date the Ministry gave us for the renegotiation of support contracts. This issue is now all the more acute because of the increase in time that defendants are spending on remand and the increased adverse consequences for them that accompany this. (Paragraph 111) 46 The role of adult custodial remand in the criminal justice system Alternatives to custodial remand
Government response summary AI-generated
The government explicitly rejected the recommendation, explaining that comprehensive guidance on bail conditions already exists in the Adult Court Bench Book and that a new framework would risk complicating the process, without addressing resettlement support for acquitted individuals.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government · verbatim extract
Rejected
We partially accept this recommendation. There is a range of support provided to those acquitted who are returning to the community. Those held on remand in custody will receive immediate needs and pre-release support from the pre-release teams (PRT) in prison to assist them in returning to the community. PRTs embedded in reception prisons screen and identify immediate resettlement needs and provide pre-release support for all people in prison, including those who are unsentenced. This includes signposting to specialist services, support sustaining tenancies and providing low complexity support for finance, benefit and debt. The legal obligation to support people into accommodation comes under the statutory requirements of local authorities. Pre-release teams will therefore submit referrals on the day of acquittal to the appropriate local authority for statutory housing support for those at risk of becoming homeless on release. Resettlement information and guidance is also available on discharge from custody, which includes advice and contact details for national support services once they have returned to the community. However, given the issues raised by the JSC, we recognise that we need to explore the challenges faced by this cohort in greater depth. To do this, we will consider the eligibility of those on remand for the subsistence payment as part of the wider review of the discharge policy, as well as consider the potential applicability of the resettlement passports currently in development. We will also investigate options to provide short- term temporary accommodation support for those acquitted, distinct from the provision provided to sentenced individuals. We will review the findings from the short trial that was recently launched at HMP Wandsworth to test improved peer and employment support for those on remand whilst in prison, and capture more accurate data on needs and support, in order to inform considerations of what future support could look like. The findings from these reviews will be used to inform future decisions on possible further investment around resettlement support for those acquitted. Alternatives to custodial remand
Read the full response on Parliament ↗