Sue Ryder - one of 45 sharing in £11.1m Lottery funding

19 Jul 2012 12:09 PM

Palliative care provider Sue Ryder will expand its award-winning prisoner volunteer programme to help more former offenders break the cycle of offending through meaningful work in the voluntary sector.

The charity’s England-wide prisoner volunteer programme, which has already helped hundreds of people into formal job-specific training opportunities, is sharing in over £11.1 million from the Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Communities programme awarded to 45 projects recently.

Sue Ryder’s prisoner volunteer programme receives £207,722 which works with offenders and ex-offenders to help them become responsible, engaged members of the community breaking the cycle of offending whilst creating a more diverse pool of volunteers for the charity. The project purposely brings together people from different backgrounds and beliefs in a geographical area away from where the original crimes were committed with a focus on increasing toleration and integration.

Serving prisoners are released on day licence and matched to volunteer roles lasting three to six months to take up placements in Sue Ryder shops, care centres and offices. This enables offenders to give something back to the community whilst gaining vital skills for work and improving their confidence and self-esteem. Individuals will take on positions of trust and responsibility such as stocktaking and customer service with opportunities for training up to management level.

Sue Ryder aims to work with 600 individuals doubling the number of people it works with from 100 to 200 per year. In the last year 171 offenders worked in 55 Sue Ryder high street shops or offices and contributed over 825 volunteer hours each week. Figures from Sue Ryder indicate that one person prevented from re-offending can save the tax-payer up to £45,000 a year and ex-offenders are 13 times more likely to be unemployed than the rest of the population.

Sam Turner, Trust Fundraiser at Sue Ryder said: “We are all really thrilled with this grant, as it means we will be able to realise our ambition of expanding and developing our work with offenders. We’ve already seen how working in our shops, offices and care centres provides priceless work experience and the chance to give something back to the community. Now we will be able to offer much better all-round support, as well as helping people more than ever before.”

Phil Glover, 32, started volunteering at the Sue Ryder charity shop in Loughborough in October 2010 as part of his rehabilitation following a three year sentence. He was offered a job with Sue Ryder as an electrical P.A.T. tester and van driver covering the East Midlands area on his release. He said: “I think that schemes like the prisoner volunteer programme are really important for prisoners. It allows prisoners to gradually adjust again to the quick pace of life outside prison.

Phil continued, “I was really pleased when I was offered the chance to apply for a permanent position. I would have struggled to find a job straight way after my release. And in the future if I want to move on to a different job, it will be really important to be able to provide references to any potential volunteer.” Further case studies on Marilyn and Paul are available on request.

Also receiving funding recently is Cleft Lip and Palate Association which receives £284,881 to establish a volunteer network in three England regions - East, Midlands and South East  - to provide peer support to people affected and also raise awareness of the condition. A one year pilot project in the East of England showed 50% had said that the support had been very beneficial with 80% wanting to keep the support of their regional co-ordinator. It is expected that 600 people will attend the new local support groups.

Regional co-ordinators will deliver a volunteer programme to provide support to local people with the condition and their families particularly at key times such as at diagnosis or when they are having surgery. Established volunteers will also receive additional training to enable them to support parents of children affected by the condition and act as a named local contact for health professionals locally to whom they can refer parents for practical support.

Nat Sloane, Big Lottery Fund England Chair said: “Sue Ryder’s awarding winning ex-offender volunteer programme and essential new support for families through the Cleft Lip and Palate Association show the breadth of scale of how voluntary organisations benefit from Lottery funding enabling different communities to make significant changes to their daily lives. Since January BIG has already awarded £61.6 million through Reaching Communities.”

Full list of Reaching Communities’ July grants. 
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Further Information

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Notes to Editors