Nepacs annual review 2021/22

Annual Review 2021 - 2022

Nepacs – What we do

Our values Our aims

Welcoming Respectful Supportive Positive

Trustworthy

Support and assist prisoners, families and friends of prisoners in their visits to the prison and in their life outside the prison

Ensure that children visiting relatives in prison will feel welcome and find the experience as pleasant as possible

Relieve hardship due to the poverty of some offenders and their families

Support the education and training of offenders, and other processes which may assist their rehabilitation

Raise public awareness through the collection and publication of information relating to criminal justice matters and to the prevention of crime.

Our mission

To support prisoners and ex-prisoners, their families and friends; to reduce the impact and stigma of imprisonment on their lives and contribute to the positive rehabilitation of offenders.

Message from the Chief Executive

It is with a huge sense of pride that I reflect on the last 12 months with Nepacs. Surviving an unprecedented, global pandemic is one thing, but to re-emerge as a thriving organisation is something else. And I believe it is something of which we can all be extremely proud.

Nepacs has maintained a strong, stable and viable position, despite the immense challenges we have faced. We have achieved this through our hard work, careful management and by seeking new ventures and business growth.

We have grasped opportunities with both hands and have been successful in our endeavours to deliver new services to reach more people. Our telephone befriending service was a particular success, giving us the opportunity to support people affected by isolation and loneliness as a result of the pandemic. We also expanded our offer for care experienced young men, supporting them not only in custody but upon release and into the community.

And, our successful application for the Ministry of Justice women’s grant has given us support with core costs, helping us to build on our expertise in shaping services for women.

We could not have achieved any of this without the support and commitment from our staff and volunteers –Nepacs’ very own heroes.

More than ever, we are grateful for the resilience staff and volunteers have shown, often putting the individuals and families we support ahead of themselves in order to deliver services in the most challenging of circumstances. Their passion and drive has really shone through, as has their innovation and creativity, always finding ways to deliver support in unique and inventive ways. Despite feeling weary and change fatigued at times, our team has continued to shine and we were fortunate to have been able to celebrate key achievements through our awards schemes.

Despite an extremely challenging year we are proud to have always remained Welcoming, Respectful, Supportive, Positive and Trustworthy. These values provide us with a constant, sound reminder of who we are. And as we move into the next exciting chapter of our history, our 140th year, they will surely guide us as we overcome the fresh challenges we face and as we strive to reach out to more people needing our help.

Amanda Lacey Chief executive

Our trustees

Patron Right Reverend Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham Ruth Cranfield

President Professor Stuart Corbridge, Vice Chancellor & Warden, Durham University

Vice Presidents Roger Statham The Baroness Maeve Sherlock OBE

Chairman’s report

As we emerge from the worst of the Covid pandemic I am pleased to report that Nepacs remains on a firm foundation. As for most charities it has been a challenging period for Nepacs, most especially in terms of continuing to deliver effective services to prisoners and their families. Visitors centres remained closed for a big part of the year and prisoners locked down for much of the time.

We remain deeply concerned about the plight of prisoners and their families. It seems self-evident to us that personal contact remains at the heart of preserving and strengthening family relationships. Digital solutions are obviously helpful at times like these but are not an answer for most people. We decided it was important to reinforce the importance of restarting prison visits for families and children. The overwhelming majority of people we surveyed confirmed how important it was to meet face to face, especially for children. A significant number of families didn’t have access to the equipment, skills or web access to use the new video call

service that has been developed. For men and women with young children they are missing a key time for the establishment and development of their long term relationships.

We have worked to find innovative ways to support families to keep in touch and to provide the caring environment of our visitor centres. I am always proud of the ways in which our staff and volunteers have worked to overcome problems and find new ways of working.

We continue to fundraise effectively to sustain our existing work and to offer exciting new solutions to the problems that face the criminal justice system. I am convinced that without our efforts the lives of people facing deprivation, destitution, isolation and family breakdown would be a lot worse.

However we desperately need the government to recognise just what a train wreck the criminal justice system is becoming. Long waits for trial and indefinite and lengthy remands in custody cause extreme stress for families. Inadequate legal representation, poorly resourced prisons and inadequate child support services are not things that Nepacs can compensate for, even with the best will in the world.

We’re here to stay and committed to helping but we need a government able to govern and committed to addressing the causes of crime.

Mark Weeding Chair

Board of Trustees 2021/22

Chair – Mark Weeding

Vice Chair – Jenny Mooney

Acting Treasurer –Sareth Nainby-Luxmoore

Secretary

Membership

- Margaret Smith

Secretary - Linda Lovell

David Abrahams

Jim Black

Rev Katherine Brooke

Russell Bruce – resigned 12 October 2021

Kath Ogilvie

Sheila Seacroft

Margaret Stockdale Elizabeth Thompson

Support at courts

After a 17 month gap caused by the pandemic, the Nepacs support at court service were able to return to the three north east crown courts in September 2021.

892

people supported at court, Sept to March 2022

Our support at court coordinator spent the first month reestablishing contact with court delivery managers, probation, and the liaison and diversion teams. It initially proved difficult to re-establish the project to pre pandemic levels, with government restrictions still in place, and the need to recruit and train volunteers a priority.

The project gradually started to rebuild and by end March 2022 there were volunteers available at least two to three times a week at Teesside and Newcastle, and once a week at Durham Crown Court. Unfortunately our ability to support families at court continues to be impacted by changes that came about during Covid, as allocation of appointment times means that our volunteers now have limited time to identify and offer support to defendants and their loved ones prior to hearings.

Our support at courts service has however successfully developed excellent partnership working with the Nepacs helpline and prison based early days in custody family support workers at HMPs Durham and Low Newton. This has enhanced our ability to support individuals and loved ones at a much earlier stage of the criminal justice system, and has had a positive impact on improving contact in the first few weeks of custody in prison.

The project also continues to provide support at an early stage to families impacted by a Police investigation through the Paedophile Online Investigation Team [POLIT] in Cleveland - these families are in very much need of support and of someone to

talk to at a very difficult and unpredictable time. We hope to see this service replicated in the Northumbria area from summer 2022.

The Nepacs court project would like to thank the Courts staff, probation and liaison and diversion services for their continued support throughout the pandemic in handing out information packs and directing service users to Nepacs, during our physical absence from the courts.

We would also like to thank Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for their understanding during the pandemic and for funding the project from a pilot scheme in 2013 through to 2022.

“I really cannot thank you enough and can say hand on heart I really don’t know how I would’ve gotten through things without the support from you and Nepacs thank you so much. For someone like me and my family with absolutely zero experience of being on the wrong side of the criminal justice system your support was invaluable and it was without a doubt a comfort to my family that there was someone they could go to with questions or for help navigating the system.”

Northumbria PCC Kim McGuinness visited our team in Newcastle Crown Court on 1 December 2021

Early days in custody project

The early days in custody project has had continued success in year two. Our prison based work and the helpline for families were recognised by Nepacs and prison staff, and the feedback from recent HMIP reports demonstrates the significant impact this project is making to prisoners and their families or significant others.

At HMP Durham the project has built on its success in the prison, and has gained the reputation as the ‘go to’ specialist for family support issues in the early days of custody.

We have been successful in firmly embedding the project at HMP YOI Low Newton by developing close links with key departments including reception, induction wing, chaplaincy and the safer prisons team.

Our family support workers have helped a staggering number of prisoners, reducing the levels of distress and confusion for prisoners and their loved ones in the early days of custody.

We have also continued to work closely with Citizens Advice County Durham (CACD) to improve our knowledge of financial information and signposting.

This included three finance and debt training sessions delivered to Nepacs staff and volunteers.

“I appreciate everything you did for me and my son. Thank you for much for your understanding professionalism, hard work and kindness”.

579 men and women supported in prison through casework

1,027 people supported via the Nepacs helpline and 1,231 enquiries taken

Nepacs Helpline

The Nepacs helpline has seen a significant increase in the number of calls and the number of loved ones supported.

• 882 family members/significant others were supported by the helpline. An additional 145 professionals were given information through the helpline.

• A total of 1,231 enquiries were dealt with as some individuals contacted us more than once. (204 repeat service users).

63 people offered finance information or signposting

801 brief interventions completed with prisoners

We

to be approved.

developed a Notecard at HMPs Low Newton and Durham to record initial messages of love and support whilst prisoners were waiting for their phone numbers

Support for prison visitors

Over 24,500 visits were supported across the region

After the disruption caused by Covid, we were delighted that visits restarted at all north east prisons during April to June 2021.

By the end of the summer we were able to restart refreshment services in the visitors centres and visits halls - helping to bring back some normality to the visit experience for prisoners and their loved ones, and providing a more relaxed and friendly visiting experience. Durham booked visits team

12,185 applications for a video call or social visit were received and processed by our team.

A new email service was introduced in addition to the TextMagic Service, which enabled a text message to be sent direct to someone’s phone regarding their visit/ video call - both of which proved very successful.

Families were also relieved in September when physical contact was reallowed during visits, subject to a negative lateral flow test, which meant that children and families could have a hug with their loved one in prison at the start and end of visits.

Unfortunately the Omicron variant of Covid raised its head in December which meant that many restrictions were reinstated, including the need for lateral flow tests to enter a prison and our tea bars had to close again, temporarily. Outbreaks of Covid also led to visits temporarily being suspended at HMPs Durham, Low Newton and Deerbolt in January 2022.

With visits sessions much lower than usual and restrictions on the number of visits allowed by each person, families continued to rely on other forms of communication to help maintain contact with their loved ones in prison. Our teams were on hand to support families to access these services, including video calls and continued to offer a telephone support service.

Thankfully as we ended the year our tea bars were reopened at all prisons and restrictions were lifted in the community and prison estate. We are now looking forward to seeing play and youth areas reopening for children visiting a loved one.

Peer Support

Families and loved ones of prisoners at HMPs Deerbolt, Durham, Frankland, Holme House, Kirklevington and Northumberland were offered the opportunity to join virtual or face to face peer support groups in our visitors centres during the year.

Unfortunately our regional event did not go ahead due to Covid restrictions but we hope to reschedule for 2023. We also provided visitors and loved ones the opportunity to give their feedback through our annual visitors satisfaction survey in March 2022.

Supporting relationships during custody

848

prisoners referred for support - 447 brief interventions and 401 full casework issues

During the last year our prisonbased family support team continued to see their day to day work and contact with prisoners impacted by regime restrictions within all establishments. Face to face contact was made possible but during periods of lockdown or Covid restrictions contact was made via kiosks or cell phones, and group programmes were delivered on a 1 to 1 basis until early 2022 when group activities started to be reintroduced.

With special family visits still on hold (until early 2022), family support workers continued to work with our play and youth teams to provide special craft activity packs for families which were sent out during school holidays and to promote the virtual activities offered to children of prisoners.

Our family support team also experienced significant changes in many of our establishments as the probation changes that took place in June 2021 meant we said goodbye to our DTV CRC through the gate family

“Never in my life have I ever met someone who is so inspirational to the human race! Rachel is a one in a trillion. Whenever I think of Rachel I think of words and phrases such as: Passionate, kind, caring, open minded, non-judgemental, going above and beyond, always only a message away, work ethics are out of this world….

“Without Rachel’s support, advice and guidance over the years I wouldn’t be the man I am today nor would I be in the position I am in, in terms of family and my son. I will always be forever grateful to Rachel and I won’t ever forget her, the person Rachel is or the job that has been done, what Rachel has helped me achieve and overcome.

“I couldn’t hold someone in higher regard if I tried.”

support team in HMPs Durham, Low Newton, Holme House, Kirklevington and Deerbolt.

Nepacs liaised with the prisons regarding the gaps. We were delighted that HMP Kirklevington agreed to fund a family support worker for their establishment and others invested in their own prison family support provision or outsourced family support interventions to complement the existing provision in those prisons.

There remain gaps in many of our establishments where the demand for specialist family support significantly exceeds the resource available. Therefore we will continue to work with the prisons and probation services to promote the benefits of specialist family support provision and aim to build capacity for this vital work in all north east prisons. Many of our current specialist family support projects have time limited funding and it is vital that we plan ahead to ensure our service users are not left without anyone to turn to for support.

Holme House

A letter from a prisoner, HMP

Family support in women’s prisons praised

Our Nepacs family support, early days in custody and parental rights projects at HMP YOI Low Newton were highlighted as best practice in a report titled: ‘Focus on women’s prisons: A briefing paper from HM Inspectorate of Prisons’, published 9 February 2022.

This describes the findings, best practice and key areas for improvement from inspections of five women’s prisons.

Parental rights in prison

Our parental rights in custody project is a HMPPS innovation grant funded project which started in January 2021 and offers a range of ways for prisoners to engage and receive support, initially within HMP YOI Low Newton.

During the initial stages of the project information, advice and support was also offered to colleagues working within the male estate on specific cases.

10 legal rights workshops were delivered to 16 women by a solicitor from Ben Hoare Bell, who gave their time for free. Support was given to each woman following attendance to make an action plan of steps they wanted to take based on the information given.

“Thank you so much Holly, I really appreciate the effort that you have gone to. I was at Styal for a year and never got any help in this area and now here I am making progress. It really means a lot.”

Individual case work has been provided to 67 people to help them exercise their parental rights from custody. This included supporting women to engage with social care and actively participate in meetings or discussions about their children and their care; to pursue private law matters around contact with their children; and completing follow up actions from the legal rights group.

26 professionals have attended parental rights in prison training.

A bespoke training package, developed in consultation with women in custody, has been devised to educate professionals about parental rights and legal orders which may impact on them as well as highlighting the barriers to parents in prison exercising their parental rights.

60 letter box contact packs were delivered and 5 women were supported to include photos.

These packs were developed to support women to engage in their post adoption letter box contact with children who have been adopted. They contain age appropriate colouring materials, stickers and cards to support the contact, and where appropriate we enable the parent to include an up to date photo in the letter.

“Thank you Holly, I really appreciate you have been patient with me on this. I know I have turned you away and been rude at times and when others would have given up on me you kept coming back. I found inspiration to draft my letters last night on my own, I felt ready so I did. Can you please read them and check they are ok? I really feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders doing this as it has been sitting there all this time.”

(Prisoner from HMP YOI Low Newton who attended a legal workshop)

(Prisoner from HMP YOI Low Newton supported with letter box contact)

“This was really helpful and I will be using it with one of the men I am working with.”

Supporting care experienced young people

As restrictions were eased during the last year our care leaver support project and Paving the Way programme at HMP Deerbolt went from strength to strength, continuing to deliver group work activities and to provide one to one support for care experienced residents.

A special issue of Prison Service Journal, published January 2022, featured our Nepacs care leavers in custody project as an example of best practice and the project was praised in the HMIP inspection report (published October 2021). We are proud that our care leaver team were also able to support the independent review of children’s social care (May 2022) - enabling the review team to speak to young care experienced residents in the prison and to see comments and case studies from the young men featured in the report.

Building bridges for care leavers

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Our ‘Building Bridges’ project at HMP Deerbolt is a new 18 month pilot, which started 14 June 2021, funded by the Ministry of Justice Local Leadership and Integration Fund. This project supports care leavers six weeks before release and then 12 weeks after release in the community - helping to bridge the gap between custody and community.

The young men helped co-design the ‘Building Bridges’ resettlement outcomes workbookan additional module added to our Paving the Way programme.

All prison leavers with care experience being released from Deerbolt are allocated a Nepacs resettlement coach, who will work with local authority leaving care teams, prison, probation and other agencies to help get the best outcome for the young men leaving prison.

62 people benefited from our paving the way programme. Peer support groups have been established to provide an opportunity for the young men to meet and discuss shared experiences. Feedback from participants included:

“It’s good ‘coz we get to mix with people in the same situation and we all have the same things to find out.”

The team are also working in partnership with Shannon Trust, and where relevant the young men will be given a volunteer befriender and literacy mentor to help give care leavers the opportunity to gain greater skills in literacy for life.

The project is receiving fantastic feedback from probation, the prison and individuals supported.

126 young men in HMP Deerbolt supported

young men provided support

Supporting children and young people

Our youth team have continued to offer targeted one to one support, resources, virtual youth groups and trips and activities for young people across the north east impacted by the imprisonment of a parent, close relative or sibling.

As we moved out of the global pandemic and returned to face-to-face working, there were still some restrictions in place within the prison estates which prevented staff from completing direct play and youth work during visits and family days. However, this challenge also presented the youth project with the opportunity to diversify roles

Digital Me video project

We worked collaboratively with Digital Me (a programme ran by Digital Voice) to provide young people impacted by the imprisonment of a loved one with a safe and creative way to share their story. This project was delivered online with three young people who created their individual animations over five weeks.

As the voice of children and young people can often be overlooked this project allowed young people to find their voice, share their story and be heard.

to enable more one to one work to take place across schools within the south of the region and to enable staff to build up stronger relationships within the community – especially with those families and young people who would not usually attend prison visits or whose children are unable to visit prison due to restrictions or circumstances.

We would like to thank all our funders who support the youth project for enabling the team to find new ways to reach young people during the past few years, particularly BBC Children in Need (funding ended January 2022).

Support at prison

Our play areas and youth zones in prison visits remained closed due to restrictions last year so our teams continued to take an innovative approach to supporting children visiting a loved one in prison.

Special family visits were not able to go ahead until February 2022, when HMP Frankland delivered a special family day for eight families. Therefore, activity packs continued to be provided during visits or for children to take home, and during school holidays themed family craft activity packs were sent home for families to enjoy together.

The video will help other families in a similar situation understand how the children can best be supported and is helping us to raise awareness of the impact of imprisonment on children and young people.

Thanks to a grant of £10,000 from Ecclesiastical Insurance Group’s Movement for Good the youth team will build on this digital art project in 2022/23 and enable more children involved in the youth project to undertake innovative, guided, digital artwork projects.

Over 4400 child visits across the region

We offered face to face and virtual 1:1 support to 122 young people

Virtual play and youth work

The virtual youth worker role, which was developed during Covid thanks to funding from the Youth Endowment Fund, allowed us to offer weekly virtual support groups for a small number of young people until the end of 2021. This allowed us to run competitions for young people and families to access in their own time and a small number of young people also took part in virtual one to one support sessions which helped to engage those for whom school attendance or geographical location was a significant barrier.

Rhymetime, storytime and craft activities created by our play and youth workers were also shared on our YouTube channel.

Trips and residentials

Our outreach trips got back up and running in August 2021. Nine trips were delivered and a residential was planned for April 2022 which involved a two night stay at an outdoor activity centre.

Seven young people involved in the Northumbria PCC funded one to one project also attended an outdoor activity centre in October 2021 which helped develop peer support relationships.

One to one support work

The youth project was successful in securing a second year of funding from Northumbria PCC’s Supporting Victims Fund which enabled us to continue supporting young people aged 8-17 through therapeutic one to one support across schools in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear.

One to one support was also available in County Durham and Tees Valley on a smaller scale as the visits youth workers reached out and offered support in the community.

Referrals are received from schools, social workers and other agencies, and the team are increasingly engaging with young people who have a loved one in prison but do not currently visit.

24 young people attended trips or outreach activities

What next?

Awareness sessions for schools

Youth workers and our training team developed and delivered sessions to children from a secondary school in Sunderland in June 2021.

These workshops looked at trying to dispel some of the myths around offending

as well as looking at the impact offending to it has on individuals, families and the community. Young people were also given the opportunity to ask questions about the criminal justice system to increase their awareness and the consequences of being involved in it.

We are looking forward to our play areas and youth zones returning next year so that we can provide more face to face support for children visiting prisons and seeing the development of our Digital Me project.

The youth project is facing a funding challenge and our priority moving forward will be to retain and build on the fantastic work of our youth team so that we can provide more community based support to children, their families and schools.

Support through the gate

Our departure lounges, which operated from the visitors centres at HMPs Durham, Holme House, Low Newton and Northumberland, helped 492 men and women on their day of release from prison last year, as well as their families and loved ones.

Our through the gate workers provided information and support pre-release and on the day of release, as well as a warm, welcoming space to meet with family members or probation workers.

This service was delivered in partnership with Durham Tees Valley and Northumbria community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) until June 2021, when probation changes led to most of our departure lounges closing.

We were pleased that we were able to keep the departure lounge at HMP Northumberland open and then in January 2022, our departure lounge at HMP Holme House reopened, thanks to funding from HMPPS.

Thanks to donations from individuals and organisations our teams provided 220 release packs which included toiletries, food items and in some cases clothing – responding to the needs of the individual being released.

“I can’t thank you enough for looking after me for the last year. Without the team at Nepacs I don’t think we would have made it to the end. I hope I don’t see you again! In a good way.”

Family member of former prisoner, HMP Northumberland

A massive thank you to everyone who donated, including some of our volunteers, families, visitors, Mothers Unions, Billingham Food Bank, Tees Community Hub (pictured above) and MacDonald’s at Portrack Lane, Stockton and Middlesbrough.

Wellbeing service

Following the probation changes in June 2021, Nepacs were delighted to join the St Giles Wise partnership delivering wellbeing services for men under probation supervision in the County Durham and Tees Valley area.

The wellbeing service, known as Liberate, provides support for men who need help with family and parenting issues, social inclusion, emotional wellbeing and lifestyle issues.

From June 2021 to end March 2022 the service received 553 referrals

“I have found my time working with you (Laurie) to be very helpful, big help and reassurance to know I had some body to talk to if needed while I’ve been sober. Laurie always provides the best possible service and a listening ear. She would follow her duties with 100% commitment and found me plenty of services to help with issues I was/ still are dealing with. Including drug and alcohol abuse and mental health organisations such as talking changes.

Since working with Laurie I feel we have built a good working relationship over the last 4-5 months and she has definitely made my time sober a more pleasant and enjoyable experience. Just knowing if I was struggling I could give her a call was a reassurance in itself.”

Heading Home

Our Heading Home Re:Connect and Re:settle programmes were mainstreamed as part of the through the gate work we delivered with Durham and Tees Valley and Northumbria CRCs until June 2021. This work continued during the remainder of the year through our family support and visit teams at HMPs Holme House and Northumberland.

415 prisoners at HMPs Holme House, Deerbolt, Kirklevington and Northumberland, and 89 family/friends received re:settle support.

59 reconnect sessions delivered in HMPs Holme House and Deerbolt (due to Covid restrictions we were unable to bring families in for the family meeting element of the programme).

Telephone befriending service

A team of 26 Nepacs volunteers delivered the project on behalf of Volunteering Matters in the North West, North Yorkshire and Humberside (from February 2021), and North East of England (from July 2021) until the funding ended in August 2021.

This was a new and exciting initiative for Nepacs which made a massive difference for those it supported during a 7 month period - many of whom have no local support from family and friends.

“It helps me feel better coping with things. If it wasn’t for you guys I don’t know how I would have overcome things as I don’t have the knowledge to change things. It’s nice to talk to someone who has some knowledge of what I am going through.”

“I used to react badly when I’m feeling down now I have changed the way I think and challenge myself more about what I am thinking.”

“It has definitely helped. Not a big fan of the telephone - it helps me do something I don’t like doing. Feel better for the rest of the day. It’s nice to have someone to chat to about anything I’m feeling and the most random stuff I think.”

Family and parenting support

Our community-based family and parenting service supported people with criminal convictions from October 2015, as part of Northumbria Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC), until the probation changes meant the service came to an end in June 2021.

Over its five years the service (delivered by a team of three staff members and volunteers) was highly regarded within the CRC and by partner agencies, and their legacy is the difference they made to the 2,000 men and women, and their families or loved ones, which they supported with family and relationship matters.

Our telephone befriending service provided much needed support to people serving community sentences or on license who were feeling isolated, lonely and in need of a warm, positive, chat and support.

Grants for prisoners and their families

Again we have worked with our family support workers inside prison to provide basic underwear and changes of clothing for those newly arrived on remand in only the clothes they stand up in.

we salute probation officers for making the best of a very difficult year. We’d also like to thank once again Durham Tees Valley CRC for their generous grant.

Another year of austerity and disruption through Covid for the population in general has brought higher demands than ever on our funds, and it’s notable that in the course of the financial year 2021-22 the number of requests for help for clothing inside the prisons rose from an average of 12 per month to 25. Not only does this show the impact of less cash to spare among families to give financial support, it’s also an effect of the drop in numbers of visits to individuals freshly arrived in prison, when basic clothing could be handed in, as well as the decrease in prison jobs and hence wages to provide cash inside.

While we’re glad to help in this way, it does mean we have less money available to help those released to get back on their feet, with the basic furniture and decent clothing necessary to take part in normal life again. Household requests have ranged from such basics as curtains, white goods, beds and chairs, while serviceable clothing to attend interviews or take up employment or training offers are vital. Another frequent request is for help with, for example, a child’s bed to allow for overnight stays to rebuild parental relationships. Higher prices in the shops haven’t made this any easier for those making supervised spends with their clients, and once again

While we try to offer something to almost all requests for help, once more we were forced to cut maximum amounts on individual grants, and again took a month’s moratorium during the summer to make sure our funds didn’t run out entirely by the end of the year. This is a sad and frustrating situation to be in, and the need for new funding remains a preoccupation.

“You have changed my life around. Now I’ve got a job, I feel so proud of myself it’s unbelievable and I can’t say how much your help means.”

“The women have been so excited to have any opportunity to buy and choose some clothing themselves.”

Holidays take a break

Unfortunately, once again, restrictions in place due to Covid, meant we were not able to offer free caravan holidays to families.

We hope to get the scheme back up and running in 2022/23 so we can give children and their families a much needed break and respite.

1,082 grants paid to prisoners or their families this year - totalling £45,184

Recognition and reward

Reducing offending

After the pause in 2020 due to Covid we were delighted to see the Nepacs Ruth Cranfield Awards reinstated last year.

This year’s awards were presented by Bronwen Elphick, regional probation director north east for HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) on 22 September 2021 at Emirates Riverside, Chester-le-Street.

The awards celebrated projects that support prisoners planning for release and afterwards, working with agencies to help promote purposeful and communal activity and build selfbelief, helping them to reestablish themselves outside prison, securing accommodation, work and positive family relationships.

19 certificates of high commendation were presented and five main awards were presented to:

• Sharon Carter, Residential Officer, HMP YOI Kirklevington Grange – For development of the allotment project which helped to open doors to new skill development and experiences, as well as providing physical exercise and mental wellbeing.

• Speech and Language Therapy Team, Health and Justice Service, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust – For their work with assessment and therapy to empower and support

individuals affected, improving relationship, employment and education issues, as well as working with health, police and prison colleagues to raise awareness locally and nationally.

• Kath Keenan and Angeline Smith, HMP Durham – For working tirelessly to help prisoners in the difficult circumstances of the last year and support colleagues in doing so, with utmost compassion and empathy.

• Sharon Pickup, Mentor, The Wise Group – For support she has provided to countless service users over the last two years to make the transition from prison into the community, enabling them to make positive choices to lead a more fulfilled life through both practical and emotional help and support.

• Special Award - Helen Attewell, former CEO of Nepacs - For outstanding service to Nepacs and to prisoners in the north east, their families and significant others.

Dedication and long service

During the autumn 17 members of staff received long service awards, which were presented by our trustees during team meetings. This included Christine Slassor and Cath Chesterton (pictured) from HMP Frankland who were both celebrating 25 years service with Nepacs.

families in the north east.

Nepacs Staff and Volunteers

Shining Stars

On 17 June 2021 staff and volunteers from Nepacs were presented with Shining Star awards (during a virtual event) in recognition of their outstanding contribution to supporting prisoners and their families in the north east.

This year’s winners were:

• Staff Member of the Year - Gail Kirkby, care leaver support officer at HMP Deerbolt

• Volunteer of the Year - Fran O’Riley, volunteer with the telephone helpline

• Team of the Year - Play and youth teams

• Chairman’s Choice Award - Emma Price, early days in custody coordinator

• Chairman’s Choice Award - HMP Durham family support team including the early days in custody, through the gate and booked visits teams.

We would like to congratulate and thank everyone who was nominated for an award and to all the winners. It is the people working for Nepacs and volunteering that really make a difference for individuals or families impacted by a prison sentence, and it is their kindness, commitment and dedication which enables Nepacs to continue to grow and respond to the needs of our service users.

Hidden Heroes

For Happy Hidden Heroes Day, in September 2021, we were delighted that Hilary Askin, visitors centre manager from HMPs Holme House and Kirklevington was nominated as a Holme House Hidden Hero by the prison.

Awards for excellence

In March 2022 we presented our first certificates of excellence to Gail Kirkby, Rachel Rowland. Katie Hutchinson and Tracy Hawthorn for outstanding practice in supporting prisoners and their loved ones, following praise and recognition received from individuals outside of the organisation, including service users or partner agencies.

Thank you for your dedication and for everything you do to support prisoners and their

Helping us to make a difference

Donations

Over 412 individuals accessed Nepacs training.

We were overwhelmed with the support we received to our fundraising appeals last year, including:

Awareness raising

Throughout the year we organise meetings, events, training and promotion via regional and online media to help raise awareness of the needs of prisoners’ families and the support that Nepacs provides.

Our Hidden Sentence training was adapted for virtual delivery and the hidden sentence and care leaver awareness sessions continued to be popular within the north east and beyond. The training team also offered a new course on Parental Rights in Prison which is now part of our annual training programme.

Volunteering

During 2021 we were very grateful to see many of our volunteers come back into projects, as Covid restrictions were lifted and teams, such as the support at courts project and visits services returned. We have been overwhelmed with the support and loyalty of our volunteers and are pleased to see more of our long standing volunteers starting to return.

We also welcomed visits this year from Joanna Riddell, (High Sheriff of Northumberland). Kim McGuinness (Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria) and Joy Allen (Police and Crime Commissioner for Durham). We were also pleased to welcome back Lord Michael Farmer to visit HMPs Durham, Low Newton and Frankland during March 2022.

Nepacs members

Our members help us by making an annual donation to Nepacs and by attending our AGM, events and helping to spread the word about the needs of prisoners’ families and the importance of the work we do to support family ties.

• Donations of toys, games and Christmas presents for children and young people visiting over the festive period and the success of our Christmas Big Give appeal which raised over £1,242 for play, youth areas, and special family visits

• Prisoners clothing appeal which raised over £310 to enable our Early Days in Custody team to provide new underwear for men arriving at HMP Durham

• Departure lounge appeal which enables us to provide, food and release packs for men and women coming out of prison.

Opposite is a list of the many donors who have supported us during the year.

Priority was given to bringing back existing and already trained volunteers during the year but we did recruit 37 new volunteers, to support our telephone helpline, befriending service, care leavers project and to fill gaps in services where volunteers had sadly left us.

We reopened volunteer recruitment towards the latter part of 2021/22 and have been very grateful for the enquiries received, although we continue to prioritise recruitment as we still have a way to go to rebuild our volunteer base to the same level it was prior to Covid.

Anyone interested in volunteering can apply through our website or contact volunteering@nepacs.co.uk

Individuals and organisations who want to support the work we do with prisoners and their loved ones can do so in various ways.

136 volunteers were active or ready to return to volunteering at the end of March 2022.

Our supporters

We would also like to pay tribute to our volunteers and trustees who have sadly passed away. Their contribution to Nepacs was remarkable and the difference they made to the lives of so many will long be remembered.

• G E Ashton

• AB Charitable Trust

• David Abrahams

• Amazon Smile

• Asda Portrack Lane, Stockton

• Ballinger Charitable Trust

• Christine Barnes

• BBC Children in Need

• Big Give Christmas Challenge Appeal 2021

• Billingham and Stockton Foodbank

• Charities Trust (Ecclesiastical)

• Widdrington WI via Richard Booth

• Judith Bumby

• Community Foundation Tyne and Wear and Northumberland: Carr-Ellison Charitable Trust; Allison Greenlees Continuation Fund, High Sheriff of Northumberland Awards

• Diana Parker Charitable Trust

• Durham Cathedral

• Easyfundraising

• Elizabeth English

• Elvet Methodist Church, Durham

• Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

• Professor D.P Hampshire

• Joyce Hillier

We

grateful to the following Trusts, Companies, Churches, groups and individuals who supported our work this year.

• HMPPS Innovations Grant

• HMPPS Womens Grant

• Sir James Knott Trust

• Trees of Leigh, The Leigh Trust

• John Marsland

• McDonalds – Middlesbrough and Stockton

• MOJ Local Leadership Innovations Fund grant

• The Catenians, Morpeth Circle

• Mothers Union

• National Literacy Trust Middlesbrough

• National Lottery Reaching Communities Fund

• Northumbria PCC Supporting Victims Fund

• Kath Ogilvie

• Derick Parry

• Paypal donations

• Mark Reilly

• Roker Methodist Church

• Rotary Club of Stanley

• Salvation Army Langley Moor and Shildon

• Stamp it Out Suicide Prevention Small Grant

• St John’s Church, Nevilles Cross

• St Leonards Catholic School, Durham

• Mayor of Sedgefield on behalf of the Sedgefield community

• St Mary’s and St Cuthbert’s Parish Church, Chester-le-Street

• St Michael and All Angels Church, Houghton-le-Spring

• Tees Community Hub

• Tesco, via Groundwork

• The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust

• The Beatrice Laing Trust

• The Swire Trust

• The Topinambour Trust

• The Joicey Trust

• T J Short

• Virgin Giving appeals

• Rev P Welby

• Youth Endowment Fund

are very

It is thanks to our many donors, fundraisers and volunteers that we continue to deliver and develop services to support people impacted by imprisonment and the criminal justice system.

How to find out more