Women are more likely than men to face multiple disadvantages, including homelessness, mental health issues, substance misuse problems, contacts with the criminal justice system, domestic abuse, and sexual exploitation (Tavin Institute, 2019).

Women being more likely to experience multiple disadvantages compared to men is even more prevalent among prison populations. Earlier evidence suggests that women in prison are more likely than men to have social care support needs, including needs associated with physical disability, mental health and wellbeing, and drugs and alcohol misuse (Alma Economics, 2021). These women appear to have complex needs which differ from male offenders’ needs. According to the New Economics Foundation (2012), the needs of female offenders are similar to the needs of women who have experienced abuse and trauma. There is evidence suggesting that women involved or at risk of involvement with the Criminal Justice System can benefit from gender-specific and trauma-informed approaches, such as services provided by Women’s Centres (The Centre for Social Justice, 2018).

Women's Centres provide gender-specific support under one roof to address the root causes of offending. Many provide access to specialist advocacy, advice and support on housing, harmful substance use, mental and physical health, employment, debt, domestic abuse and family and parenting issues. This can be through in-house specialist staff and through partnerships with other agencies.

The lack of long-term, sustainable funding has created considerable challenges for Women’s Centres. It prevents them from being able to strategically plan for the long-term, and in some cases, it has threatened their ability to meet the needs of the women they work with and has put some at risk of closure.

Alma Economics was commissioned by Women in Prison (WIP) to explore the socio-economic value that Women’s Centres generate and compare it with their cost. Based on the best available evidence in the literature and discussions with staff from Women’s Centres, we developed a logic model that sets out the mechanisms through which investment in the Centres can generate medium and longer-term outcomes for women, their children and society. We also carried out a Cost Benefit Analysis to quantify economic benefits and monetise gains in welfare for women receiving support from a hypothetical Centre (created using data from actual Centres).

Our research suggests that benefits generated by the Centres outweigh costs across different funding scenarios reflecting the current level of resources available to the Centres, as well as the level of funding required to support all women in need at a local level.

A Women’s Centre receiving a £1m investment in a given year can help more than 650 women and generate £2.75m in socio-economic benefits including savings for public services and gains in welfare for women and their children. These benefits materialise as a result of women enjoying improved outcomes in key areas including employment, mental health, domestic violence, reoffending, homelessness and housing, parenting, drug and alcohol dependency, wellbeing, confidence and self-esteem. The hypothetical Women’s Centre also generates costs savings for Local Authorities (47%), the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), including Courts/Legal Aid, Probation, Prisons, Other Criminal Justice System (CJS) (17%), the National Health Service (NHS) (15%), Police (10%), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (9%), and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) (2%).

The Women in Prison report can be found here.

Alma Economics’ research brief is available here.

References

Alma Economics, 2021. Understanding the Social Care Support Needs of Scotland’s Prison Population. Available here.

New Economics Foundation, 2012. Women’s Community Services: A Wise Commission. Available here.

Tavin Institute, 2019. Why Women’s Centres Work report. Available here.

The Centre for Social Justice, 2018. A Woman-Centred Approach - Freeing vulnerable women for the revolving door of crime. Available here.

Cost-benefit analysis of Women’s Centres