The Central Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society was formed in 1918 as a successor to the Central Committee of Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies, which had been formed in c.1880. It was renamed the National Association of Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies in October 1960, and the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders in March 1966. It developed into the biggest criminal justice-related charity in England and Wales and in the 1970s and 1980s it became involved in policy discussions with the British Government, particularly with the Home Office, which has responsibility for prisons and probation services. Since 2011, its strategy has focused on extending its high-level influence at government level, with commissioners, policy makers and practitioners, and increasing its partnership work. In 1999 the organisation officially became Nacro, the crime reduction charity. In 2015, in conjunction with Nacro's 50th anniversary year and to reflect the breadth of its work, it changed its name to Nacro: A social justice charity.
Current activities
Nacro's services include:
Education: Nacro provides pre-vocational and vocational programmes, problem-solving courses and employment preparation programmes for people who are stuck and can’t see a way forward. In addition to this, in 2015 Nacro established a partnership with Totton College.
Housing: Nacro helps people find somewhere to live to give them the stability and support they need to acquire new skills and patterns of behaviour to turn their lives around and to connect to their communities.
Justice: Nacro works with young and adult offenders in prisons and in the community. It offers a wide range of services for a variety of different client groups to support people to change their lives and to prevent and reduce crime and the risk of reoffending.
Health: Nacro delivers community-based contracts across substance misuse services. Its largest contract is in Wolverhampton where it runs Recovery Near You, a consolidated and integrated drug and alcohol treatment service for young people and adults.
Nacro's Resettlement Advice Service provides specialist advice, training and consultancy to individuals, practitioners and employers on criminal records and disclosure issues. Nacro provides the UK's only national dedicated confidential public advice service for people with previous convictions.
Bail Accommodation and Support Service : In June 2018, Nacro took over delivery of the BASS service from Home Group, formerly Stonham Home Group. Commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, BASS gives people who are eligible to be released from prison or bailed from court somewhere stable to live and the support they need to move on to an independent, crime-free future.
Nacro also uses its knowledge of what works to reduce crime to help inform policy and shape practice. In line with this, the charity works closely with government and public and private sector partners, using experience on the ground to establish and pilot the best ways of addressing social exclusion. Nacro is a regular contributor to government consultations and important debates on key subjects in the criminal justice sector.
Totton College
In 2015 it emerged that Totton College near Southampton was in serious financial difficulty and was seeking a merger with another institution. In December 2015 Totton College became part of Nacro, with the aim of making Totton College a vocational centre of excellence. Maxine Room CBE was appointed as Campus Principal in October 2017. Lisa Capper is the current Principal of Totton College, supported by Hannah Avoth as Vice Principal.
