HMPPS Co-Financing (CFO) accesses European Social Fund (ESF) monies to deliver services to offenders in custody and community, to move them closer to the labour market. The focus is on those offenders who have difficulty accessing mainstream services currently available. The current programme commenced delivery in July 2015 and will run to August 2023.
HMPPS CFO is included as part of the Social Inclusion Thematic Objective for the 2014-2020 ESF Programme, which has a wider focus than employment. As the CFO targets those furthest away from mainstream activity, this will allow providers to tackle a range of identified barriers at an earlier stage, better preparing offenders for mainstream provision.
HMPPS devolves operational delivery commitments via 9 regional level contracts, split between 4 providers. CFO providers are required to add value to existing provision with a specific remit to ensure that delivery is not duplicated elsewhere.
If you have any queries relating to the HMPPS CFO or would like to report any errors or broken links, please e-mail us at [email protected]
The current programme (CFO3) is now underway and will run to August 2023, focusing on those offenders who have difficulty accessing other mainstream services that are currently available.
Projects aimed at improving employability are seen as key to changing offender's lives and reducing reoffending. The ESF Programme aims to complement existing provision, particularly the Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) in prisons as well as other existing employment and skills services.
The focus of CFO3 is to help offenders move towards mainstream provision or into employment by addressing their barriers to work through facilitating access to comprehensive support mechanisms appropriate to their individual circumstance and accessed need.
Our participants can typically face the following barriers:
Specific Hard to Help groups are targeted within certain geographic areas as follows:
