Report Extract
Performance of Those Who Have Been On The LCP
(If you would like to read the full report, please scroll to the bottom to download it)
The report gauges the experience of UK-based offenders who engaged with MALS Merseyside through the Life Change Programme. It is difficult not to understate the challenges of evaluating intervention impact caused by the absence of a service user case management system from the start of the project. A key element of the original proposal for the project (written in 2012) was the investment that was to be made in the Mi-Case management system, a computerised database of service users assigned to the IOM that would allow all partners to gather, access, and share information in a real time and secure manner.
Importantly, in impact measurement terms, the Mi-Case system would also enable the management of performance against set criteria and to allow for the management of cross border offending between Merseyside Police and partners and the neighbouring Greater Manchester Police.
A case management model of this type would enable users to scrutinise individual’s offending profiles, to track changes in their offending behaviour and to monitor their engagement with IOM partners. Once the project started however the Mi-Case Management System was reviewed and following a demonstration by the supplier’s concerns were raised by key IOM stakeholders regarding functionality and integration with their systems and the software package was not pursued.
A further software system was similarly explored but also not pursued and it has not been until the final year of the three-year project that the Knowsley based IOM team have been able to make increased (and effective usage) of the CORVUS case management system. More than being mere tools for recording information and gauging performance of service users the current use of the CORVUS case management system is demonstrating how such formats have the capacity to drive the planning and prioritisation of IOM working.
In the absence of a Case Management System to be able to quickly and systematically draw down data on changes in individuals (offending) behaviour a number of different strategies to gauge impact have been employed that are reported on here:
- Firstly, 12-months into the project, a cohort of 15 service users were identified who were then tracked through manual checking of police data systems for (re)offending data. Information collated by MALS was cross checked with this official police data to help conduct a fairly basic recidivism analysis that helps draw out learning from the service user’s experiences of intervention work.
- Secondly, the unforeseen move into delivering the Life Change Programme (LCP) in two local prisons has seen large numbers of people engaged within prison. To explore the experiences of in-prison service users a series of focus groups were conducted with the first 5 cohorts of inmates and this section reports on the themes that emerged. The learning that can be generated from this strand of the research is again supplemented by manually downloaded police and prison records to explore what happened to those who have been engaged by the LCP.
The Life Change Programme Works!
The Participants
Where Are They?
Cost to the Tax Payer
As you can see, the Life Change Programme is not perfect, but if just one person changes their lives as a result of completing the course, then the programme works!
