Nacro

Nacro is a registered criminal justice charity operating in England and Wales. It is not formally linked with Sacro in Scotland or NIACRO in Northern Ireland.

Nacro's headquarters are in Southwark, south London.

History

The Central Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society (Incorporated) was formed in December 1924. It was renamed the National Association of Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies (Incorporated) in October 1960, and the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO) 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.

Current activities

Nacro, the crime reduction charity, is dedicated to reducing crime and reoffending in communities across England and Wales. It designs and delivers programmes that aim to equip people with the skills, advice, attitude and support they need to move their lives on and move away from crime.

Its 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.
• Offender management: Nacro works with offenders in the courts, in prisons and in the community, managing the offender journey in a way designed to minimise the risk of reoffending.
• A resettlement advice service providing 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.

• Substance misuse: The charity’s services combine a dual focus on the individual and the community, offering interventions to people so they can not only recover from drug or alcohol dependence but also start to contribute actively and positively to the community.

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 reducing crime in local neighbourhoods.

Nacro is a regular contributor to government consultations and important debates on key subjects in the criminal justice sector.

Officials

Queen Elizabeth II is the Patron of Nacro. The President is Lord Dholakia, and the Chair is Nigel Chapman.

The current Chief Executive is Jacob Tas, formerly of Action for Children and The Prince's Trust.

External links

• Nacro's Charity Commission page
• Nacro's Response to the Ministry of Justice's Proposals to Toughen up Community Sentences
• Catalogue of the Nacro archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick