PS Plus is a prison and community based European Social Fund project that is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and National Offender Management Service (NOMS).

The PS Plus project can be described in three separate and distinct phases:

Phase 1 Worked with over 16,000 offenders across 28 English prison establishments. The project ran from September 2002 until September 2004. Phase 2 Worked with 34,000 offenders in 39 English prisons and across 3 Probation areas. This project ran from September 2004 until December 2006. Phase 3 Started in January 2007, and will work with almost 30,000 offenders in 24 prison establishments and across 15 probation areas.

Over a period of 6 years, PS Plus have successfully drawn £122 Million of external ESF funds into the Prison Service, NOMS and the Probation Service making PS Plus the largest single ESF funded project in Europe. It is also the first NOMS project in the UK.

The project helps offenders address their individual barriers to entry into the labour market. By offering education, training and employment support along with supplying information, advice and guidance, PS Plus is directly contributing to the National Re-Offending Action Plan and National and Regional Resettlement strategies which seek to reduce re-offending by people released from prison by helping to find sustainable housing and employment.

In addition, research suggests that being in sustainable employment will reduce the chances of re-offending by between a third and a half (SEU Report 2002.)

The core aspect of the project is to assist the “hard to help” offenders who have high levels of need and are not ready for employment. PS Plus offers innovative interventions to help offenders become more employable and gain soft outcomes such as confidence and improved self esteem, increased motivation and educational qualifications. PS Plus have a proven track record of successfully gaining appropriate employment for sex offenders and some high-risk offenders. These outcomes are delivered within a Public Protection framework at all times.

Continue to PS Plus phase 3 information >