Referrals

This reporting period has seen a rise in the number of referrals to the service compared to the previous reporting period of 2020/2021, from 467 to 507. When comparing the reporting periods, prison referrals increased from 366 to 397, with remand referrals over 60%.

As pandemic restrictions were lifted, community referrals increased compared to last reporting period: from 101 to 110.

This is the second year in Shine’s history where remand referral numbers are higher than that of sentenced referrals, and community referral numbers are lower. We attribute this to the large backlog of cases pending in the courts. This reporting period has seen a drop in the number of referrals to the service when compared to the previous reporting period 2018/2019: from 827 to 706. When comparing the two reporting periods, prison referrals have decreased from 694 to 540, with remand decreasing from 328 to 258. The percentage of remand prisoners compared to all prisoners stayed the same at 47% for 2019/2020.

A social worker’s voice:

“Falkirk Council justice service has a dedicated women’s service that run’s from our Graham’s Road office.

"The Justice women’s service works closely with the Shine mentoring service with one of the Shine mentors being based in the Grahams Road office. This is a good working relationship and allows the following to happen. The women’s development worker is able to discuss individual women with the Shine mentor and look at who is best placed to offer support to the woman, as well as having ongoing discussions about what support can be provided. All Shine mentors come into Graham’s Road on a regular basis, they can also use Grahams Road as office space if they need to send some emails, or meet with the women they are working with. We regularly have meetings with the Shine mentors who provide updates on the women they are working with. Home visits and joint meetings happen between justice staff, Shine mentor and the woman.

"The Shine mentors are very much part of the women’s service. The women’s development worker regularly provides updates to the rest of the justice team and while updating takes the opportunity to promote the Shine service. Shine mentors also help with holiday cover, by keeping in touch with the service user while the allocated worker is on annual leave or to help cover the office."