Our Impact
StandOut Impact Evaluation
A key moment in the life of any charity is the opportunity to reflect on and evaluate its work. Five years into our journey as a charity we are pleased to share the first external evaluation of StandOut’s work, carried out by Russell Webster. Russell is an independent consultant in the fields of substance misuse and crime and a key voice on criminal justice matters - sharing his blog with the latest research, policy, practice and opinion to his 6,000+ subscribers.
This review, appropriate to our stage of development, has been detailed and balances data and early stage quantitative analysis with in-depth qualitative work, underlining the value of relationship based work that is so fundamental to StandOut’s approach. It is a key value of StandOut to reflect, learn and develop and part of our commitment to excellence - so we are keen to use the evaluation to identify areas for adaptation and development.
We are pleased that the evaluation captures the key features of StandOut’s approach that we believe underpin the unique nature of our work.
We hope you enjoy reading the reports and please get in touch if you have any queries.
Executive summary
“It is clear that StandOut has developed an effective holistic resettlement model which is valued by prisons, partner organisations and, most importantly, by the participants themselves.”
Full report
“StandOut has developed an
impressive and effective programme to help people in prison and on release maximise their chances of living a personally fulfilling and crime-free life. ”
The StandOut Helpline
The StandOut Helpline was launched in May 2020 in response to the Covid-19 lockdown which prevented delivery of all activities and programmes across the prison estate.
This affected everyone in prison. For prison leavers, it meant they were heading to the gate with no preparation, and in many cases no contact at all with services prior to release, and were therefore leaving with the discharge grant £46 and often nowhere to go.
The StandOut Helpline resolved critical needs by providing practical support and coaching for men leaving prison. This included access to housing, food and benefits as well as longer term coaching support and mindset work, based on the StandOut Programme.
The Helpline service was offered to all, with no age restrictions and no offence exclusions.
After more than 4,000 calls providing support to 600 men from HMP Wandsworth and HMP Pentonville, the StandOut Helpline was paused on 30/07/2021. We've written a report to summarise our learning from the Helpline and give voice to the people we worked with during the pandemic.
““I felt completely lost coming out of prison in the pandemic after being stuck in my cell for months. All the other agencies have let me down but you guys have been incredible. I didn’t expect anything like the support StandOut has given me. I now have a roof over my head & things to look forward to.””
If you have recently been released from prison and need support, please visit standout.org.uk/support for details of organisations providing support and resources.
The StandOut Helpline was made possible by funding from grant-makers. On behalf of the men we have been able to work with at a time of critical need, we are incredibly grateful for their support and thank the following:
London Community Response Fund
The Government Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund
HMPPS grant administered through Clinks
The Grocers' Charity