We work in partnership with a range of statutory and voluntary agencies to understand and prevent the causes of repeat offending. Early identification of offending behaviour supports development of longer-term solutions to enable reintegration into communities through education, employment and housing provision.

This ‘joined up’ approach strengthens services and resources around the offender in order to challenge their behaviour and provide improved support to those who want help to change. It reduces the harm and impact of offending, even in those cases where offenders lack the motivation to engage.

Integrated Offender Management (IOM) brings a cross-agency response to the crime and reoffending threats faced by local communities in Shropshire. Integrated offender management aims to:

• Reduce crime and re-offending
• Protect the public and raise their confidence in the criminal justice system
• Tackle the social exclusion of offenders and their families
• Address gaps and overlaps in previous programmes to manage offenders
• Help agencies work together more effectively

In Shropshire, integrated offender management is known as Shropshire IOM. Shropshire IOM is one of the ways the Shropshire Community Safety Partnership is looking to reduce crime and re-offending.

Shropshire IOM has a co-located, multi-agency team with officers from:

• West Mercia Police
• West Mercia Probation Trust
• Shropshire Council Community Substance Misuse Team
• YSS (a charitable organisation offering intensive support and mentoring)

Shropshire IOM works with ex-offenders to help them identify, and support them to overcome, the factors that cause them to offend. For those offenders who fail to comply with their court order or who continue to offend, Shropshire IOM takes swift enforcement action in order to protect the public.

In order to help ex-offenders address the factors that cause them to offend, Shropshire IOM works with a number of other agencies who fall under the seven pathways known to reduce re-offending:

• Accommodation, ie housing providers
• Health, ie GP surgeries
• Drugs and alcohol, ie alcohol intervention services
• Education, employment and training, ie training providers
• Finance, benefits and debts, ie debt advice services
• Children and families, ie family intervention services
• Attitudes, thinking and behaviour – i.e. counselling services