Two funders are handing £3m to a charities’ initiative that aims to provide a community-based alternative to custody for women.

The money will be used to scale up the Effective Women’s Centres Partnership, which involves seven charities including Together Women, The Women’s Centre Cornwall, and Partners of Prisoners.

Of the funding, £1.5m is being provided by the Henry Smith Foundation, with the same amount being given by The JABBS Foundation for Women and Girls, which has already provided initial investment to the partnership.

The partnership’s model was originally developed in the US and offers personalised support to women to tackle the underlying causes of their offending.

It aims to evidence that community support for offenders in women centres are a sensible alternative to prison in the UK.

Other women’s centre charities involved include The Nelson Trust, Stockport Women’s Centre, Salford foundation and Anawim. It is also being supported by the University of Birmingham.

The partnership’s community-based approach is already being used by the women’s centre organisations involved in Birmingham, Cornwall, Gloucester, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire and the further funding will enable more to join the partnership.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with The JABBS Foundation for Women and Girls and support the Effective Women’s Centres Partnership, creating safer futures and supporting women to rebuild their lives,” said Henry Smith Foundation grants manager Annabel Collins.

JABBS Foundation for Women and Girls deputy director Chloe Geoghegan added: “This investment reflects the growing confidence in what we have known for a long time: supporting women in the community works.

“It’s brilliant to have the growing academic evidence to back it up and the opportunity to scale up this transformational partnership.”

Details of how organisations can apply to join the Effective Women’s Centres Partnership will be published by The JABBS Foundation for Women and Girls later this year.

This is the latest commitment by funders to support initiatives that aim to provide community alternatives to custody for women in the UK.

In March the Julia Rausing Trust donated £5m to women’s justice charity One Small Thing to develop a pilot offer a residential alternative to prison for women and their children.

This was the charity's largest ever single donation and is being used to support its Hope Street project in Hampshire and assess its potential to be rolled out UK wide.

In May this year the Independent Sentencing Review recommended the government make greater use of community sentencing and provide long term funding to women’s centres.

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