Voluntary throughcare

Throughcare is a term that can mean different things across a range of different policy areas, such as health, social care, and the children’s care system.

Even in a justice context, throughcare can relate to a number of different but related concepts or practices, with academic literature centring on theories of reintegration, resettlement, rehabilitation and desistance to explain the importance of prison and community based approaches to supporting people leaving prison.

Voluntary Throughcare starts when the person is sentenced to custody, and runs throughout their sentence and for a year after their release. Voluntary throughcare is available for people who are serving a short-term custodial sentence (under four years) on whom statutory post-release supervision has not been imposed.

With practitioners Community Justice Scotland developed a working definition of voluntary throughcare:

Throughcare is the support people receive in prison, and once they leave, to help them (re)settle into the community. This support can vary depending on the needs of the individual being supported. It can include finding a home, providing opportunities for work and improved health and wellbeing or mentoring. Throughcare helps individuals develop confidence and social ties, so they can build better lives for themselves, their family and their community.   

Voluntary throughcare in Scotland is provided by a range of providers including Local Authority Justice Social Work, Upside (a national throughcare service provided by the voluntary sector and funded by Scottish Government) and other Local Authority commissioned services (usually delivered by the third sector).