User Voice - Only Offenders Can Stop Re-Offending

What's Your Story RE-LAUNCHED for 2011


    It's BIGGER than last year!

    What’s Your Story? 2011 is a new and inspirational young offender engagement project designed by User Voice, at the invitation of the Youth Justice Board.

    Between now and the Annual Youth Justice Convention in November, User Voice will be working across England & Wales with 600 young people who have experience of the youth justice system.

    50 of these young people, selected by their peers, will attend the Convention to discuss their issues and experiences with 50 leading representatives of the system.

    Nothing like this has ever been done before on this scale!

    See our dedicated MICROSITE for further information.

    Alternatively email info@uservoice.org

      or call 020 3137 7471.


        London Probation Trust Service User Council Pilot

        Our latest project is something never tried before!

        It is an amazing and unique opportunity for users of probation services to have their voices heard.

        London Probation Trust (LPT) has commissioned User Voice to develop service user councils in four London boroughs:
        1. Greenwich
        2. Haringey
        3. Kingston & Richmond
        4. Tower Hamlets

        So if you are on Probation in one of these boroughs, click here for further information!

        YOU are needed to help improve services!



          HMP Maidstone Scores High in MQPL Survey

          The objective of the Measuring the Quality of Prison Life Survey conducted by the National Offender Management Service is to explore prisoner perceptions of their quality of life.

          The questionnaire consists of 128 statements such as
          'This is a decent prison' or
          'We spend too much time locked up'

          and participants are given the following options:
          1. Strongly disagree
          2. Disagree
          3. Neither agree nor disagree
          4. Agree
          5. Strongly agree

          The statements are divided into 21 themes.

          Relative to other prisons, HMP Maidstone recorded a high score for the Personal Autonomy theme.

          Extracts from the Findings in Context section from the draft report:

          “The Governor explained that in conjunction with the charity organisation User Voice, substantial efforts had been made to introduce a democratically elected prisoner council which was in operation at the time of the survey and which afforded prisoners an avenue to air their views and to take part in identifying problems, suggesting solutions and thus being involved in the running of the prison.

          “He described this as a successful exercise which directly involved a substantial proportion of the population, enabled staff and prisoners to work collaboratively, and addressed issues that affected all prisoners.

          “Hence, he suggested, this was one of the significant explanations for prisoners at Maidstone having more positive than average perceptions of Personal Autonomy, referring to aspects such as
          'I have no control over my day-to-day life here' and
          'The regime in this prison allows me opportunities for me to think for myself'
          (prisoners were relatively even more positive in response to 'You can keep your personality in this prison').

          “He also suggested that this work was a major contribution to the high score for the Harmony dimensions, and if this were true for Personal Autonomy and Harmony then it could perhaps also apply to aspects of other dimensions such as Bureaucratic Legitimacy and Personal Development.”






            User Voice keeps getting BIGGER....

            User Voice are pleased to announce that our front-line team has expanded to keep pace with an increased demand for our services, including:


          • contracts to establish Prison Councils for G4S at HMP Rye Hill and HMP Wolds;

          • What's Your Story? 2011 involving 600 young people across the country; and

          • a contract from London Probation Trust to pilot our Council Model in a community setting.



          • We have therefore recruited 4 ex-offenders to help us deliver our current projects:


          • 1 full-time Programme Manager based in Birmingham; and

          • 3 part-time Assistant Programme Managers based in London.




          • Exciting times ahead....






              User Voice has moved to a NEW OFFICE...

              As a result of recent successful projects and an increasing demand for our services, User Voice is expanding.

              Our continued growth means we need more office space and we have therefore relocated to Kennington.

              Our new address is:

              20 Newburn Street
              London
              SE11 5PJ


              Click here for a map.

              We also have a new number:

              020 3137 7471