WY-FI Report - Surviving in a Revolving Door

‘Surviving in a Revolving Door’ is the second report from year seven of West Yorkshire Finding Independence. The report focuses on how people experiencing multiple needs are high intensity users of the criminal justice system, and that without the right support, they will potentially recirculate from custody to crisis and back to custody.

The report recommends improvements to direct support for people with multiple needs, including consistent risk assessments, community-based alternatives to custody and sustainable accommodation.

It also calls for more strategic leadership, at a West Yorkshire level through the Integrated Care Strategy, Public Health Directors, the West Yorkshire Housing Network and the Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner. This leadership should include the voice of lived experience.

Finally, the report asks for a public health approach, incorporating planned pathways through multiple services and the development of trauma informed practice across services.

Mark Burns-Williamson, the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire said: “This report makes for impactful reading, however, it does more than simply reinforce  what we already know about the way we continue to fail those with multiple and complex needs. Instead it offers practical ways we can take this cohort off the “too hard to do” pile, and reverse the status quo by putting them at the top of our list of priorities”.