We campaign alongside the people we support to create meaningful change on the issues which matter to them. Our campaigns are informed by their experiences, as well as by the expertise of our frontline staff supporting thousands of people across the country.
We are ambitious and independent, developing evidence-based policy solutions designed to overcome barriers across justice, housing, health and further education policy. We collaborate with others to create change and to help build a fairer society.
Phone calls are more expensive in prison than they are in the outside world, and people in prison are paid very little, sometimes as little as £10 a week or less. Nacro, alongside the Justice ExChange, called for increased prison wages and cheaper call pricing so people in prison can help maintain connections with their loved ones. We were pleased to see that in February 2025 prison wages were increased by £1 per week and then in April 2025 call costs in public prisons were reduced by 20% to all UK landline and UK mobile numbers.
The discharge grant (or subsistence payment) is a one-off payment given to people when they leave prison. We campaigned for an increase in this payment which is critical for people to buy the basics in the first few days after release. In May 2021 the Government increased the Discharge Grant from £46 to £76 – the first time the payment had increased since 1996. Following the commitment to increase this in line with inflation the discharge grant now stands at £82.39 in 2022.
Following our campaign, which highlights the challenges of Friday releases for people leaving prison, the Government announced in June 2022 they would legislate to end Friday releases for those with high resettlement needs. On the 2nd of December 2022, legislation was introduced to Parliament as a Private Member’s Bill.
Currently, hundreds of people are released from prison homeless every month. Following our campaigning, the Government have committed to ensuring twelve weeks of transitional accommodation for all prison leavers at risk of homelessness. This aims to ensure that no one leaves prison homeless.
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