User Voice

Who we are

User Voice exists to reduce the harm caused by crime and punishment.  We believe that the justice system can and should fundamentally change, so that people caught up in it can transform their lives, benefitting victims and increasing public safety.  

We play a vital role in this aim by working alongside people in prison and wider society with convictions – to support them and enable them to play a meaningful role in creating a better justice system that works for all, through a range of consultations, peer commissioning, peer research, and prison councils, in partnership with service providers and commissioners. We are currently working in 40 prisons across England, with 100 lived experience volunteers, reaching over 1, 000 people in the system a month, giving us the largest organisational range in terms of lived experience insights. 

We do this because we’ve been there – in court, in prison, on probation – so we understand the challenges first hand and use our lived expertise to inform our model. Nine out of ten of our staff have a criminal conviction and experience of mental health problems, problematic drug or alcohol use, homelessness, care, or exclusion.   

Our work challenges public stereotypes of those who commit crime – our core belief is that people can change and transform their lives. Over the past 15 years we have employed over 300 people who have been in prison. Our staff are role models - living examples of how those in the system can get out of it, can re-enter society and secure stable jobs and lives. Additionally, several prominent leaders in the criminal justice sector have volunteered or worked for User Voice: so, we have demonstrated that engaging people with convictions fosters personal development, career progression, and systemic change.  

We began our work in 2009, pioneering our council model which demonstrated how prisons can be safer and more effective when people in them have a say in how they are run. User Voice breaks down the barriers: the ‘them and us’, enabling prison staff and people in prison to work cooperatively together to improve prison environments, benefiting both the people in them and those that run them. For example, reducing prison violence and providing support for those suffering mental health crises.   

Our networks act as a sponge for experience, utilizing our lived experience consultants to gather the views and thoughts of hundreds more people which we then condense into solution focused reports, evaluations, briefings and publications for policy makers and those who commission, design and deliver services.  

In the last two years alone, we have spoken to more than 20,000 people within prison and probation settings. We’ve worked with HM Prison and Probation Service, HM Inspectorate of Probation, the NHS, local authorities and Police commissioners.  

Our lived experience consultants are credible messengers who break down barriers because they have lived it too. People in prison and those on probation open up to us, and through those honest and often difficult conversations we empower them to present solutions that improve people’s lives. This engagement has driven sector leading research such as Neurodiversity in the criminal justice system, the impacts of the drug Spice in prison, young people and women on probation and evaluation of drug diversion schemes. 

Our culture and values

At User Voice, our purpose is to change minds and transform lives by bringing together people impacted by the justice system with those who deliver its services to create much needed transformative change.

OUR VALUES

COLLABORATIVE

• We utilise a peer-led approach based on authentic insights-we listen, understand, and we learn, so we can drive change
• We are focused on solutions that work for all, recognising and valuing everybody’s role in the process
• We embrace partnership working recognising that system change requires commitment from multiple stakeholders, so we purposefully share our resources, knowledge and expertise

COLLABORATIVE

• We work to affirm the worth of everyone, as we know what it is like to lose dignity within the system
• We highlight and challenge structural inequalities and disparities
• We strive to hear, acknowledge and deeply understand the perspectives and lived experience of diverse communities, ensuring we give voice and agency to marginalized people to shape solution

RESILIENT

• We know we won’t succeed every time, we learn from our failures, support each other, bounce back and keep on going
• We shape our approach to meet the challenges of each environment and the changing needs of the people we support
• We have faith that we can overcome challenges, and that the justice system can change for the better

COMPASSIONATE

• We have genuine empathy based on our deep awareness of the significant impacts of crime on individuals and society
• We meet people without judgement and with care, believing intrinsically that people can change
• We recognise the complexity of everybody’s lives, and are committed to learning from the lived experience of others to actively drive improvements in the justice system

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

User Voice is strongly committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We value the  diversity of all our staff and recognise that their backgrounds and experiences positively contribute to how we deliver our services. 

We aim to treat everyone fairly and will actively promote equality and freedom from discrimination on the grounds of race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, marital or civil partner status, religion or belief, disability or age, pregnancy or trade union membership, or the fact they are part time worker or fixed term employee. We actively encourage job applications

from ex-offenders and we will promote freedom from discrimination on the grounds of past criminal record, subject only (in the case of job applicants) to a consideration of the individual’s future risk in the post they have applied for. 

We recognise that there are possible differences between physical sex and gender identity and will at no time discriminate against any person on the grounds of their gender identity; transvestitism; transsexualism; self- identity; non-binary; intersex conditions; or any process of gender re-assignment, begun or complete, and we are committed to operating in an environment of equality and inclusion for all.