bthechange CIC

bthechange CIC Our team are vastly experienced in working with people with complex needs and from a range of diverse backgrounds and cultures.

Multi-award winning Community Interest Company spanning the Southwest of England and South Wales, dedicated to empowering first-time entrants, racially minoritised individuals, and women that are facing challenges within the criminal justice system. bthechange CIC is an award-winning Community Interest Company that operates across The Southwest of England and South & Mid Wales providing a range of life changing initiatives to directly support over a thousand individuals a year with moving forward with their lives that are either at risk of entering or who are in the criminal justice system. bthechange not only provides structured programmes for client support, but we also play an active role in system change, working with those ‘intermediaries’ whose policies, rules, processes, cultures, and attitudes affect people with convictions. We have specialists in our team that covers: Substance misuse (psychosocial motivational interventions relapse prevention – managing/recognising triggers), Finance Benefit and Debt, Welfare support including Housing, universal credit, bank account & I.D applications, Employment support – CV writing, job applications & Neurodivergent inclusive programmes. We are extremely committed and proud of being an equal opportunities and diverse organisation, of which is demonstrated by our team who come from a multitude of backgrounds, with varied cultures, beliefs, and sexual orientations. We truly are a company that represents society.

08/12/2025

'SWIFT AND FAIR' plan to get justice for victims.
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Victims will be put first under plans to modernise the criminal courts and cut delays, the Deputy Prime Minister has announced today.
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New ‘Swift Courts’ will see cases with a likely sentence of three years or less heard by a Judge alone - estimated to take 20% less time than a jury trial.
Handing courts the power to decide where cases are heard no longer allowing criminals to game the system and torment their victims.
Guaranteed jury trials for the most serious and almost all indictable offences – including r**e, murder, aggravated burglary, blackmail, people trafficking, grievous bodily harm and the most serious drug offences.
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https://www.gov.uk/government/news/swift-and-fair-plan-to-get-justice-for-victims

UK Government continues freeze on housing benefit.The decision to maintain the freeze on housing benefit will directly l...
05/12/2025

UK Government continues freeze on housing benefit.
The decision to maintain the freeze on housing benefit will directly lead to homelessness.
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At the Autumn Budget on 25 November, the UK Government confirmed that Local Housing Allowance – the rate which sets housing benefit – will be frozen until at least 2027.
This is a further real terms cut in support for those of us who need it most.
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No one should be forced into homelessness because they can’t afford their rent. This could be the reality for thousands more low-income households in the coming months.
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In the run-up to the budget, we fought hard for the Chancellor to end this freeze.
This decision is disappointing. But we stood up for what’s right – and that matters

https://www.crisis.org.uk/about-us/latest-news/uk-government-continues-freeze-on-housing-benefit/

05/12/2025

‘BAD GIRLS’ is how society labels women in prison.
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But what if that label is a lie?

Incarceration should be a last resort, yet this broken and brutal system punishes marginalised women, most of whom are inside for non-violent crimes

‘When you imprison a woman, you imprison a family,” a young woman in Sierra Leone told me, cradling her small baby in a damp cell. My mind flashed back to being a teenager, hearing my mother sob after receiving a phone call to say that my father had been arrested in Zambia for political reasons.

I understand how children are collateral damage of imprisonment, and over 20 years as a lawyer, I know that is even more true when women – primary caregivers – are arrested.
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https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/dec/03/prison-feminist-issue-jailing-marginalised-women-ruins-lives-children
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‘Bad girls’ is how society labels women in prison.-But what if that label is a lie?Incarceration should be a last resort...
05/12/2025

‘Bad girls’ is how society labels women in prison.
-
But what if that label is a lie?

Incarceration should be a last resort, yet this broken and brutal system punishes marginalised women, most of whom are inside for non-violent crimes

‘When you imprison a woman, you imprison a family,” a young woman in Sierra Leone told me, cradling her small baby in a damp cell. My mind flashed back to being a teenager, hearing my mother sob after receiving a phone call to say that my father had been arrested in Zambia for political reasons.

I understand how children are collateral damage of imprisonment, and over 20 years as a lawyer, I know that is even more true when women – primary caregivers – are arrested.
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https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/dec/03/prison-feminist-issue-jailing-marginalised-women-ruins-lives-children
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Women’s prisons are so dangerous they are actually ‘incapable’ of adequate reform according to new research which examin...
05/12/2025

Women’s prisons are so dangerous they are actually ‘incapable’ of adequate reform according to new research which examines recent deaths in the women’s estate.

Between 2014 – 2024, 109 people have died in women’s prisons according to Ministry of Justice data, a statistic that charity INQUEST says ‘lays bare’ the ‘failures of consecutive governments to safeguard the lives of some of the most marginalised people in society.’

INQUEST’s latest report into the harms faced by women in prison reveals deaths have consistently been caused by prison staff ignoring risks and failing to believe that prisoners are experiencing crisis. They highlight instances of women experiencing severe mental health needs telling staff they planned to take their own life only to be ignored, and later found dead. People in prison are ten times more likely to take their own life than those in the community.
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https://www.thejusticegap.com/10-more-years-of-womens-prison-deaths-reveal-system-incapable-of-reform/

03/12/2025

IMPACT ON WOMEN
Women represent only around 4% of the prison population in England and Wales, but short sentences disproportionately affect them.

The Senedd’s Equality and Social Justice Committee report previously identified several factors, based on evidence, that make this group particularly vulnerable:
DISRUPTION AND INSTABILITY:
They found women often receive sentences of one month or less for non-violent offences. Even brief periods in custody can lead to homelessness and family separation, with devastating consequences for children.
RISING NUMBERS:
Female imprisonment in Wales has increased in recent years.
SYSTEMIC CHALLENGES:
Wales has no dedicated women’s prison, weakening family ties and complicating resettlement.
ADDITIONAL CONCERNS:
Minority-ethnic women face disproportionate outcomes, and many women in custody have histories of trauma or are mothers. These factors compound the harm caused by short sentences.

https://research.senedd.wales/research-articles/sentencing-reforms-what-s-changing-and-why-it-matters-for-wales/

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