National strategy for community justice: delivery plan update 4 – June 2025

Strategic context

This update covers the six months from January to the end of June 2025, during which demands on Scotland’s community justice services have remained high. In February and March, implementation of the Prisoners (Early Release) (Scotland) Act 2025 saw the early release of 312 short-term prisoners, which required planning and collaboration amongst a range of justice partners and other organisations. Although the Act and its implementation fell outside the scope of the National Strategy for Community Justice, many of the justice partners involved contribute directly to the deliverables contained in this plan.

In terms of the actions relating to the delivery plan, one item of particular significance in this reporting period is the launch of the new national throughcare service, Upside, on 1 April. Delivered by a partnership of third sector organisations, with oversight by Community Justice Scotland, the service is backed by £5.3 million for the next three years and will help to provide more consistent voluntary throughcare support across Scotland. It will, for the first time, see support provided to men leaving periods of remand and will provide improved support for rural and island communities.

This fourth update to the delivery plan follows a period of two years since the publication of the initial plan in June 2023, which contained 41 deliverables. Where appropriate, new deliverables have been included in updates. In total, 10 additional deliverables have been added to the plan in this time, including one new deliverable in this update. However, as actions are completed this inevitably means that the number of active deliverables reduces in time. This reduction should not be interpreted as work simply ceasing, as in many cases the work progresses to a new or different stage of delivery. Where this is the case further details are provided, and community justice partners continue to work together in pursuit of the aims of the national strategy.