The Government’s new Public Service Reform Strategy makes a bold promise: services that are preventative, joined-up and efficient. The question is how.
Our latest New Routes Mentoring Annual Report (2024-25) supplies the answer. By placing a trusted mentor at the heart of a One Family – One Plan approach, we prevented an estimated 1,000 custody-days last year and helped 72 % of participants stay active in community life for six months or more. Those numbers translate directly into safer streets, reduced poverty and over £1.3 m in avoided prison costs.
Why it works
1. Relational trust – 91 % of participants pick up the phone to their mentor first in crisis.
2. Whole-family lens – Parenting support, restorative dialogue and practical help reunite families.
3. Digital backbone – Every customer leaves custody with a smartphone, data bundle and access to a live case-plan shared with housing, health and DWP teams.
So what’s the opportunity for 2026?
1. National Whole-Family Pathfinder (2026-29) – scale mentoring to cut remand & youth custody
2. Work-Ready Pathfinder – bolt skills and jobs onto the same relational model
3. 12-month Smart Spending Review on Relationships – audit today’s custody/remand spend and show how much shifts to prevention when mentoring replaces cell time
Call to action
The PSR Strategy tells us what must change. New Routes shows how it can change. Let’s hard-wire relational mentoring into the 2026 Manifesto and make Scotland the first nation where every justice-involved family gets the joined-up support they deserve.
