Overview
Introduction to Role: Neurodivergent individuals are overrepresented in the criminal justice system (CJS). Evidence suggests that half of the adult prison population can be expected to have needs arising from neurodivergence, compared with just 15-20% of the general population. Despite a sizable proportion of our prison population being likely to have needs arising from neurodivergence, HMIP (2021) conducted a report and identified significant gaps in the support available for neurodivergent people in prison. To improve support, the Rehabilitation and Change Directorate (previously the Reducing Reoffending Directorate) introduced the Band 6 Neurodiversity Support Manager (NSM). NSMs have been recruited across the prison service, including in both the English and Welsh estates. The latest update from HMIP (2025) highlights the successes and challenges of the role so far. The NSM is a specialist non-operational role with responsibility for supporting a whole prison approach to neurodiversity, including providing training and guidance to prison staff to equip them to better support neurodivergent individuals, and improving processes to identify and support prisoners to ensure they can access education, skills and work opportunities within the prison.
Responsibilities
* Focus on improving and ensuring that the quality of neurodiversity support and provision is at least good and moving towards outstanding. This is to include assessment of quality to inform the prison education, skills and work improvement plan which can be applied across various learning channels, e.g. classroom, industries, work areas, workshops, gym etc.
* Develop and maintain neurodiversity needs strategy for the prison, incorporating and working with key stakeholders.
* Develop and maintain the systems and structures to ensure that delivery of all Education, Skills and Work activity is appropriate to all cohorts. Recommend and test related solutions leading into an improvement plan. Working with Senior Management Team (SMT) to implement, maintain, invest and update it as necessary.
* Manage the collection and collating of data on neurodiversity at local level. Continually analyse and evaluate current practice for how neurodiversity provision is tailored to the needs of a wide range of prisoners, including those who are hard to reach, vulnerable prisoners, and those for whom English is not their first language.
* Track the progress of neurodivergent prisoners in education, learning and work, analyse data and identify any participation and achievement gaps and address these.
* Case manage prisoners who require additional support to access education, skills and work opportunities within the prison to ensure it is both appropriate and helpful. Ensuring individual prisoners’ neurodiversity related information is shared, appropriately and lawfully, with relevant prison teams.
* Ensure that the needs of neurodivergent prisoners are considered in terms of availability of activities, appropriate adaptations and reasonable adjustment as required and sufficient places by working with the Learning and Skills manager, Activities and industries managers.
* Raise awareness of Neurodiversity in the prison. Upskilling workforce to support a whole prison approach to supporting prisoners with neurodivergence using full staff briefings, internal communications and 1-2-1 processes.
* Work with key stakeholders to ensure that neurodivergent prisoners receive the support and advice that they need to help them prepare for a release into the community.
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