Birmingham City Council launches landmark Justice Health Needs Assessment
Partners across health, local government, criminal justice and the voluntary sector came together on the 20th of May to launch Birmingham’s first comprehensive Justice Health Needs Assessment (JHNA).
The JHNA highlights the significant health inequalities experienced by people in contact with the criminal justice system and calls for a more coordinated, preventative and trauma-informed response across the city. It identifies justice health as both a public health and health inequalities issue, shaped by wider factors including poverty, trauma, school exclusion, neurodivergence, homelessness, mental ill health and substance misuse. The report highlights that children entering into custody from Birmingham frequently have complex needs such as special educational needs and a history of contact with mental health services. It also shows that Birmingham imprisonment rate is around 75% higher than the national average and one of the highest rates of first-time entrants to the youth justice system in England and Wales.
Drawing on quantitative analysis, stakeholder engagement and peer-led lived experience research, the JHNA sets out 27 recommendations aimed at improving prevention, continuity of care, partnership working and support for people moving between custody and the community. The assessment calls for stronger cross-sector collaboration between health, education, housing, probation, prisons, youth justice, local government and community organisations, with a particular emphasis on early intervention, trauma-informed practice, neurodivergence-aware services, and addressing the wider determinants of health and reoffending.
The Public Health Team and the Birmingham Voluntary Service Council Research Directorate, supported by the University of Wolverhampton, hosted the report launch at the Council House, amongst key stakeholders who will work in partnership to implement the report recommendations. The launch event included creative work, personal reflections from people with lived experience of contact with the justice system and featured a thought-provoking interactive performance by Geese Theatre Company. It brought together system leaders, practitioners, researchers, and lived experience subject matter experts to begin discussions on translating the findings into coordinated action for Birmingham.
Sally Burns, Director of Public Health at Birmingham City Council, said: “This report makes clear just how serious the health inequalities are for people in contact with the justice system across Birmingham. Too many individuals are facing complex challenges like trauma, poor mental health and unmet needs, that existing services are not addressing consistently or early enough.
“The case for change is evidenced. It underlines the need to act now, working differently across services and focusing much more on prevention and early support. By coming together across organisations, we have a real chance to improve lives and reduce these inequalities for our residents.”
Sophie Wilson, Director of Research at BVSC, said: “This assessment is the result of a genuine collaboration - across research, public health, criminal justice and, most importantly, people with direct experience of the system. What comes through clearly in the data, and even more powerfully in people's own words, is that the health needs of people in contact with the criminal justice system in Birmingham are substantial, interconnected, and too often unmet.
BVSC Research is proud to have supported this work alongside Birmingham City Council’s Public Health team and the University of Wolverhampton. The 27 recommendations provide a practical foundation for change, and the launch showed real appetite across the city to act on them together."
Read the full report here and contact Birmingham City Council public health to get involved phinequalities@birmingham.gov.uk.
