What throughcare is
Throughcare is a service provided to prisoners both during and after their sentence.
It aims to:
- help prisoners and their families to prepare for their release from prison and to reintegrate successfully in the community
- increase community safety and public protection by providing services aiming to reduce reoffending
- ensure that high-risk offenders are supervised and monitored after their release from prison.
Depending on the length and type of sentence the court has imposed, a person may be required to undertake a period of supervision upon their release from prison. This is known as statutory throughcare.
Any person on remand or serving a sentence can also ask justice social work for support and advice after their release even when there is no legal requirement to do so. This service is called voluntary throughcare.
Statutory throughcare
Statutory throughcare is provided for people who have been sentenced to custody where there are legal requirements for supervision on release from prison.
It monitors and supports the person and their families during the custodial sentence and following their release from prison.
Justice social work provides statutory throughcare services to people who have been sentenced to 4 or more years in prison and released on:
- life license
- parole license
- non-parole license
- extended sentence
- supervised released order
- short-term sex offender license
- order of lifelong restriction.
A justice social worker will keep in contact during the prison sentence and attend integrated care meetings with prison staff during the person’s time in custody.
The service provides assessment and review reports on the individual’s progress to court and the Parole Board.
If a person does not comply with an order’s requirement, this must be reported. This could lead to a recall and return to prison.
Voluntary throughcare
If a person has been remanded or sentenced to custody, and there are no legal requirements imposed when they are released, they can ask for help and advice from our justice social work service.
A person is entitled to request throughcare when they are placed in custody. This can also run throughout a sentence and for up to a year after their release.
If you would like to request voluntary throughcare from our justice social work service after your release from custody, contact us by:
- email: swbscriminaljustice@renfrewshire.gov.uk
- phone: 0300 300 1199
National throughcare service
Upside, Scotland’s national prison throughcare service, was launched in April 2025. It supports people moving from short-term custody (sentences under 4 years) or remand back into the community.
Upside has 8 charities involved in the delivery of the programme. In Renfrewshire, Action for Children is the lead delivery organisation and works closely with various partners.
It can support people with any issues they may experience on release, such as:
- health
- housing
- finance
- accessing wider community services.
As well as helping with immediate practical challenges a person may face, Upside also helps to link a person to other supports that may help rebuild their circumstances with dignity and purpose. People can be supported for up to 12 months.
Find out more about Upside national throughcare service (Upside website).
More information
If you want to find out more or discuss what services are available to you, contact our justice social work service by: