This innovative service opened its doors in December 2003 with the intention of offering women a “time out” of their normal, usually challenging circumstances – without resorting to a custodial sentence – where they could explore and address the causes of their offending behaviour. For 20 years, 218 has delivered a significant service providing options to improve the outcomes for women involved in the justice system and to address the root causes of their offending.

Turning Point Scotland participated in a review of the 218 service in 2023 with Glasgow City HSPC and an agreed service specification with a budget for the service of £1.37 million for the service to run with eight beds. Following this review, an ‘accommodation with support- female residential service’ tender was released with an approximate 50% cut to a maximum of £650,000. We had no prior knowledge of Glasgow City HSCP intention to cut the budget for the service by approximately 50%.

Turning Point Scotland took the difficult decision to not bid for the tender as the residential provision as configured could not be delivered.

For the women using the service, a planned programme and clear communication was provided to support the women through their remaining stay in the service with a focus on recovery and housing for their integration back to their communities.

Staff within the service are being supported alongside Unite the Union through consultation to identify individual options for suitable redeployment to enable us to retain the knowledge, skills and experience of our valuable colleagues.

Turning Point Scotland are deeply saddened by the closing of the 218 service.