Scheme closes due to lack of funds

One of Wales’s few round-the clock supported housing schemes for young offenders has been forced to close due to a funding shortage.

The Heddfan unit in Llandudno, North Wales, run by Nacro, has shut and its four residents transferred to alternative housing after a £49,000 three-year grant from Conwy Council ended.

The money had made up a shortfall in Supporting People Revenue Grant funding. Heddfan was one of the few units across  Wales to provide 16- to 21- year-old young offenders with 24- hour housing and support.

Vin Murtagh, Nacro’s North Wales housing area manager, said: “The scheme was important because many young people coming out of young offenders’ institutions or the care system aren’t ready for fully independent accommodation without support. Without it you will be setting them up to fail.”