National Information Centre on Children of Offenders (NICCO)

The National Information Centre on Children of Offenders (NICCO) was created to provide an information and support service for all professionals who come into contact with the children and families of offenders. The centre also provides information for academics and those responsible for strategic development and commissioning of family services. 

NICCO helps to develop, support and enhance the relationship between offenders and their families by supplying information and guidance to the professionals who are working with them both.  

The Centre is delivered as a partnership between Barnardo’s and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. 

The Directory of Services on NICCO allows the site to become a platform for prisons to promote what facilities and interventions they provide for both prisoners and their families as well as providing details of the partner agencies who deliver them. This will support the sharing of good practice and resources as well as encouraging a consistency of delivery of family services across the estate. 

The site also has a Directory of Resources which provides details of the huge number of tools, activities, practice models and guidance that have been developed by agencies to support offenders and their children and families. 

The Directory of Research contains quality assessed research to inform good practice, development and study. 

NICCO seeks to bridge the gap between the CJS and community based services as well as enabling HMPPS to compare what is available in the area of family support services across the prison estate, by having access to the information all in one place. 

This information may also assist in the HMIP process. 

In line with the recommendations of the Farmer Review the site has become the official repository of information about effective family work. As such NICCO exclusively publishes review updates as well as collating Family Strategy documents for all prisons in England and Wales. 

If you need any more information about the site, or wish to make a submission, please contact stuart.harrington@barnardos.org.uk