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Ormiston Families Impact Report 2023/24

Ormiston Families is an East of England charity supporting vulnerable children and families facing imprisonment, bereavement, mental health difficulties, additional needs and child removal. In 2023/24, the charity worked directly with 5,129 families across 5 counties through 21,774 sessions of support, and welcomed 66,279 prison visitors across 8 prison visit centres — all despite a 20% income reduction to £7.143m. Key services include Breaking Barriers (children of prisoners), Prisoner Family Services, YOUnited (mental health), Stars (bereavement), Supporting Smiles, Mpower (mothers post-child removal) and Stronger Together (SEND families). 89% reported feeling safer, 84% emotionally healthier. The charity won an Early Intervention Award and received £5.14m in government funding.

Report snapshot
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About

Breaking Barriers (one-to-one support for children with a parent in prison); Prisoner Family Services (visit centres at 8 East of England prisons); Probation Family Services (314 people on probation orders); YOUnited (mental health and counselling for under-25s in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough — 1,636 young people supported); Stars bereavement counselling (136 children, 750+ sessions); Supporting Smiles (1,122 children in Norfolk and Waveney); Mpower (120 parents who had a child removed into care; nearly 2,000 sessions); Stronger Together (790 children with SEND in Cambridgeshire) Custom geography from upload: East of England (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Fenland)

Key Metrics

Key Metric 1 5,129 families worked with directly through 21,774 sessions of support across 5 counties — a 7% increase in direct work despite a 20% reduction in income year-on-year
Key Metric 2 66,279 prison visitors welcomed across 8 prison visit centres over 1,554 visit sessions — a 10% increase — supporting families to maintain ties with loved ones in custody
Key Metric 3 89% of people reported feeling safer, 84% felt emotionally healthier, and 86% felt more able to deal with life's challenges after accessing Ormiston Families services

Key Outcomes

  • 89% of service users reported feeling safer, 84% emotionally healthier and 86% more resilient after working with Ormiston Families — achieved across 5,129 families and 21,774 sessions, despite a 20% income reduction, by strengthening partnerships, improving back-office systems and expanding the Mpower service into Peterborough and a new statutory commissioning model in Norfolk
  • 186 children supported by the Breaking Barriers service to cope with a close family member's imprisonment, alongside 66,279 prison visitors welcomed at 8 visit centres — maintaining family ties shown to reduce reoffending rates and break intergenerational cycles of offending
  • The Mpower service — supporting women who have had children removed into care — grew in 2023 with a new Peterborough team and a trailblazing Norfolk tender win for a publicly commissioned service that is the first of its kind in the country, addressing the 1-in-4 risk of repeat child removal for mothers who are left unsupported

Geography

East of England

Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
8,033 children, adults and families affected by a disappearance helped in 2022/23
Key Metric 2
35,064 TextSafe® messages sent to missing children and adults; 2,960 Suicide Risk TextSafe® messages to high-risk individuals
Key Metric 3
40% of Lost Contact tracing cases successfully resolved; 1,000+ multi-agency professionals trained
30th anniversary year: over 10 years and £10 million raised by players of People's Postcode Lottery for Missing People's services
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
CHF 3 million+ total programme funding raised in 2025 — a record — with CHF 1.3 million redeployed directly to YMCA National Movements
Key Metric 2
2.5 million people reached through digital skilling initiatives via HP partnership across 30 YMCA partners since 2021
Key Metric 3
37,000 people directly reached per Community Wellbeing project (1.3 million indirectly); 85 new Change Agents enrolled from 44 countries
5,000 jobs to be created under Igniting Youth Futures (USD 5.2 million Accenture/Macquarie-funded); 750+ young people already reached at year-end
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
95 individual young people in under-16s groups; 85 in over-16s groups; 42 in Transformers (trans/non-binary); 114 young people supported through 385 one-to-one sessions
Key Metric 2
149 parents and carers supported across 44 online and in-person groups; 3,500+ participants in training and workshops across 97 sessions
Key Metric 3
96% of young people said Allsorts groups had been of help; 75% said coming to Allsorts improved their overall wellbeing
Won Investing in Children's Member of the Year Award for extensive youth voice integration; 100% of Summer Programme participants enjoyed activities
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
33,600+ people directly supported; 52,000+ indirectly supported (2025)
Key Metric 2
£19.6M raised in fundraising income, up £3.4M on 2024
Key Metric 3
352 socially isolated people supported by community outreach (up 11%)
97% of caseworking enquiries received tailored intervention; 95% beneficiary satisfaction