Julia Rausing Trust has donated £5m to women's justice charity One Small Thing to help develop its pilot offering a residential alternative to prison for women and their children for use across the country.

The money will support the charity’s running of its Hope Street project in Hampshire and is the third grant from the Rausing family over the last six years and its largest to date.

The funding will help the charity to carry out research into the effectiveness of the project to see if how it can be replicated as an alternative to custody for women across England and Wales.

The project, which is being evaluated by the University of Southampton, is the first purpose built residential facility specifically designed for women to prevent “unnecessary imprisonment and maternal separation”, explained the Trust.

“Children can stay with their mothers in a safe environment with tailored and ongoing support,” it added.

The Trust was created in memory of philanthropist the late Julia Rausing, who along with her husband Hans Rausing have been funding good causes through its predecessor trusts since the 1990s.

“None of our achievements to date would have been possible without the invaluable support of Julia Rausing and her husband Hans,” said One Small Thing chief executive Claire Hubberstey.

“Her support has already delivered a huge impact in helping us to achieve our core aims of reducing women’s imprisonment and preventing maternal separation.

“We are now in a position to scale our work and deliver much needed change.

“We are delighted that the Julia Rausing Trust, set up in her name, continues to believe that our work can create transformational change for women in contact with the justice system.

“With a new government in power and a national action plan due on reducing women’s imprisonment, we have an important opportunity to use our learning to achieve real, lasting change.”

Trust director Simon Fourmy added: “Julia Rausing understood that women caught up in the criminal justice system face specific challenges.

“She therefore saw the importance of One Small Thing’s aim of preventing the unnecessary imprisonment of women and resulting separation from their children.

“The Hope Street residential project shows that there is another way, providing a safe alternative to prison where women can recover from trauma and maintain familial relationships.”

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