Given the current and evolving situation with the COVID-19 (C-19) pandemic, the Trailblazers Board and CEO took the following decisions on 17 March:

1. with immediate effect, to suspend all in-prison mentoring by our volunteers
2. with immediate effect, all community mentoring to be carried out on a remote basis i.e. via telephone, email, messaging etc.
3. our Project Managers to work from home with potential limited access to our prison sites governed by our internal protocols, any that are prescribed by HMPPS, and Government requirements

From the start of this crisis our response to C-19 has been driven by two over-arching operating principles:

1. The health and well-being of our staff, our volunteers, our mentees and our colleagues within the wider HMPPS community
2. To follow and consistently apply the latest government and official guidelines on protecting ourselves, our families, friends and colleagues.

During these exceptional times Trailblazers will continue to do what it can to support the young men we work with whilst ensuring our compliance with all guidelines and enforcements which we are reviewing on a daily basis.

John Shepherd
24 March 2020