When

What to do, and where to start

3 - 6 months before your release date

Decide where you want to live. Get copies of application forms and start applying to the housing associations for a flat or house, whichever suits your needs. You can download copies of the application forms for ALL the housing associations that are active in Bedfordshire, from this site. See the "ACCOMMODATION" button above and follow the links from it. Get someone on the CARAT team to help you fill them out. If you don't already have one, then getting a driving license should also be a priority that you can deal with whilst you are in prison or another institution. The Family Welfare Association (Money > Trust Funds) is receptive to applications for funding to pay for driving lessons for people inside or outside. They'll want you to get part of the funding from another source, but will usually give (£150 - £200) about half of the cost.

Make a funding list of the things you will need, i.e. - clothing and footwear; furniture; fixtures and fittings; utensils; pots and pans; beds and bedding; driving license; kitchen white goods (cooker, fridge/freezer, washing machine/dryer, etc); education and training;  stuff to fill out your flat/house. Now find out which trust funds will give you these things or money for them. Get copies of the application forms, then get someone on the CARAT, education, or probation team to help you fill them out, as they will probably need to get someone on civvy street to "administer" the money, (not many of these trusts will send you the money directly, as they usually prefer to get some "responsible person" to cash the cheque). But other trusts have a deal with suppliers to send you the stuff directly. For example, the Glasspool Trust has a deal with Comet Stores, so they always send things like a new cooker, fridge/freezer, washing machine, bed and bedding, sofa, etc, directly from Comet to your flat. Other small things like crockery, pots and pans, towels, etc., they send a cheque to a responsible person, like a probation officer, social worker, hostel manager, or someone of that nature.

Open a bank or building society account whilst you're still inside, as it is a LOT easier to do then than after you get out. You'll need one for wages / salary and benefits payments once you're out, as a lot of companies now will only employ you if they can pay you directly into one of these accounts. The Nationwide Building Society and Barclays bank and others like it, will open a current account with £1.00, provided you can show 2 things :--

• Proof of address (a headed notepaper letter from your personal officer, and any official paperwork that has been posted to you, such as utility bills, solicitors letters);
• Proof of Identity (a driving license, passport, birth or marriage certificate, or your jail ID card with a letter from your personal officer to back it up and verify it);

If you don't have the required proofs of identity as listed here, then ask at the bank / building society what alternative forms of ID they'll accept, as they more often than not will accept alternatives.
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Get a check done on what welfare benefits you are going to be entitled to on release, by the local Citizens Advice Bureau adviser who comes into your prison / institution, who will see you either inside (most prisons have them in at least once a month if not once a fortnight) or on a day out of your institution (cat C + D prisons allow a day out for this purpose, so apply for one now). If you have, or can get, access to online access (maybe on home leave or days out), you can do a check yourself by going to www.entitledto.co.uk and filling out the questionnaire which will calculate your benefits for you.
Phone the DWP on the numbers below and get the welfare benefit application forms that will apply to your situation after release and get them completed and sent into the DWP in the area where you are going to live prior to your release, as it can be hard getting help to do this after you are out, depending on where you will be living. If you’re going to be living in a large town / city, then there will be a few organisations such CAB’s that will help you fill them in, but if you are going to be living in a small town or village, then getting help will be a lot more difficult.
It will take up to a few days if not a week, to get your first benefits payment AFTER you have signed on, and your benefits entitlement will only begin the day you made an application for these benefits such as JSA, HB, and CTB. In the Bedfordshire region, you MUST first claim by telephone on 0845 603 2451. You’ll  be sent a statement recording the details you've given and an appointment to attend an interview;
OR you can apply online via the internet at this web address http://www.dwp.gov.uk/eservice/# ;
OR go to the jobcentre (on home leave / day out) where they have free telephones set up for this purpose;
OR ask your Personal Officer to set you up with an appointment via the FreshStart initiative with JobCentrePlus (this should be done a 3-4 weeks before your release date)
FOR the Bedford region, get the education / probation team to phone the numbers below on your behalf to ask for the forms :--

Wyvern House
55 Bromham Road
Bedford
MK40 2EH
Telephone: 01234 361500

73 High Street
Biggleswade
Bedfordshire
SG18 0JH
Phone: 01767 275750
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If you have a NI number but can’t find it, contact the National Insurance Registration Helpline on 0845 915 7006 and ask for a 'Letter of Confirmation' of your National Insurance number. If  you don't have one then write away for one now to :--

• Inland Revenue NI Contributions office,
• General Index,
• Longbenton,
• Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
• NE98-1ZZ

You will need "official" proof of your NI number for a variety of things such as benefits, (it has become your national ID number used by a wide variety of agencies).
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If you don't have accommodation organised by now, then it's time to start finding out what other options you will have on release, such as hostels, bed + breakfast, privately rented flats, (or a mortgage if you have plenty of money spare). There are links to these in the ACCOMMODATION pages. You're probably going to come up against someone at the Council housing department (or at BPHA who do a lot of the work for the Council) who will say that you are "intentionally homeless" as a result of having put yourself in prison by committing offences".
Don't stand for this, as it is an excuse being used by some housing officers to deny the homeless coming out of prisons the right to be treated equally. It is in serious need of a test case to test the law. If you are willing to threaten them with a lawsuit that will test this assertion in Court, they are likely to back down and give you a place to live, because they know that if you do get the matter into a court, and you do win, then that would open the flood-gates for similar applications (which is why they are “likely to” cave in and offer you a place.) You have a right to be treated as a "vulnerable person" and therefore be given priority treatment in re-housing. I'm currently doing research into this and will post the results here in much more detail when I get it all together.
If you need a deposit for "key-money" for a private landlord, then go to the local Housing Aid Centre. In Bedford, this is BHAC at 7a St Pauls Square - next to the Town Hall - which have some money to give as grants for "reasonable sized" deposits.
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Find out now, who you will have to see on release and where you will have to see them, then make yourself a check-list with a space left for the time you'll need to see them.
For example, you might need to :--

1. pick up the keys to your flat if you've been allocated one and sign forms;
2. see a private landlord to pay a deposit and get the keys;
3. sign on for benefits at the job-centre;
4. sign on with a doctor and dentist;
5. stock up on essentials like food, toiletries;

With a map (see the Maps pages above) of the area with the locations of everyone you'll have to see, you can easier plan your days after release .

1 - 14 days before your release date

Make sure that the bulk of any property you have inside is either already taken out on home-leaves or by visitors. If not, then start arranging to post it out via courier company like Fed-Ex or ParcelForce, because trying to hump a lot of property and / or old paperwork across the country on public transport is REALLY hard work. Make sure you include the stuff that is kept in storage in reception AND what is held at Branston storage depot on your behalf. DON'T leave it till the last couple of days or hours.