Victim Support identified the need for a research and development project that addressed the following issues:
•The refinement and development of the SOUL (Soft Outcomes, Universal Learning) Record methodology for use with the Victim Support Outreach Witness Service
•Evaluation of the use and impact of the new SOUL Record sheets used within the Victim Support Outreach Witness Service
•Overall evaluation and impact of the Victim Support Outreach Witness Service.
During the course of the three month trial period the staff and volunteers of the Victim Support Vulnerable and Intimidated Witness Outreach Service set up, and started to run, a tailored service with the aim of meeting the needs of vulnerable and intimidated witnesses.

The SOUL Record has been integrated into the service as a diagnostic tool. Given a longer period for service delivery, SOUL would also have been used to gauge the effectiveness of service provision; an important quality assurance measure and a move towards evidence-based practice. However, this was not possible in the time provided. The length of the trial period did not allow for the project outcomes addressing increased confidence in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and user satisfaction to be evidenced. 

Victim Support Norfolk has taken into consideration national priorities for VIW service provision and has planned and set up a service which according to all indications would have been a comprehensive and substantial addition to witness care in the area had it been able to continue. However, given the time-scale of the project, a number of the project outcomes were not achieved, and indeed, were not achievable. Greater preparation time would have been necessary to run a full service from the 1st January 2007 onwards, and only a longer trial period could have provided statistical evidence of service impact. If the service were to continue, further training and experience for volunteers would be necessary to allay concerns over providing this enhanced service in people’s homes. 

Resources and training developed during the trial provide a useful legacy to Victim Support Norfolk after the conclusion of the project. Witness Service volunteers are more informed about VIWs, all the resources are available for use by the core services and if further funding for the VIW service were made available this experience would ensure a quicker and smoother start-up period. An exit strategy ensures that the most vulnerable and intimidated witnesses do not receive a sudden drop in support.
Victim Support Norfolk should seek funding for a second, more comprehensive trial of the project. Ideally, this would run for between 12 and 18 months, and would place considerable importance on the collection of SOUL data over the duration of the project to provide rigorous statistical evidence of service impact.
In the case of a future trial receiving funding, volunteer training should be completed again with increased practical experience of using the SOUL record, and greater focus on explaining the health and safety safeguards in place when going out to people’s homes.
New volunteers should be recruited to complement experienced Witness Service volunteers who have already been trained.
Victim Support Norfolk should aim to avoid ‘one-off’ visits in favour of picking up cases at an earlier stage and seeing the VIW through to after the trial.
The service should continue on a face-to-face basis.
Victim Support Norfolk should aim to keep other agencies in the Criminal Justice System up-to-date and informed about new initiatives to encourage partnership working.

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