Calculate Release Dates Service wins ‘Justice Together’ prize at MoJ awards

The Calculate Release Dates Service (CRDS) has been awarded the ‘Justice Together’ prize at the annual Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Awards, celebrating exceptional cross-departmental collaboration delivering critical innovation at a national scale.  

Selected from over 800 nominations, the CRDS project is a powerful example of what can be achieved when digital expertise, operational knowledge, and policy insight come together with a shared purpose. The award, presented at London’s historic Lancaster House, acknowledges the transformative impact this service has had in supporting more accurate sentence calculations across the prison estate.

Addressing a critical challenge

The current prison population of England and Wales is over 85,000 people. With that scale comes complexity – particularly when legislation changes. In August 2024, urgent changes to Standard Determinate Sentences (SDS40) required release dates to be recalculated for thousands of people, with only two weeks to act. Without coordinated action, this could have placed huge pressure on Offender Management Units (OMUs), who were already managing heavy workloads. CRDS, a digital replacement for the legacy service and already in trial in some prisons, helped meet that challenge head-on. Working across policy, legal, digital and operational teams, the service was rapidly enhanced and rolled out to all 124 prisons in just six weeks providing staff with the tools they needed to deliver accurate decisions, at pace.

Delivering value together 

Our work was built on deep collaboration and a commitment to understanding the real-world challenges faced by prison staff before implementing technological solutions. We immersed ourselves in the complexity of prison policy rules through user research, service design, and business analysis, uncovering the pain points and pressures faced by Offender Management Units (OMUs).  

We learned that the policies and processes require prison staff to consider a myriad of different factors: the sentences and offences, their quantity, whether consecutive or concurrent, applicable legal schedules, and any adjustments in terms of days needing to be added or removed. This is all in addition to understanding the intricate policy rules surrounding the calculations themselves. By employing exploratory research methods, backed up with quantitative analysis, we identified opportunities to streamline processes and reduce administrative strain.  

We created an agile partnership model enabling us to respond swiftly during critical prison capacity challenges. We reprioritised our roadmap and brought new, creative ideas that helped policy teams and key operational stakeholders make informed decisions. We developed robust analytics, including live dashboards that offered near real-time insights into the service’s impact, supporting policy and operational decision-making. 

We built in sustainability from the start. Our team co-created a calculation engine that is owned and managed in-house, with the flexibility to adapt to future legislative changes. By working openly, prioritising collaboration and shared learning throughout the process, we’ve established a foundation for ongoing success and continuous improvement.

The power of collaboration 

What made this project special was its truly collaborative nature. The initiative brought together colleagues from across Justice Digital, Policy, Legal, HMPPS Gold Command, frontline operational teams in prisons, and Version 1 – all united by a shared commitment to improving how release dates are calculated.  

“An absolute Godsend”

This is how one user described CRDS as, during the SDS40 implementation, highlighting how the service provided vital support precisely when prison staff needed it most.  

Interim Permanent Secretary Amy Rees, speaking at the awards ceremony, emphasised that the team had gone beyond simply “doing their jobs”, they had demonstrated what it means to deliver justice in complex, high-pressure environments.