diff --git a/splink/case_statements.py b/splink/case_statements.py
index a85080c12e..10498b4165 100644
--- a/splink/case_statements.py
+++ b/splink/case_statements.py
@@ -19,12 +19,28 @@ def _check_jaro_registered(spark):
     warnings.warn(
         "Custom string comparison functions such as jaro_winkler_sim are available in"
         " Spark Or you did not pass 'spark' (the SparkSession) into 'Model' You can"
-        " import these functions using the scala-udf-similarity-0.0.7.jar provided with"
+        " import these functions using the scala-udf-similarity-0.0.9.jar provided with"
         " Splink"
     )
     return False
 
 
+def _get_spark_jars_string():
+    """
+    Outputs the exact string needed in the sparkSession config variable `spark.jars`
+    In order to use the custom functions in the spark-udf-similarity-0.0.9.jar
+
+    """
+
+    import splink
+
+    message = "you will need to set it by adding .config('spark.jars','"
+    jarstr = splink.__file__[0:-11] + "jars/scala-udf-similarity-0.0.9.jar"
+    thx = "') to your sparkSession configuration. "
+
+    return message + jarstr + thx
+
+
 def _find_last_end_position(case_statement):
     # Since we're only interested in the position, case shouldn't matter.    stmt = case_statement.lower()
     case_statement = case_statement.lower()
diff --git a/splink/fallback.py b/splink/fallback.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0957da193a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/splink/fallback.py
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+import math
+
+
+def jc_sim_py(str1, str2):
+    """
+    Jaccard`similarity calculated exactly as in stringutils.similarity jaccard in Apache Commons
+    """
+
+    if not str1 or not str2:
+        return 0.0
+
+    k = 2  # default k in stringutil is 2 so leaving it like that for compatibility
+
+    # break strings into sets of rolling k-char syllables
+    a = set([str1[i : i + 1] for i in range(len(str1) - k + 1)])
+    b = set([str2[i : i + 1] for i in range(len(str2) - k + 1)])
+
+    # calculate instersection of two sets
+    c = a.intersection(b)
+
+    # return Jaccard similarity
+    return float(len(c)) / (len(a) + len(b) - len(c))
+
+
+def jw_sim_py(
+    first,
+    second,  # modification from original to not use other imput parameters
+):
+    """
+    Jaro-Winkler similarity calculated exactly as in stringutils.similarity_jaro_winkler in Apache Commons
+    using a modified version of the algorithm implemented by 'Jean-Bernard Ratte - jean.bernard.ratte@unary.ca'
+    found at https://github.com/nap/jaro-winkler-distance
+
+    used under the Apache License, Version 2.0 , with modifictions explicitly marked
+    """
+
+    if not first or not second:
+        return 0.0  # modification from original to give 0.0 in case of nulls instead of a an exception
+
+    scaling = 0.1  # modification from original to have constant scaling in order to have a comparable result to the stringutils implementation
+
+    def _get_diff_index(first, second):
+        if first == second:
+            return -1
+
+        if not first or not second:
+            return 0
+
+        max_len = min(len(first), len(second))
+        for i in range(0, max_len):
+            if not first[i] == second[i]:
+                return i
+
+        return max_len
+
+    def _score(first, second):
+        shorter, longer = first.lower(), second.lower()
+
+        if len(first) > len(second):
+            longer, shorter = shorter, longer
+
+        m1 = _get_matching_characters(shorter, longer)
+        m2 = _get_matching_characters(longer, shorter)
+
+        if len(m1) == 0 or len(m2) == 0:
+            return 0.0
+
+        return (
+            float(len(m1)) / len(shorter)
+            + float(len(m2)) / len(longer)
+            + float(len(m1) - _transpositions(m1, m2)) / len(m1)
+        ) / 3.0
+
+    def _get_prefix(first, second):
+        if not first or not second:
+            return ""
+
+        index = _get_diff_index(first, second)
+        if index == -1:
+            return first
+
+        elif index == 0:
+            return ""
+
+        else:
+            return first[0:index]
+
+    def _transpositions(first, second):
+        return math.floor(
+            len([(f, s) for f, s in zip(first, second) if not f == s]) / 2.0
+        )
+
+    def _get_matching_characters(first, second):
+        common = []
+        limit = math.floor(min(len(first), len(second)) / 2)
+
+        for i, l in enumerate(first):
+            left, right = int(max(0, i - limit)), int(min(i + limit + 1, len(second)))
+            if l in second[left:right]:
+                common.append(l)
+                second = (
+                    second[0 : second.index(l)] + "*" + second[second.index(l) + 1 :]
+                )
+
+        return "".join(common)
+
+    jaro = _score(first, second)
+    cl = min(len(_get_prefix(first, second)), 4)
+
+    return round((jaro + (scaling * cl * (1.0 - jaro))) * 100.0) / 100.0
diff --git a/tests/test_fallback.py b/tests/test_fallback.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3e565ed7d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_fallback.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import pytest
+from splink.fallback import jw_sim_py, jc_sim_py
+
+
+def test_fallback_jw_nodata():
+    assert jw_sim_py(None, None) == 0.0
+    assert jw_sim_py("something", None) == 0.0
+    assert jw_sim_py(None, "Something") == 0.0
+
+
+def test_fallback_jc_nodata():
+    assert jc_sim_py(None, None) == 0.0
+    assert jc_sim_py("something", None) == 0.0
+    assert jc_sim_py(None, "Something") == 0.0
+
+
+def test_fallback_jw_wikipedia_examples():
+    assert jw_sim_py("fly", "ant") == 0.0
+    assert jw_sim_py("elephant", "hippo") == 0.44
+    assert jw_sim_py("ABC Corporation", "ABC Corp") == 0.91
+    assert jw_sim_py("PENNSYLVANIA", "PENNCISYLVNIA") == 0.9
+    assert jw_sim_py("D N H Enterprises Inc", "D & H Enterprises, Inc.") == 0.93
+    assert (
+        jw_sim_py("My Gym Children's Fitness Center", "My Gym. Childrens Fitness")
+        == 0.94
+    )