Adult probation services under the government’s Transforming Rehabilitation programme continue to present a mixed picture, though some improvements are evident, said Paul Wilson, Chief Inspector of Probation. Today HM Inspectorate of Probation published a third report on the early implementation of the government’s Transforming Rehabilitation programme.

The report, Transforming Rehabilitation – Early Implementation 3: an Independent Inspection of the Arrangements for Offender Supervision by HM Inspectorate of Probation relates to findings from inspections undertaken between March and May 2015. Inspectors focused on work undertaken at the point of sentence and allocation by the National Probation Service (NPS), work undertaken by the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the NPS to manage offenders, and the interfaces between the two organisations in respect of enforcement and risk review.

The NPS and CRCs came into existence on 1 June 2014 as part of the Ministry of Justice Transforming Rehabilitation programme. This was the first step in a series of changes designed to open up the probation market to new providers, reduce reoffending rates and allow the NPS to focus on managing high-risk offenders, those eligible under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements and foreign national offenders subject to deportation. All court work is delivered by the NPS. CRCs are not involved in preparing reports for court. They manage cases presenting low and medium risk of serious harm. CRCs were transferred from public to private ownership on 1 February 2015.

Overall, inspectors found that many of the challenges identified in earlier inspections remain. In particular:

• within the NPS, inconsistent application of the Risk of Serious Recidivism tool was leading to mistakes in allocation;
• the variable quality of risk of harm assessments was a continuing concern; and
• within Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) there were inconsistent standards in relation to risk of harm assessment, likelihood of reoffending assessment and recording of escalation and breach processes.

However, inspectors were pleased to find that:

• use of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements and restrictive requirements was good;
• risk escalation processes between CRCs and the NPS have improved; and
• staff in CRCs and the NPS felt under workload pressures but offenders noticed little change and were generally happy with the service they received.

In order to drive improvements, inspectors made a further ten recommendations, including suggesting that the NPS establishes a quality assurance system to improve the accuracy of the completion of the Risk of Serious Recidivism tool and that the NPS improves the quality of some of its risk of harm assessments, particularly the management of risk of harm to children. Recommendations for CRCs include improving the quality of likelihood of reoffending assessments and ensuring they have effective management oversight structures in place for cases where there are concerns over the level of risk of harm.

Paul Wilson said:

“Our findings are broadly similar to our last report published in May 2015, and such is the scale of changes this is no great surprise. We will continue to monitor the implementation of Transforming Rehabilitation until March 2016. With the passage of time, we do expect to see evidence that our recommendations have been progressed by the National Offender Management Service, National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Companies.

“In April 2016 we will introduce the new Quality and Impact inspection programme. By combining assessment of quality of work with evaluation of impact on offenders we will provide better evidence through which delivery organisations can be held to accord for their performance and we will be better able to highlight specific ‘enablers’ or ‘barriers’ to the goal of reducing reoffending rates and protecting the public from harm.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

1. A copy of this report can be found on HM Inspectorate of Probation’s website at http://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation from 10 November 2015.
2. HMI Probation is an independent inspectorate, sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, and reporting directly to the Secretary of State on the effectiveness of work with adults, children and young people who have offended, aimed at reducing reoffending and protecting the public. Further information about the work of HMI Probation is at http://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation.

Please contact Jane Parsons in HMI Probation Press Office on 020 3681 2775 or 07880 787452 if you would like more information.