The two organisations providing probation services in Staffordshire and Stoke need to improve the quality and consistency of their work said Dame Glenys Stacey, HM Chief Inspector of Probation. Today she published the report of a recent inspection of probation work in Staffordshire and Stoke.

The inspection looked at the quality of probation work carried out by the CRC and NPS and assessed the effectiveness of work undertaken locally with people who have offended. It was the second inspection this financial year of adult probation work undertaken in the Midlands division of the NPS and a CRC owned by the Reducing Reoffending Partnership (RRP). The first was in Derbyshire.

The RRP has ambitious and innovative plans, and progress had been made since the earlier Derbyshire inspection. RRP was developing new software systems, which were not yet fully implemented, and a range of interventions to address people’s offending behaviour.  Some promising services were available for those struggling with addiction, and Inspectors were also pleased to see probation services designed specifically for women offenders. However, the CRC was still not delivering the full range of planned probation services.

Public protection work within the CRC was poor. High individual caseloads, with officers responsible for up to 80 cases, put the public at greater risk. Greater management oversight and quality assurance was needed to improve the quality of work.

In common with other regions, the Midlands division of the NPS has experienced less change and was more stable and effective. The NPS work was generally of sufficient quality, though there were notable weaknesses: rehabilitative services were not good enough and management oversight needed to improve.

Inspectors made recommendations which included the CRC developing systems to distribute the caseload more equally and improving the oversight and quality checking of medium risk of harm cases by managers.

Dame Glenys Stacey said:

“The CRC is making progress, and its ambitious plans for an effective probation service, to help turn people’s lives around and reduce re-offending, are delivering some good results in places. But too much of its bread and butter work to protect the public was wanting. Probation officers were encumbered with high caseloads, and with insufficient management oversight, this puts the public more at risk. The National Probation Service was working more successfully to protect the public, but still had room for improvement.”

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Notes to editors:

1. The report is available at justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation from 12 January 2017.
2. Since the introduction of Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) in June 2014, HM Inspectorate of Probation has reported on its implementation and produced the last of five Transforming Rehabilitation reports in May 2016. In April 2016, a new programme of regular inspection of adult probation services, known as Quality & Impact inspection, began. Staffordshire and Stoke is the sixth area to be inspected in that programme.
3. The former Staffordshire & West Midlands Probation Trust was last inspected in 2012 when services were being delivered well enough in each of three areas of work inspected: risk of harm to others, likelihood of reoffending, and compliance and enforcement. Since then, probation services had undergone significant changes as a result of the government’s Transforming Rehabilitation programme. In June 2014, Probation Trusts were abolished and probation work was divided between two separate organisations. The NPS primarily took over the management of offenders posing a high risk of serious harm to others and those subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). The NPS also had responsibility for staffing the courts, including writing pre-sentence reports and for victim contact work. The rest of the probation work was allocated to 21 newly created CRCs. In February 2015, the CRCs were sold to private companies.
4. The report looks at probation services delivered in Staffordshire and Stoke by the NPS Midlands division and the Staffordshire & West Midlands CRC. The CRC is wholly owned by the Reducing Reoffending Partnership (RRP), itself made up of three organisations: Ingeus (a private company) and two charities, St Giles’ Trust and Change, Grow, Live (CGL). RRP also owns the Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland CRC.
5. For further information please contact Jane Parsons at HMI Probation press office on 020 3681 2775 or 07880 787452.