Essex South Probation Delivery Unit (PDU) has received an overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’ following an inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation. This is the first inspection of this PDU since it was established under the unification of probation services in 2021.

Martin Jones, Chief Inspector of Probation, said: “Encouragingly, there were numerous positive aspects to this PDU, with strong strategic partnerships and impressive leadership. However, staffing has been a long-standing challenge and, whilst there has been some improvement recently, significant gaps remain. This is hampering the PDU’s ability to deliver quality casework to people on probation.”

Inspectors found the leadership at Essex South PDU to be innovative and responsive to the needs of the service, and highlighted ‘extremely impressive’ partnership services that utilised Regional Outcomes Innovations Funding to deliver projects strengthening the delivery of services in specific areas, such as domestic abuse.

The offer for women in the PDU was also excellent, with a multi-agency forum to discuss complex female cases that demonstrated the significant benefits for people on probation of developing effective relationships with local agencies.

The report confirms the quality of work to assess and manage risks in the community requires improvement. This was particularly critical in relation to implementation and delivery, only where 23 per cent of cases inspected were judged to effectively support the safety of other people, and supported an overall theme that there needed to be a stronger delivery of risk of harm-focused work across the PDU.

Mr Jones added: “Essex South PDU has much to be proud of, but, given its long history of recruitment difficulty, we consider that the current recruitment model operated nationally by the Probation Service is unlikely to be able to address its resourcing issues – a more localised incentive-based approach may be required. If improvements to staffing can be addressed and there is a focus on the quality of casework, the PDU can continue to progress on a very positive trajectory.”

The report makes five recommendations to Essex South PDU, including to ensure domestic abuse and child safeguarding information is analysed sufficiently to inform the quality of assessment and to improve the quality of work to assess, plan, manage and review the risk of harm.

ENDS

Notes to editor

1. Probation Delivery Units (PDUs) replaced Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS), which merged into a unified Probation Service in June 2021.
2. Essex South PDU is one of eight PDUs in the East of England region.
3. The report is available at justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation on 18 July 2024.
4. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth justice and probation services across England and Wales.
5. The Inspectorate uses a four-point scale: ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’, ‘Requires improvement’ and ‘Inadequate’. The Inspectorate rates specific aspects of each service and also gives an overall rating.
6. Fieldwork for this inspection took place in April 2024.
7. For media enquiries, please contact Louise Cordell, Head of Communications 07523 805224 / media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)