Research & Analysis Bulletins
Our Research & Analysis Bulletins are aimed at all those with an interest in the quality of probation and youth justice services, presenting key findings to assist with informed debate and promote excellence in probation and youth justice services.
The bulletins present findings from analysis of our inspection data and from new primary research projects.
2024
The quality of pre-sentence information and advice provided to courts – 2022 to 2023 inspections
30 August 2024 | Probation
The focus in this bulletin is upon the extent to which the Probation Service have been able to provide courts with advice which is sufficiently analytical, personalised to the individual, and supports the court’s decision making.
The supervision of care-experienced children within the youth justice system
24 May 2024 | Youth Justice
The focus in this bulletin is to provide evidence about care-experienced children’s involvement with YJSs from the perspectives of both professionals and children.
The interventions landscape for probation services: delivery, challenges and opportunities
28 March 2024 | Probation
The focus in this bulletin is upon the probation interventions landscape, providing an overview of how well the post-unification landscape is operating for those on the frontline, and considering good practices and areas for improvement.
Frontline leadership in probation and youth justice
18 January 2024 | Probation; Youth Justice
The focus in this bulletin is the need for operational middle managers in probation and youth justice services – the frontline leaders – to be able to focus upon leading, inspiring, and developing their teams to bring out the best in practitioners, in turn supporting the aims of reducing reoffending and protecting the public.
2023
The links between the quality of supervision and positive outcomes for people on probation
25 August 2023 | Probation
Three complementary bulletins which utilise our inspection datasets and examine the relationships between inspectors’ judgements regarding the quality of differing aspects of probation supervision and later output/outcome measures.
Exploring Contextual Safeguarding in youth justice services (PDF, 767 kB)
23 June 2023 | Youth Justice
The focus of this bulletin is to explore how Contextual Safeguarding is being used or understood within the youth justice context, considering enablers/barriers and the perceived benefits/limitations, and setting out recommendations for further integration.
The implementation and delivery of community resolutions: the role of youth offending services (PDF, 682 kB)
24 March 2023 | Youth Justice
The focus in this bulletin has been upon the implementation and delivery of CRs by YOTs, building upon and confirming much of the limited previous research into CR delivery.
The identification of safety concerns relating to children (PDF, 564 kB)
23 September 2022 | Youth Justice
The focus in this bulletin is upon the assessment stage of youth justice work, recognising that it is vital to identify all potential safety concerns and sources of harm in order to mitigate and prevent any dangers.
Probation staff experiences of working with people at risk of suicide and/or self harm (PDF, 513 kB)
Dr Jake Phillips, Dr Colette Barry, Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe, Professor Nicola Padfield and Dr Juliette Mullin | 22 July 2022 | Probation
People on probation are more likely to die from self-inflicted deaths and to present with risks associated with suicide and self-harm when compared to the broader population.
Promising approaches to knife crime: an exploratory study (PDF, 541 kB)
Dr Jake Phillips, Dr Kate Whitfield, Dr Paula Hamilton, Dr Fiona de Hoog and Dr Charlotte Coleman | 20 May 2022 | Youth justice
Knife crime has been labelled as an epidemic in the UK. This bulletin focuses on the findings from research which sought to identify and understand promising approaches to knife crime delivered by and with YOTs.
Working with trauma in adult probation (PDF, 477 kB)
Dr Madeline Petrillo and Dr Alexandria Bradley | 18 March 2022 | Probation
Trauma-informed practice originated in healthcare organisations but is now increasingly being adopted by a range of frontline services, including in the criminal justice system. This bulletin explores the experiences of staff working with trauma in adult probation.
Inspecting youth offending services: A technical review of our court disposals standards (PDF, 1 MB)
28 January 2022 | Youth justice
The focus in this bulletin is upon the technical performance of the court disposals standards. Across these standards, we consider whether we are measuring discrete, coherent and critical aspects of delivery, supporting the accompanying inspection ratings.
The quality of delivery of out-of-court disposals in youth justice (PDF, 531 kB)
17 September 2021 | Youth justice
Learn more about the quality of delivery of out-of-court disposals by Youth Offending Teams, including analysis of variations in quality and identification of enablers and barriers.
Multi-agency work in youth offending services (PDF, 840 kB)
23 July 2021 | Youth justice
Learn about the significant benefits that multi-agency working can bring to youth offending teams, and more importantly to the individual children and to their parents and carers.
Supporting the desistance of children subject to court orders (PDF, 703 kB)
21 May 2021 | Youth justice
The focus in this bulletin is upon the extent to which recent YOT delivery has met requirements for children receiving court disposals.
Caseloads, workloads and staffing levels in probation services (PDF, 751 kB)
19 March 2021 | Probation
Read the response to this research from Chief Inspector of Probation: High caseloads/workloads jeopardising the quality of probation delivery and practitioners’ wellbeing.
Building the evidence base for high-quality probation services: the role of probation providers (PDF, 424 kB)
19 February 2021 | Probation
In this bulletin, we focus upon the role of probation providers in both developing and promoting the evidence base for high-quality services.
Inspecting probation services: a technical review of our standards framework (PDF, 1017 kB)
22 October 2020 | Probation
The focus in this bulletin is upon the technical performance of the framework, covering five of the case-level delivery standards.
The quality of pre-sentence information and advice provided to courts (PDF, 417 kB)
20 August 2020 | Probation
The focus in this bulletin is upon the extent to which, in recent years, the probation service has been able to provide courts with advice which is sufficiently well-informed, considered and tailored.
Tailoring delivery to service users’ needs and strengths (PDF)
19 June 2020 | Probation
The focus in this bulletin is upon the extent to which the delivery of probation services in England and Wales is being tailored to both needs and strengths.
The role of community hubs in helping to deliver probation services and support desistance (PDF, 1 MB)
18 March 2020 | Probation
Within community hubs, those under supervision are potentially able to access a range of services, facilities and opportunities within a community setting, addressing the problems they face.
Impact of organisational inputs upon the quality of delivery (PDF, 667 kB)
18 February 2020 | Probation
This bulletin focuses upon the relationship between provider inputs and activities, the rationale being that organisational-level inputs support case-level activities which ultimately contribute to the strategic goals for probation.
Court disposals managed by Youth Offending Teams: the value of early work in keeping children and other people safe (PDF, 921 kB)
11 October 2019 | Youth justice
This bulletin examines the associations with reductions in safeguarding factors and risk of harm for children who have received a court disposal.
Service user involvement in the review and improvement of probation services (PDF, 509 kB)
19 September 2019 | Probation
This bulletin focuses upon the use of service user involvement in the review and development of probation services in England and Wales.
A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the effectiveness of remote supervision and new technologies in managing probation service users (PDF, 652 kB)
13 March 2019 | Probation
This bulletin examines the effectiveness of remote supervision approaches and emerging new technologies to manage probation service users.
The availability and delivery of interventions (PDF, 1 MB)
22 January 2019 | Probation
Tailored and responsive probation service delivery requires a range of
high-quality universal, targeted and specialist interventions which support the desistance from offending for all service users and the safety of other people.
The voices of young people under supervision (PDF, 656 kB)
13 November 2018 | Youth justice
Using findings from the HM Inspectorate of Probation eSurvey, this bulletin focuses upon the views of children and young people supervised by youth offending teams.
The quality of public protection work (PDF, 1 MB)
09 October 2018 | Probation
This bulletin focuses upon the quality of public protection work by probation services.
The quality of service user assessment (PDF, 422 kB)
19 September 2018 | Probation
Well-informed, analytical and personalised assessment is the starting point for managing service users, as reflected in the acronym of ASPIRE: assess, sentence plan, implement, review, evaluate.
