Guidance

National Probation Service Sentencer update - London Division

Published 26 March 2015

Applies to England and Wales

1. National Probation Service – working closely with Sentencers

Probation services have always valued close and effective working relationships with sentencers, and this has continued following the creation of the National Probation Service (NPS) last year.

The NPS and NOMS in Wales now work alongside the newly formed Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) to provide a full range of probation services. Throughout the changes that have taken place during the past year we have made every effort to ensure that the services you have required have remained of a high standard, and maintaining our positive relationships with sentencers is an important element of these efforts.

We also appreciate the importance of regular communication between sentencers, courts and probation services. That is why we have started to create news and updates on GOV.UK which we hope you will find both informative and useful.

The introduction of the Offender Rehabilitation Act in February has brought about considerable reform, including the introduction of supervision for the vast majority of offenders sentenced to under 12 months in prison. The numbers of offenders affected by the changes introduced by the ORA will increase during the coming months, including the use of the new Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR).

The NPS is arranged into seven divisions, each led by experienced senior managers. We hope that you are already familiar with the senior NPS managers in your area; however an article from each divisional NPS lead is contained in this section. We’ve also included a selection of news articles from each division to give a flavour of some of the activity happening across the NPS.

We hope the information provided will prove interesting and useful, but we would appreciate your input to tell us what kind of information you’d like to receive from the NPS in future. A short survey has been set up to gather your views and we’ll use these to shape future communications with you.

Thank you

Colin Allars, Director, Probation

Sarah Payne, Director, National Offender Management Service in Wales

2. Working with the new Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR)

The recently introduced Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) offers the opportunity for a greater range of work to address offending behaviour.

Sentencers will be aware that this new requirement is available for both Community and Suspended Sentence Orders and replaces much of what would have been previously undertaken using supervision and activity requirements. It is for the court to first decide whether a Community Order or Suspended Sentence Order with a RAR is an appropriate sentencing disposal and then to set the length of the sentence and the maximum number of activity days.

The RAR does not allow for a minimum number of days, only a maximum. The allocated Responsible Officer, (previously known as Offender Manager or Probation Officer), will then decide the content of the activity days, how they will be delivered, how frequently the offender attends.

In some instances, the content of the RAR activity may be decided pre sentence where there are bespoke interventions in place. Therefore while the court may be aware of the proposed content, it cannot set what specific rehabilitation activities should be delivered under the RAR.

Roz Hamilton, NOMS Deputy Director and Courts Lead for the National Probation Service, said:

“The National Probation Service continues to work closely with the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) in each division as they begin their rehabilitation services in line with the requirements of the RAR.

“This close working relationship will ensure that the NPS and sentencers are kept informed of what interventions and activities are available and also the impact they are having.

“The NPS will continue to provide the pre-sentence reports in all cases where sentencers feel that a Community Order may be suitable, and this will identify the areas of concern which may be usefully addressed with a RAR.

“The RAR will offer a flexible framework within which the provider will be able to identify the areas of concern in a person’s life and create bespoke interventions to address these.

“At this early stage of implementation we are working with courts and CRCs to arrive at the most appropriate approach to the new requirement that will offer the best outcome for offenders and communities.

“We look forward to working with sentencers to arrive at a shared understanding of these new provisions.”

3. Update from the Deputy Director - London Division

As the head of the National Probation Service in London, I’m pleased that we have continued to prioritise close working with sentencers both in magistrates and crown courts throughout the city.

We will provide the links with the courts both at a regional level, through the London Probation Courts Forum and the local Court Liaison Committees.

Service to courts remains a key priority and this includes providing timely reports and good quality information.

The London Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) is now formally under the ownership of MTCnovo and I am working alongside the Chief Executive, Nick Smart and the MTCnovo transformation team to ensure continuity of service across London Boroughs.

London CRC and RISE, the new staff Mutual, may be invited to join our meetings to provide information on the catalogue of interventions they can provide as part of a community order. This includes the full range of accredited programmes (except the Sex Offender Treatment Programme which will be provided by the NPS), attendance centres, restorative justice, mentoring and other specified activities that may contribute to the new Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR).

In London, we continue to work towards implementing the Target Operating Model in its entirety. This operating model provides the framework through which London NPS and MTCnovo will deliver its business processes. London NPS and MTCnovo are dependant on each other to provide the courts with accurate and timely information as well as implementing the sentence of the court. Although responsible for different elements of the business this is very much a joint approach.

The Target Operating Model also requires the NPS to work in a different way with additional tasks being asked of the probation court teams to provide assurance and accountability to the system.

Transforming Rehabilitation, coupled with Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service ( HMCTS) Transforming Summary Justice agenda, is placing additional requirements on the court teams who are managing higher levels of demand created by new tasks being asked of the probation court teams to provide assurance and accountability within the system.

The National Probation Service is committed to ensuring that there is appropriate levels of resource in courts, however, this make take some time to fully achieve in London. If any sentencers wish to raise any local issues, please progress them via your local liaison meetings.

Sara Robinson, NPS Deputy Director, London Division

4. London Court skills training

As we prepare our court teams for the demands of the new Offender Rehabilitation Act and the HMCTS lead Transforming Summary Justice project we have looked again at our role in the courtroom. We recognise the need to be proactive and flexible so have designed and introduced a new Oral Reports & Court Skills course for our staff.

The focus of the programme is to improve the ability to deliver oral reports and other verbal information to the court in a confident and professional way.

A busy courtroom dealing with sentencing cases needs regular reports and updated assessments on a range of offenders. The Probation Service often has historical information about a person that can be used to help guide decision making, or a new pre-sentence report may be needed. We want to ensure that we can assist the court whenever possible in the most efficient way and our staff need to be able to play an active part in the sentencing or bail process.

Courts can be intimidating places for any person, even seasoned professionals, and working effectively takes confidence and competence. We are currently training 150 of our staff to be able to operate more confidently in the courtroom. Effective working in this environment requires a thorough knowledge of process and an ability to know when our specific knowledge and skills will best be able to assist the judicial process.

The course is run by a group of our current experienced court officers who are all able to share their skills with colleagues and offer the support and direction that others may need.

5. Give us your feedback

NOMS has always valued a good working relationship with Sentencers and we appreciate any feedback received about any of our communications.

Please could you take a few moments to answer the following questions which will help us to evaluate this publication and shape future versions.

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