Guidance

Probation Change Bulletin - Issue 3 - October 2019

Updated 15 December 2023

This is a monthly bulletin produced by the HMPPS probation programme to update on the reform of probation services. If you have any questions please email strengthening.probation@justice.gov.uk

1. Introduction

Welcome to the October edition of our bulletin designed to update you on the progress we are making to implement the probation reform programme.

We are now less than a month away from re-integrating all offender management services in Wales. More than 300 staff will move to NPS Wales by 2 December - the first big step in making the unified model a reality.

We set out the shape of the unified model in the blueprint we published earlier this year. The team are working hard on the next iteration of this document, the target operating model. It will be published later this year and will set out in more detail the way we see probation services operating in future. Among many other elements it will include a description of the agreements we have reached with the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners to ensure effective co-commissioning in the future model.

As I write this we are on the cusp of securing the various approvals to the programme business case. This will enable us to start selecting our future probation delivery partners.

2. Update from Wales

In Wales the probation programme continues to progress, with the transfer of offender management into the National Probation Service by 2 December 2019.

The key focus at this time is to communicate with service users across all local delivery units in Wales and to make sure they are fully aware of changes that may impact them. HMPPS in Wales is working closely with Kent, Surrey and Sussex Community Rehabilitation Company (KSS CRC) to carry out this work.

Staff transferring from KSS CRC to the NPS have received invitations to induction events across Wales being held in November, and an ICT deployment plan is in place to make sure that all incoming staff are set up and supported throughout the transition. Change champions have also been trained and will support staff in their day-to-day operations across all local delivery units.

There is on-going engagement with key stakeholders, including the Welsh Government, Police and Crime Commissioners and sentencers in Wales. A memorandum of understanding has also been agreed for NPS and KSS CRC representation on partnership boards in a post-transfer environment.

HMPPS in Wales and KSS CRC are working closely together and they are focusing on managing risk, public safety and minimising any disruption to services.

3. Service design

As we work towards the publication of our first target operating model we want to share an update on what we expect to develop in relation to rehabilitation services in the community. We set out below an overview of the distinction between the accredited programmes and the structured interventions to be delivered by the probation delivery partners. We have also updated the categories of services we intend to cover in the dynamic framework and have drawn clear distinctions between these services.

3.1 Accredited programmes – to be delivered by a probation delivery partner

Accredited Programmes are the intervention of choice for eligible and suitable service users and will be delivered by a probation delivery partner. The suite of accredited programmes will be available to the court, delivered locally and available regularly to meet the demands of community sentences. Improved targeting of eligible service users at the pre-sentence stage will increase the numbers attending accredited programmes and will exclude those who do not meet the eligibility criteria. The core suite of programmes available in all regions will be the thinking skills programme and the building better relationships programme.

Where other accredited programmes are currently delivered the probation delivery partner will continue to deliver them post-contact. Regional probation directors may commission additional accredited programmes if there is a regional need, and existing programmes may be decommissioned if there is a decrease in need and/or demand.

Probation delivery partners will deliver programmes locally and use suitable venues that provide a supportive rehabilitative environment in line with requirements set out in the programme manual.

The NPS probation practitioner will complete an assessment and refer the service user when they are ready to start the programme. The decision will be transmitted electronically, either through the authority system or via secure email. Access to the authority assessment and contact record will be provided. Communication and information exchange will continue throughout so that enforcement and other risk management decisions are made in a timely manner. The probation delivery partner and the probation practitioner share responsibility to make sure that all unfinished requirements are reviewed three months before the end of the order or licence.

3.2 Structured Interventions – to be delivered by the probation delivery partner

Probation delivery partners will deliver structured interventions to meet specific needs identified in the sentence plan. The probation delivery partner will provide a directory of available interventions, their delivery location and schedule.

These structured interventions:

• will have a core fixed number of sessions with pre-set content and will be delivered in the same way to all participants with no individual content
• can be assessed against the Correctional Services Accreditation and Advice Panel (CSAAP) principles for effective interventions
• will secure cognitive change (as a primary aim) and staff will be trained to secure this
• will have a delivery model which is either a group or one-to-one sessions
• will have the primary activity to meet the needs in the planned session but this will not preclude the need for follow-up sessions and skills practice
• will have probation providers responsible for securing the outcomes.

These structured interventions will address the three key need areas of emotional management; domestic abuse and attitudes; thinking and behaviour. They will meet the diverse needs of the service users with a focus on protected characteristics. The intervention will have a minimum of six sessions and will fit with the broader sentence plan to maximise the opportunity to reduce reoffending. The probation practitioner will select the intervention for the community order as part of a rehabilitation activity requirement or a condition of licence following release from a prison sentence. Referral will take place following a full assessment and completion of a sentence plan and it may reflect the need to sequence a range of activities throughout the sentence.

3.3 Rehabilitation and resettlement interventions – to be delivered by organisations commissioned through the dynamic framework

Interventions for rehabilitation and resettlement services will be commissioned through the dynamic framework, and will be procured to deliver the key rehabilitative needs of the probation caseload.

Where there are needs not met by the key rehabilitative and resettlement services above the services commissioned for each area will be available to those on a community order or a suspended sentence order with a rehabilitation Activity Requirements (RAR) and will address resettlement needs following release from prison. Probation practitioners will complete an assessment and agree which interventions address a range of needs and the outcomes sought. The outcomes listed will not all have commissioned services for 2021.

Rehabilitation and resettlement interventions will:

• be focussed on securing agreed outcomes for an individual
• be responsive to the local area and the needs of service users
• have some structured sessions
• include a link to existing statutory/ non-statutory services
• have a delivery model which could involve group work and/or one-to-one sessions
• meet the needs of people with protected characteristics or other service users identified as vulnerable.

4. Transition and mobilisation

The probation reform programme is committed to delivering timely, clear and collaborative planning to achieve the unified model transformation for 2021. This is a significant journey both practically and culturally for probation providers within the National Probation Service (NPS), the community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) and associated services. Consequently, we are fully mobilising transition resources, oversight structures and communications.

The probation reform programme transition team sits at the centre of the transition process. The role for this team is to ensure that national, and then regional plans for transition, detail all of the key delivery strands from offender management design to estates provision. Timings, inter-dependencies, roles, resources, risks and local considerations are all important parts of the context. The transition team has begun to work increasingly closely with regionally linked colleagues within business change, NPS and CRC delivery, contract management, HR, estates and digital.

In close collaboration with local leaders within NPS and CRCs, regional transition boards (within the footprint of the new 11 English regions) and sub groups for workforce, estates and operations have now been established to oversee and plan local transformation.

Ensuring business continuity, communication with service users, staff and stakeholders, and planning for learning and development are all important facets of the board role. Importantly, these structures are also very important for the programme in reaching out to front line operations - testing design and wider change assumptions.

As the profile of transition grows there will be many more opportunities for staff and stakeholders to get involved but if you would like to ask a question or send in your views please email strengthening.probation@justice.gov.uk

5. Workforce

HR regional sub-groups have been set up, and in some regions the first have been held. They will follow in the other regions. These groups have both CRC and NPS staff sitting on them and they report to the regional transition boards. The HR sub-groups will implement national plans that work well for their region reflecting local circumstances, feedback on best practice, issues and ideas to share with the programme.

6. Professional recognition

We continue our plans to invest in and develop our workforce, ensuring that those across the Probation Service have access to a world-class learning and continual development offer, with a robust basis in a cutting-edge evidence base that will strengthen performance and service delivery across the profession.

As part of our commitment to strengthening and investing in our valued probation workforce, the programme is in the initial stages of scoping and developing the work required to meet our strategic aims.

This commitment was further reinforced by Minister Frazer who set out the department’s plans to develop a comprehensive workforce strategy for probation, including plans for professional recognition in her response to the Justice Select Committee

7. Engagement with Police and Crime Commissioners

On Monday 21 October we hosted a national Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) event to update on the work taken forward by the programme to define the role of PCCs in future probation arrangements. The event was supported by the NPS probation divisional directors and it offered an opportunity for attendees to think about how we want probation, PCCs and other local partners to work together in the future.

We have also been developing a proposed roles and responsibilities document that sets out how the Probation Service and PCCs should work together at a local and regional level under the new probation arrangements. It details the value of this joint working relationship, the roles and responsibilities of the NPS and PCCs and key principles to shape the development of appropriate partnership working structures. We will be sharing these in due course.

8. Commissioning updates

Following a review of timescales for the probation dynamic framework procurement, the Authority now anticipates launching the qualification phase in early January 2020. The Authority still anticipates launching the call-off competitions for eBay 1 services from late April 2020. Market warming events for the dynamic framework are scheduled between late November and early December 2019. Registration for these events will open in due course.

8.1 Commissioning updates for the purchase of grant funded services

The commercial team have been working with service design leads and the market to develop the right approach to buying services in the following areas:

• Unpaid work
• Accredited programmes
• Non-accredited structured interventions
• Rehabilitation services
• Resettlement services.

8.2 Probation delivery partners (unpaid work, accredited programmes and structured interventions)

We have now completed the market-warming phase prior to the launch of competition in November 2019. You can still access all the documentation shared with the market which is published on the Government website on the probation reform consultation events and materials page.

As we complete our final preparation to launch the competition we will temporarily cease responding to clarification questions submitted. The formal clarification question process will open again when we launch the competition.

8.3 Dynamic framework (rehabilitation and resettlement services)

To better manage both the bidding and evaluation phases of the probation delivery partner competition and the dynamic framework, we’ll be launching the qualification phase for the dynamic framework in January 2020. Delaying this by one month will not affect the planned start of the call-off stage in April 2020.

The market-warming phase will commence in late November 2020 and it will be an opportunity for potential bidders to understand our approach. We have agreed the categories of need for the procurement of day one services and are now working on the bundling of services to ensure best outcomes for service users. This information will be shared as part of market warming.

9. Events and resources

The commercial team for the probation reform programme will hold a market warming webinar on 26 November 2019. The webinar will outline the proposed key commercial elements and schedules that will form the basis of future dynamic framework contracts between the Authority and providers. You can attend either the morning or the afternoon session.

Please register interest early to avoid missing out on limited spaces at:

• Webinar - 26 November – from 10:30am to 12pm

• Webinar - 26 November – from 1:30pm to 3pm

10. Links and further information

• Response to the consultation on future probation services

• Draft blueprint on future probation services

• Event materials

If you have any questions or would like to contact the programme team please email strengthening.probation@justice.gov.uk