Guidance

Probation Changes Bulletin - Issue 10 - May 2021

Updated 15 December 2023

This bulletin provides an update to you, our stakeholders, on the progress of HM Prison & Probation Service’s probation reform, workforce and recovery programmes.

If you want to get involved or you have any questions about the programmes, please email the communications team using our designated mailbox: strengthening.probation@justice.gov.uk

1. Introduction from Amy Rees, Director General of Probation and Wales

Welcome to our latest bulletin, reporting on key updates and progress across our three probation programmes – reform, workforce and recovery. June 26 is a huge milestone for us this year when we welcome CRC colleagues and come together as one new unified probation service.

Last week HMIP published their thematic report into our work across probation in preparing for unification, which was positive about our readiness for June. This followed a review between October 2020 and February 2021 that covered our regions, regional probation directors, members of the programme team and external stakeholders.

Once we have completed these structural changes, our focus will turn to the implementation of our Target Operating Model published in February and delivering excellent probation services - more on this from Jim Barton below.

I also wanted to highlight the recently published Justice Select Committee (JSC) report on the “Future of the Probation Service”. The JSC took written then oral evidence from a range of witnesses from July – December 2020. The report is supportive of our unification plans and outlines a number of recommendations around assurance, which we will now be taking forward.

We continue to progress well with our organisational recovery and resuming the services we had to temporarily pause in response to the pandemic wherever it has been safe to do so. As the UK Government and Welsh Government ease restrictions, we have been regularly reviewing our plans and adapting to changing circumstances. Ian Barrow provides an update on our recovery progress along with an update on our Workforce programme below.

With our continued focus on providing those leaving prison with the support needed to stop them reoffending and protect communities, Hannah Meyer, Executive Director, Reducing Reoffending, Partnerships and Accommodation, provides an update on some of the important work underway in this cross-Government programme.

Finally, I would like to thank staff across the probation service for their adaptability and ongoing commitment as we move forward and start to see a semblance of normality. There is still a long way to go, but I am confident that with the exceptional teams we have in place, we will meet the challenges, implement our exciting reforms and continue to deliver our essential services to protect the public, reduce reoffending and change lives.

2. Update from Jim Barton, SRO, Probation Reform Programme

As Amy mentions, our focus remains on delivering our much-needed reforms from 26 June, when we will welcome NPS and CRC staff to our new, strong unified service, and begin working closer together to protect the public and help people lead law-abiding and positive lives.
We are focused on ensuring those joining the service in our 11 new probation regions across England and one in Wales experience a smooth transition. This applies equally to staff who will work directly within the new service and those in our Commissioned Rehabilitative Service providers. While many people will be doing the same role, in the same location and with the same manager from 26 June, some will experience a change in role, team, job title or job description. To support people through this change, we have set up a role alignment process to align professional qualifications for those joining our new service from CRCs, where their roles require them to do so.

The process of transferring the technology for staff at CRC parent organisations is in full swing, with increasing numbers now having access to the full range of Ministry of Justice online tools and resources as they take delivery of their new laptops and smartphones.

From 26 June, Accredited Programmes, Structured Interventions, Unpaid Work and Senior Attendance Centres will be delivered in house by our new probation service as before, with only a few small changes taking effect.

Probation practitioners will have a suite of interventions available to them, with Accredited Programmes and Structured Interventions delivered by our interventions teams, Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) delivered through the Dynamic Framework and Approved Toolkits delivered by probation practitioners. For interventions delivered via the Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR), probation practitioners will allocate RAR days post sentence and select and sequence interventions that address the most significant areas of need linked to offending behaviour.

Unpaid Work will continue to be delivered as predominantly a punishment. From 26 June, staff sourcing Unpaid Work work placements will ensure sufficient high quality, local placements are obtained which meets the needs of individual service users. Senior Attendance Centres will continue to be delivered in their current locations.

From 26 June, the Interventions design team will work with the regions and their local interventions teams to plan for transition to the new end state operating models for Accredited Programmes, Structured Interventions, Unpaid Work and Senior Attendance Centres.

The process and timeframes for probation practitioners to complete the Unpaid Work assessment and screening are currently being reviewed and an update will be provided.

We have continued to commission a range of services (CRS) and award contracts to specialist external providers to meet key areas of rehabilitative services: Accommodation; Employment, Training and Education; Personal Wellbeing; and Women’s Services. The contracted providers of these commissioned rehabilitative services will work closely with probation practitioners and community interventions teams to ensure that the best outcomes are achieved for people on probation.

Finally, as part of the programme’s community engagement and recruitment initiative, a number of colleagues have been working with Year 10 students from School 21 on the Real World Project (“RWP”), which matches students with employers to work on a real life project over the course of a term. School 21 is a state-funded pioneering free school in Stratford, East London, for children from all backgrounds and programme colleagues have been working with students on a solution to the problem of ‘How can probation improve engagement of 18-25 year olds on Community Orders?’ The group have worked hard to understand the issue and generate possible solutions. The group have settled on a proposal which it is hoped may feed into broader thinking on how probation might develop lived experience mentoring. The RWP work has helped raise awareness with young people about the work of the probation services, in the hope that they may one day want to come and join us. It is part of a larger piece of work under way in in the programme, improving the way we work with 18-25 year olds managed by probation.

I remain incredibly proud of the quality and pace of the work from colleagues across the programme as we ready ourselves for 26 June to create a unified probation service that keeps the public safe, supports victims of crime and gives the right rehabilitative support to address the often-complex causes of offending.

3. Update from Ian Barrow, SRO, Workforce Programme

A huge amount of work continues as we meet each of our commitments set out in the Probation Workforce Strategy. This includes the first National Probation Service Recruitment and Retention Strategy which was launched at the beginning of April following extensive engagement from colleagues and stakeholders across HMPPS.

The strategy details our approach and commitment to recruitment and retention over the next three years. In June we will transition to the new unified delivery model, and this strategy provides clarity on our priorities and reassurance of continuity throughout this period and for the future.

We have also just launched our Probation Workforce Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (EDIB) Action Plan. Our unified probation service is about more than structural changes, it is about our staff and enabling them to deliver an excellent professional service. The EDIB Action Plan sets out a 12-month plan focussing on four key areas:

• Attracting and retaining a diverse workforce that better reflects the diversity of our society and people on probation
• Creating an environment that values equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging
• Embedding equalities, diversity and inclusion into our policies, processes and governance to support all staff in reaching their potential
• Building an inclusive culture through effective leadership and management

I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed their time and thoughts to help us to shape this strategy and to the enthusiasm of our staff as we continue to bring our workforce strategy to life.

4. Update from Ian Barrow, SRO, Recovery Programme

We continue to make progress with our Probation recovery as set out in our plan wherever it is safe to do so for staff and people on probation and appropriate for local circumstances. We continue to work closely with Trade Union colleagues nationally and locally to ensure ongoing engagement with our recovery work. We have reviewed the recent announcements by both the UK and Welsh Governments on national recovery plans to ensure we remain in line with government and public health guidance.

We intend to introduce lateral flow home testing arrangements for our staff in the coming weeks and aim to have most, if not all of our sites delivering testing by the beginning of May, following the successful roll-out to date. Home testing kits will shortly be provided for staff, enabling them to test themselves at home and report their results.

Delivery of Unpaid Work continues to improve. The reopening of non-essential shops and stores on 12 April, as per the national roadmap, allows us to review and where appropriate re-start indoor unpaid work placements which we hope will result in a further positive upturn in the delivery of Unpaid Work as community groups and charity shops begin to operate once again. The number of people attending placements will be guided by risk assessments for individual sites.

Preparations for restarting face-to-face Accredited Programmes group work are well underway with both NPS and CRC considering resuming small groups (2-3 participants) and where circumstances permit, standard delivery (4- 12 participants). Regional Probation Directors and CRCs will take decisions around delivery levels, based on local circumstances.

Finally, I’d like to thank everyone throughout the probation system for all the hard work that has gone into supporting recovery activity.

5. Update from Hannah Meyer – Executive Director, Reducing Reoffending, Partnerships and Accommodation

Work on the Reducing Reoffending Delivery Programme is now well underway. The Cross-Government Programme seeks to cut crime and reduce reoffending by providing more support to prison leavers to find a home, a job and treatment for any substance misuses issues. People who leave prison without this vital support are more likely to reoffend.

In January, the Government announced a £220m package to cut crime, including £50m to get more prison leavers into stable accommodation and £80m to give more support to offenders with addiction problems.

A new Community Accommodation Service has been set up, bringing together Approved Premises and Bail and Support Services with a new service for prison leavers without stable accommodation. The new service is being developed in five regions and will provide basic, transitional housing which will deliver accommodation for prison leavers at risk of homelessness for up to three months. While there, people will get help to find a permanent home so there is less reason for them to turn back to crime.

We are also working closely with sixteen prisons to reduce reoffending and improve outcomes for prisoners and prison leavers across four key reducing reoffending pathways: education, health, employment and accommodation. Specifically, this will include rapidly designing and testing several new specialist roles. Recruitment for these roles has been launched and we expect the first candidates to begin to take up their posts in the coming weeks.

The Approved Premises Expansion Programme (APEX) is progressing well. An extra 200 new spaces are being created in APs by 2023, providing stable accommodation to prison leavers. APs help lower the risk of reoffending and, in turn, reduce crime rates.

Most notably, Eden House in Bristol is due to open during the summer. It will be the first new AP to open in nearly 30 years and will be for women returning to the community after serving time in prison. It will have capacity for up to 26 women, seeking to reduce their risk to the public and helping them to find permanent homes and work.

6. Stay in touch and have your say:

We will be providing further updates as we continue to make progress this year. If you have any questions or would like to contact the reform programme team please email us on: strengthening.probation@justice.gov.uk. If you would like to receive updates on pages relating to Justice, please sign up here.