Guidance

Probation Changes Bulletin – Issue 8 – November 2020

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 the latest bulletin, reporting on key updates and progress across our three probation programmes – reform, workforce and recovery. You will read more on these from Jim Barton and Ian Barrow below.

As we continue to operate under restrictions, I wanted to thank all our staff for their continued professionalism and dedication, a view echoed by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Probation who recently applauded staff for their compassionate professionalism during COVID. It makes me personally very proud to lead such a team, particularly during these times.

Across the probation service, our focus is on ensuring the health and safety of our staff and service users. We will follow the principles of our COVID Roadmap to Recovery, prioritising public protection and risk management. We will continue to work under our established Exceptional Delivery Model Framework with our senior leaders making decisions on how best to deliver our core services in their regions based on local circumstances. We will continue to deliver Accredited Programmes and Unpaid Work wherever possible. Our Approved Premises will also remain open, with local amendments to how they operate where necessary.

Planning for the winter months and the possible scenarios we may face continues to be a major focus for us and we are doing this in collaboration with our key partners. We have learnt a great deal from the way we have responded to coronavirus and will be building this in to our plans wherever possible.

I hope you find this bulletin helpful and we look forward to updating you on the latest developments in the next issue.

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

Work continues at pace on the planned probation reforms as announced in June by the Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland QC MP and we are on track for the safe and stable transition to the Unified Model by June 2021. Recent highlights include:

Management Structures: the future structure of Probation Delivery Units is designed, as is how we will manage the Dynamic Framework, and the specialist public protection team that will sit in each region. We have a proposal for how Unpaid Work and Accredited Programmes will be managed, but this remains subject to confirmation.

Role Allocations and National Agreement: CRCs have been working through the assignment of their staff - this determines whether and where staff are assigned to transfer, to the National Probation Service (NPS) or to one of our intervention providers. We have also reached agreement with our recognised Trade Unions on the key protections that will be afforded staff transferring from CRCs in June next year.

Estates: a detailed estates strategy has been developed for each regional probation director. The strategy outlines where some estates changes will happen now and where changes will happen next year. There are currently 19 projects running to improve NPS estates.

Target Operating Model (TOM): Work continues on the next iteration of the probation operating model to show what the future sustainable model for the probation system will look like, in particular, after transition in June 2021. Broadly speaking, the TOM sets out our commitments to providing:

• New regional probation leadership structures that enable greater local accountability, partnership working and delivery of services that more closely meet individuals’ diverse needs.
• Investment in our workforce to support their continuous development, attract and retain talent, create a diverse workforce, foster confident leaders and promote wellbeing.
• Improvements to Sentence Management delivery to encourage greater focus on effective supervision to help protect the public and promote rehabilitation wherever possible.
• Improved interventions that respond to an individual’s specific needs. This includes improvements to the delivery of Unpaid Work and Accredited Programmes, the introduction of Structured Interventions and securing the expertise of other sectors in the delivery of rehabilitative and resettlement services.
• Modernisation of our estate and technology so that our physical spaces create positive working environments and we reduce duplication in our systems, creating efficiencies and enabling better data recording and analysis to facilitate more effective decision-making.

A draft has been developed and shared internally. Key stakeholders will also be given early sight and the opportunity to review, before publication in February.

3. Update from Ian Barrow, SRO, Workforce Programme

We are continuing to drive change through each of our commitments set out in the Probation Workforce Strategy launched this summer. As part of this work the NPS Smarter Working Initiative was launched on Wednesday 28 October which builds on our commitments to enable our people to work more flexibly, and sets out our promises to provide:

• A better place to work, increasing flexibility, work life balance and choice of working location balanced against operational need.
• A modern organisation with greater adoption of new technology.
• In our new offices, fit-for-purpose workspaces designed for collaboration. In our existing offices, we want to make better use of space to support Smarter Working.
• Working remotely more often – including the flexibility to choose where to work up to 50% of the working week, depending on the needs of the business and colleagues.

We appreciate that the opportunity to work remotely up to 50% of the time might not be possible for some staff, particularly those working in prisons and in Approved Premises and we are finalising specific expectations for these areas. However, increased remote working remains our aspiration.

PQiP: In addition, we are pleased to say that we are on track to exceed our commitment to recruit 1,000 PQiP learners this financial year. We recruited 457 learners in July 2020 and are set to recruit over 600 new learners, our largest cohort yet, in January 2021.

4. Update from Ian Barrow, SRO, Recovery Programme

We have carefully reviewed the implications of the national restrictions introduced in England and Wales and are continuing to follow the principles of our Roadmap to Recovery to safely deliver our core probation services. We are using our established exceptional delivery framework as we have been doing over recent months to prioritise public protection and risk management, alongside the safety of our staff and service users. Our Regional Probation Directors and CRC Chief Executives will continue to make decisions on how best to deliver probation services in the regions based on local circumstances and staffing levels.

The programme has continued to make good progress where it has been safe to do so since our last bulletin was published. There continues to be a steady increase in offices reopening and the last of the Approved Premises which had to close due to Covid-19 has now re-opened. We have seen a gradual increase in office appointments and as a result, a reduction in telephone contacts. In addition, we are also still seeing a steady increase in the delivery of Unpaid Work and Accredited Programmes.

As always, and echoing Amy’s comments above, I’d like to thank our operational and programme staff who are continuing to drive this important work forward.

5. 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 contact the reform programme team: strengthening.probation@justice.gov.uk

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