The National Probation Service (NPS) was supervising people who
posed a higher risk reasonably well, but the Community
Rehabilitation Company (CRC) needed to do far more to protect the
public and reduce reoffending, said Dame Glenys Stacey, HM Chief
Inspector of Probation. Today she published the report of a
recent inspection of probation work in Northamptonshire.
The inspection looked at the quality of probation work carried
out by the CRC and the NPS and assessed the effectiveness of work
undertaken locally with people who have committed crimes. This
was the first inspection of adult probation work undertaken by a
CRC owned by Sodexo Justice Services, in partnership with Nacro.
Overall, the work of the CRC in Northamptonshire was not good
enough. The CRC was not sufficiently focused on public
protection. Too many cases were assigned to staff without the
skills and support needed to investigate and respond to the risk
of harm an individual posed. There was a lack of oversight and
quality assurance. Work to reduce reoffending was poor.
Responsible officers did too little to understand what led to
offending behaviour and therefore couldn’t put plans in place to
turn people’s lives around.
Sodexo has an innovative operating model for all of its CRCs,
designed to fully engage people who have committed crimes and
address their readiness to change. Inspectors were concerned,
however, at the lack of privacy in open booths used for
confidential interviews, and at the prospect that some people
would be supervised solely by telephone contact or biometric
reporting. Without meaningful contact, people are less likely to
develop the will to change their attitudes and behaviour.
The model is not fully implemented in Northamptonshire and some
systems are not yet in place, mainly because the necessary IT
gateway that will allow for critical information to be shared is
still not available. This has led to staff being unclear about
key processes and some programmes designed to help people change
their behaviour and attitudes being under used.
Generally the NPS’s work to protect the public was good, and they
worked effectively with the police. Their work to reduce
reoffending was acceptable, but more could be done on tackling
substance misuse. The NPS did not always provide the CRC with
enough information at the beginning of sentences, causing extra
work for the CRC in order to be able to manage its cases
effectively.
Inspectors made recommendations which included the CRC and NPS
working together more effectively to give individuals timely
access to programmes, including Through the Gate services. The
CRC should ensure senior probation officers have the capacity to
oversee their teams effectively, responsible officers have access
to available guidance and officers manage cases appropriate to
their skills and knowledge. The NPS should improve the quality of
pre-sentence reports. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service
(HMPPS) should implement the Strategic Partner Gateway at the
earliest opportunity to support the implementation of new CRC
operating models.
Dame Glenys Stacey said:
We found that the CRC’s work was simply not good enough. Too
little is being done to reduce the risk of someone committing a
further offence, or to minimise risk to the public. Local leaders
are committed, but stretched, and don’t have a good enough grasp
on the quality of work actually being delivered to turn people
away from crime.
“Like some others, Sodexo’s efforts to bring in new ways of
working have faltered, causing real problems for staff and for
those being managed by probation services alike. Sodexo’s
proposed model has some promising and innovative features, but I
remain concerned about any model that provides for those under
probation supervision to be seen rarely, if at all.
“The public can be assured that the NPS are managing high risk
cases well overall, but I was disappointed to see that the
quality of work varied across the area. We have found this
elsewhere, and the NPS now has the opportunity to make sure
offices perform consistently well in future.”
