Northumbria Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) needs to improve its work to protect potential victims of those it supervises, particularly in its many domestic abuse cases, according to inspectors.

HM Inspectorate of Probation found clear strengths in the CRC’s work to support people to recognise and tackle the reasons for their offending. It also had experienced staff with strong local partnerships and dedicated ‘champions’ for women, who made up nearly one fifth of its caseload.

However, these strengths were undermined by weaknesses in its planning to protect potential victims, which was described as poor, leading inspectors to assess it overall as ‘Requiring Improvement.’

The Northumbria report, published by Dame Glenys Stacey, HM Chief Inspector of Probation, noted that some of its problems stemmed from factors not all within its control – including difficulties for Northumbria and other CRCs owned by Sodexo linking their assessment tools with the Ministry of Justice’s national case management system and existing national assessment tool, which gather information from a range of sources. However, there were also weaknesses at local level, particularly relating to domestic abuse.

“Home visits were not reliably implemented to enhance risk management where needed. Domestic abuse featured in almost half of the case sample, but we found insufficient attention paid to actual or potential victims in almost two-thirds of relevant cases. This chimes with the findings from (HMIP’s) recently published thematic report on domestic abuse.” Inspectors found instances where the collection of child safeguarding information should have been made use of more thoroughly in the planning and reviewing of domestic abuse cases.

Dame Glenys recalled that in her annual report in 2017, she had commented: ‘In about half of all CRC cases we have inspected, not enough attention was given to risk of harm right from the beginning, and we find that lack of focus continuing through the period of supervision in a similar proportion of cases’. Disappointingly, she added, “that finding is repeated again for Northumbria CRC.”

Overall, Dame Glenys said: “Despite a stable, experienced workforce and strong, effective local partnerships, the quality of this CRC’s work is undermined by a lack of sufficient attention to managing risk of harm.”

The CRC has developed its own ‘workaround’ processes which have led it to concentrate on issues linked to reoffending to the detriment of managing risk of harm and keeping others safe..

“Experienced probation workers should strike the right balance between rehabilitation and public protection intuitively, but here, systems and other pressures are influencing that judgement unduly. This requires attention at all levels. The commitment we found to achieving high performance, combined with loyal, skilled staff and partners, provides the right ingredients for addressing this and other areas for improvement.

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Notes to editors:

1. The report is available at justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation at 00.01 on Wednesday 7 November 2018.
2. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth offending and probation services in England and Wales.
3. There are 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies across England and Wales responsible for supervising low and medium-risk offenders.
4. Sodexo Justice Services is part of a large multinational private company with a wide range of commercial interests. It took over formal ownership of the Northumbria CRC on 1 February 2015. It operates a strategic partnership with Nacro, a well-known charity. With contracts to deliver probation services across six CRCs, Sodexo is the third-largest CRC-owning company in the country by contract value, and has almost 18% of the market share. Sodexo also runs four of the 14 private prisons in England and Wales, all of which are located in England.
5. When fieldwork took place, Northumbria Community Rehabilitation Company was responsible for supervising 3,629 people.
6. Fieldwork for the Northumbria CRC inspection took place in July and August 2018.
7. For further information please contact John Steele, HMI Probation Chief Communications Officer, on 020 3334 0357 or 07880 787452, or at john.steele@justice.gov.uk