A probation service in East Anglia is not supervising offenders effectively and must do more to manage potential risks, according to inspectors.

HM Inspectorate of Probation conducted a routine inspection of Norfolk and Suffolk Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) in May 2019. Inspectors looked at 10 aspects of the service’s work and has given the CRC an overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’.

The CRC manages more than 3,000 low and medium-risk offenders. This includes individuals preparing to leave prison or who have already been released, and those who are serving community or suspended sentences.

Inspectors were particularly concerned about the poor supervision of individuals across the two counties. For the first time, inspectors have rated all four of our key case supervision standards – the assessment, planning, implementation and review of cases – as ‘Inadequate’, the lowest possible rating.

Chief Inspector Justin Russell said: “We last inspected in Suffolk in 2017 and, at that time, we assessed the quality of work as ‘nowhere near good enough’. Since then, the CRC has put several improvements in place including new senior managers and an increase in frontline staffing.

“It was disappointing, therefore, to find the quality of case management remains unacceptably poor. The greatest deficiencies lie in work to manage the risk of harm to others, in cases where the safeguarding of children or domestic abuse is a concern. Rapid improvement is essential to ensure that vulnerable people are protected.”

In more than half of the inspected cases, insufficient action was taken to identify and manage the risks that an individual could pose to others. Inspectors felt staff should have contacted the police about domestic abuse concerns, but in many cases, they failed to do so.

The Inspectorate has urged the CRC to prioritise staff development. While staff are working hard and their workloads are now more manageable, they need to build on their knowledge and skills to become better practitioners.

There was mixed support for individuals preparing to leave prison, including from HMP Norwich. Inspectors found staff drew up strong plans to help individuals resettle in the community, but subsequent activity and coordination was insufficient in too many cases. Worryingly, only four in ten (41 per cent) of prisoners had settled accommodation on release from prison in the inspected cases.

Inspectors rated the supervision of individuals who had been sentenced to unpaid work in the community as ‘Outstanding’. Individuals were assessed and matched to appropriate projects in the majority of inspected cases. Factors such as disability, language barriers and working patterns were taken into account.

Nearly all individuals in the inspected cases (89 per cent) had the opportunity to develop personal skills while paying back to society. In one positive example, individuals who had worked on a sports and recreation project went on to gain employment in this field.

Mr Russell said: “The CRC has demonstrated that it can deliver outstanding unpaid work services. It now needs to focus its efforts on a relentless drive to improve the quality of its case management to an acceptable level.

“We have made six recommendations that we hope will improve the quality of probation services in Norfolk and Suffolk.”

ENDS

Notes to editor
1. The report is available at www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation on 11 September 2019 00.01.
2. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth offending and probation services across England and Wales.
3. Norfolk and Suffolk CRC is owned by Sodexo Justice Services, a large multinational private company, which also delivers probation services across five other CRCs.
4. HM Inspectorate of Probation introduced new ratings in 2018: ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’, ‘Requires improvement’ and ‘Inadequate’.
5. Fieldwork for this inspection took place in May and June 2019.
6. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications Catherine Chan on 07889 405930 or media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)