The two organisations responsible for providing probation services in Suffolk needed to do far more to protect the public, reduce reoffending and make sure people served sentences handed down by the courts, said Dame Glenys Stacey, HM Chief Inspector of Probation. Staff at both organisations were working hard, but dealing with high caseloads, she added. Today she published the report of a recent inspection of probation work in Suffolk.

The inspection looked at the quality of probation work carried out by the Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) and the National Probation Service (NPS) and assessed the effectiveness of work undertaken locally with people who have committed crimes. This was the second 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 Suffolk was not good enough. Staff needed to do more to protect the public, particularly in domestic abuse cases, and they needed a greater focus on keeping children safe. Their work to prevent people committing further crimes needed to improve, as did work to ensure that people abided by the terms of their sentence. Staff were working hard but individual caseloads were very high and staff morale was low. Inspectors saw some good work, but the quality of work was generally poor.

Sodexo has a conceptually sound operating model for all of its CRCs. Based on robust research, it is designed to fully engage people who have committed crimes and address their readiness to change. Inspectors were concerned, however, at the over-reliance on telephone contact in supervising individuals. Without meaningful contact, people are less likely to develop the will to change their attitudes and behaviour. Inspectors were also concerned at the lack of privacy in open booths used for confidential interviews.

Implementation of the model in Suffolk has stalled and some systems are not yet up and running, partly because the Ministry of Justice’s necessary IT gateway that will allow for critical information to be shared is still not in place.

The quality of work from the NPS with higher-risk offenders in Suffolk was also poor overall. As inspectors found with the CRC, more needed to be done to protect the public in domestic abuse cases and more done to safeguard children. Work to reduce the risk of people committing further crimes was poor across the spectrum. In the face of work pressures, local leaders had reduced the requirement to review cases, which inspectors thought left some potential victims more vulnerable than necessary.

Inspectors made recommendations which included: the CRC taking enforcement action where appropriate against those who don’t comply with their sentences and ensuring people can be interviewed in private when necessary. They also needed to communicate and engage with their staff more effectively. The NPS should provide specific support to responsible officers carrying caseloads of high-risk offenders. The CRC and NPS together should improve the quality of case management, with a particular focus on the risk posed to known adults and children, and provide effective management oversight of all relevant cases.

Dame Glenys Stacey said:

“Suffolk is not being served well enough by probation services. Staff are working hard but still, the quality of work is poor overall. I am particularly concerned that neither organisation is protecting the public enough in most cases, and that domestic abuse victims and children are particularly at risk.

“Both organisations are struggling to manage their workloads with the number of staff they have. To deliver well, all probation providers must be able to employ enough skilled staff and then make sure they can give of their best. The CRC is waiting to see whether it will be better funded by government in future, and the sooner that is decided, the better. As a national organisation, the NPS should be able to lead and manage staffing better within its existing resources.”

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Notes to editors:

1. The report is available at justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation from 16 June 2017.
2. Since the introduction of Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) in June 2014, HM Inspectorate of Probation has reported on its implementation and produced the last of five Transforming Rehabilitation reports in May 2016. In April 2016, a new programme of regular inspection of adult probation services, known as Quality & Impact inspection, began. Suffolk is the tenth area to be inspected in that programme.
3. The former Suffolk Probation Trust was last inspected 2014. Since then, probation services had undergone significant changes as a result of the government’s Transforming Rehabilitation In June 2014, Probation Trusts were abolished and probation work was divided between two separate organisations. The NPS primarily took over the management of offenders posing a high risk of serious harm to others and those subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). The NPS also had responsibility for staffing the courts, including writing pre-sentence reports and for victim contact work. The rest of the probation work was allocated to 21 newly created CRCs. In February 2015, the CRCs were sold to private companies.
4. The report looks at probation services delivered in Suffolk by the NPS South East & Eastern division and the Norfolk & Suffolk CRC (N&SCRC). The CRC is owned by Sodexo Justice Services. In delivering probation services, it works in partnership with Nacro. Sodexo delivers probation services across six CRCs: Norfolk & Suffolk, BeNCH, Cumbria & Lancashire, Essex, Northumbria, and South Yorkshire.
5. For further information please contact Jane Parsons at HMI Probation press office on 020 3681 2775 or 07880 787452