Renationalised Probation Service
In 2015 reforms were passed to allow some of the National Probation Service responsibilities to be dealt with by private companies. Known as Community Rehabilitation Companies, or CRCs, the companies were responsible for low to medium risk offenders while probation continued to deal with high-risk offenders. Companies were invited to submit tenders in what was described as a “chaotic and confused” process, and contracts were given to the successful bidders.
There was widespread criticism of the privatisation, yet Boris Johnson said he wanted to further the reforms.
Assessments
Various assessments took place in 2016 by the National Audit Office, Probation Inspectorate and the Public Accounts Committee. The results highlighted a gap between the estimated caseload volumes that CRCs used to cost their bids and the actual volumes they were working with. Delivery of services was “mixed and patchy” or “chaotic and inadequate”. There had been a dramatic decline in the quality and provision of services for the women being dealt with. In the final report of 2016, the Inspectorates of Probation and Prison looked at resettlement services for prisoners on short sentences and found them to be poor with little to commend about them.
In 2018 a report found that the CRCs were failing to tackle domestic abuse or keep victims safe. Those convicted of domestic abuse were found in more than half of the cases looked at, were not making enough progress on their court orders. Practitioners had failed to act on new information that victims and children could be in danger, and staff were found not to have the skills, experience or time to supervise offenders properly.
In 2019 the then justice secretary announced the government would be renationalising the probation service. The CRC contracts were to be brought to an early end with no new companies to be introduced.
The government decided that the “Transforming Rehabilitation” reforms, including the establishment of CRCs, had created many serious problems. They were unconvinced that the model could deliver an effective service, so changes are to be introduced.
A solution to the problem
A new unified probation service has been launched, with extra funding provided. The intention is to double the number of probation officers and the service to work more closely with the police, NHS, and local authorities. The public sector probation service will now supervise low and medium risk offenders and deliver unpaid work and programmes that were previously dealt with by the CRCs.
There will be twelve regional areas with a new specialist National Security Division tasked explicitly with monitoring terrorists, serious organised criminals and very high-risk offenders.
The national standards for the service are to be refreshed. There must be at least one face to face meeting with all supervised offenders once per month. A higher number of meetings will be required for higher-risk offenders. In conjunction with the police and social services where appropriate, for the first time, probation staff will visit offenders’ homes to “protect children, partners and other family members from domestic and sexual abuse.”
An increase in monitoring is to take place with electronic monitoring, GPS and sobriety tags. Probation will still be involved with victims and seek appropriate licence conditions at parole hearings. Eligible victims will now be referred to the Victim Contact Scheme under the Victims’ Code, with plans to extend the scheme to victims of stalking and harassment where the offenders are serving less than 12 months.
The main aim of the probation service is rehabilitation, more than 80% of crime is re-offending, so it is vitally important. Extra investment in tackling the drivers of crime has been announced with charities and companies involved to provide and signpost support in employment, housing advice and mental healthcare. This will include homeless prison leavers being given temporary accommodation to help prevent re-offending.
A package to provide support for prison leavers was announced earlier this year, with an emphasis on housing, closer supervision, and drug treatment programmes.
How can we help?
If you need specialist advice in relation to any criminal investigation or prosecution, from the initial investigation through to court proceedings, please get in touch. Call John Howey on 020 7388 1658 or email jhowey@jfhlaw.co.uk. Let us help.
[Image credit: © Crown Copyright ] Read More
Private Probation Providers Fail Offenders and Society
A few years ago, the National Probation Service was split into two. The existing service maintained its supervision of high-risk offenders, mainly those serving lengthy sentences or with complex rehabilitation needs. However, the remaining offenders, by far the vast majority, are supervised by companies which bid to carry out rehabilitation work, with payment mechanisms often linked to success.
These arrangements have been subject to intense scrutiny in recent months, and the findings are grim, to say the least.
This is of concern because many offenders commit crime due to underlying circumstances, which if not resolved will inevitably lead to subsequent offending. For example, drug, alcohol and mental health treatment programmes must work if the cycle of offending is to be broken.
A report this week looked at another group of offenders; those who commit offences of domestic violence or abuse.
Domestic abuse is defined as any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been, intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality.
The abuse can encompass psychological, physical, sexual, financial and/or emotional harm.
Domestic abuse is the context within which an offence takes place rather than an offence.
There is no single offence of domestic abuse. Rather, a range of offences feature the behaviours exhibited as part of the pattern of domestic abuse. These include:
- physical violence
- psychological or emotional harm
- sexual violence
- ‘honour-based’ violence (for example forced marriage)6
- harassment
- stalking
- gang violence
- sharing or distributing intimate private videos or photographs of another person without their permission (so-called ‘revenge porn’)
- coercive and controlling behaviour.
An estimated two million people experienced domestic abuse last year.
A good proportion of people in receipt of probation services are domestic abusers, and domestic abuse constitutes a sizeable proportion of the work of Community Rehabilitation Companies.
This group has been shown to have some of the most complex needs in terms of rehabilitation, rehabilitation that is vital to protect the public and set the offender on a path that allows them to move beyond their troubled past.
Regrettably, yet another report makes grim reading, these are some of its findings:
“Overall, practitioners were not empowered to deliver a good-quality domestic abuse service. They had unmanageable workloads and many needed more training and oversight. Inexperienced probation workers had full and complex caseloads and, because of the emphasis on remote working in some CRCs, they were unable to obtain support from their colleagues. The lack of knowledge, skill and time dedicated to managing domestic abuse led to considerable shortfalls in the quality of case management.
Many assessments were superficial. The tools that staff were using to complete assessments did not always help them to analyse and assess their cases thoroughly.
This left them without the necessary understanding of the context of the domestic abuse and the factors linked to the behaviours in the case. Some plans were helpful and included appropriately sequenced, individualised objectives, but this was not common practice.
Some of the CRCs’ work to protect victims (and especially children) was of grave concern. There was little correlation between the vision CRCs had for victims and the quality of practice.
Many probation workers did not fully understand the effect of domestic abuse on families or the relevance of an integrated approach to managing risk of harm. As such, they focused their work solely on the individual. Assessments and plans lacked depth: the voice and needs of victims, and information from partner agencies, were not analysed sufficiently and used to inform work to reduce risk of harm. Probation workers relied too much on the decisions of other agencies, such as children’s social care and the NPS, about levels of risk of harm and safeguarding, without checking their validity. As such, they were not always able to make effective decisions about how to protect victims and children. They often failed to see the monitoring of external controls, such as restraining orders, or undertaking home visits, as an integral part of their work.”
Why does this matter?
We see many clients who bitterly regret their offending behaviour and seek help in addressing the underlying causes. A society that does not assist offenders to rehabilitate bears a heavy cost, both financial and worse. All policymakers must address the concerns in recent reports as a matter of urgency.
Please contact John Howey on 0207 328 1658 or jhowey@jfhlaw.co.uk for assistance with any criminal law related enquiry.
Read More