Probation staff will focus more of their time on prolific
offenders and monitoring the most dangerous people, the Justice
Secretary has said today (12 February).
Speaking at a probation office in London, she set out her vision
for the future of a Probation Service that protects the public,
reduces reoffending and makes our streets safer as part of the
Government's plan for change.
To support this work, the Justice Secretary announced that 1,300
new probation officers will be recruited by March 2026. These new
hires are in addition to the 1,000 officers to be recruited by
this March, previously announced by when she took office in
July last year.
In her speech, the Justice Secretary argued that probation
officers have been asked to do too much for too long. They have
been burdened with high workloads and a one size fits all
approach to managing offenders, regardless of the risk that they
present to the public. This has meant officers have been unable
to pay enough attention to those offenders who pose the greatest
risk to society. This has lead, in some cases, to missed warning
signs where offenders have gone on to commit serious further
offences, including murder.
With all probation units inspected in 2024 marked as “inadequate”
or “requires improvement”, changes will now be made to help staff
refocus their efforts where they have the greatest impact - with
the offenders who need the most attention.
The Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, said:
“The Probation Service must focus more time with offenders who
are a danger to the public, and the prolific offenders whose
repeat offending make life a misery for so many.
“That means for low-risk offenders, we need to change our
approach too. We need to tackle the root causes of their
reoffending, and end a one-size-fits-all approach that isn't
working.
“The first job of the state is to keep its people safe.
Today, as part of our Plan for Change, I have set out changes to
the probation service to protect the public and make our streets
safer.”
Greater time with higher risk offenders will be made
possible by changing probation's approach to the management of
low risk offenders. Probation staff will now intervene
earlier with these offenders, to understand the support they
require and refer them to the services that will tackle the root
causes of their reoffending.
These interventions are crucial as the latest data shows that the
reoffending rate for those without stable accommodation is double
those who are homeless, offenders employed six weeks after
leaving prison had a reoffending rate around half of those out of
work, and reoffending amongst those who complete drug treatment
are 19 percentage points lower. This will help tackle a pressing
issue the Criminal Justice System faces, with around 80 percent%
of offenders now reoffenders.
The Chief Inspector of Probation, Martin Jones
said:
“The Probation Service does a vital job; however, our independent
inspections highlight the serious challenges it faces- too few
staff, with too little experience, managing too many cases to
succeed.
These plans, which rightly focus on increasing probation
resources and prioritising the most serious cases, are a positive
step towards increasing impact on reoffending and better
protecting the public.”
To reduce the administrative burden resting on probation
officers' shoulders, the Justice Secretary will also introduce
new technology to reduce the administrative burden, including:
- A digital tool that will put all the information a probation
officer might need to know about an offender into one place.
- Trialling a new system for risk assessing offenders, to make
it more straightforward for probation officers to make robust
decisions.
- Exploring the potential of AI to be used to automatically
record and transcribe supervision conversations by taking notes
in real time, which will allow probation staff to focus on
building relationships while removing the need to write up notes
into a computer afterwards.
In her speech, the Justice Secretary also exposed one of the
inherited workload challenges faced by the probation service,
which the Government will now address. Accredited Programmes are
rehabilitative courses handed down by the courts to offenders to
address the causes of their criminality.
Over the three years to April 2024, the probation service did not
deliver these courses to nearly 14,000 offenders before their
sentence expired. To address this issue, the Probation Service
must now put in place a process of prioritisation so they will be
delivered to offenders at the greatest risk of reoffending or
causing serious harm. For those who will now not complete an
accredited programme, they remain under the supervision of a
probation officer. All the other requirements they face will
remain in place.
Notes to editors:
- Today's speech will be published on gov.uk
- Guidance will be issued to staff in the coming weeks to
deliver these crucial changes that will ultimately help to cut
crime and keep the public safe.
