The National Probation Service is hampered by staff shortages, stretched middle managers and poor facilities, according to today’s report by HM Inspectorate of Probation.

HMIP inspected all seven divisions of the NPS between July 2018 and June 2019, and found recurring problems with staffing and facilities. The Chief Inspector of Probation decided to conduct an extra inspection into HM Prison and Probation Service’s provision of central functions to NPS divisions. 

HM Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said:

“Staff across the NPS are committed and hard-working and leadership is good at every level, but high workloads and a poor facilities management service means the NPS is not performing to its full capability.  At the time of this inspection, there were 615 probation officer vacancies across the NPS. The service is especially short of this crucial grade of staff, who play a vital role in rehabilitating offenders and protecting the public. The problem is especially acute in London and the South East. HM Prison and Probation Service has overall responsibility for NPS recruitment across England and Wales. Since probation reforms were introduced in 2014, not one of the NPS divisions has been fully staffed. A steady state has never been achieved.”

The NPS is responsible for supervising nearly 106,000 high-risk offenders, and violent and sexual offenders subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA).

Inspectors found staff who are in post are often overloaded. Sixty per cent of NPS staff have workloads that exceed their expected capacity. Nearly three in ten have been allocated workloads of more than 120 per cent of expected capacity.

Victim liaison officers, who work with victims of serious and sexual crimes, have an average of 215 cases on their books.

Mr Russell said:

“Many probation officers have unacceptably high workloads. Staff are under pressure and this could compromise their ability to build effective working relationships with people under supervision and to manage all cases to a consistently high standard.
NPS probation officers are working with people who have committed serious offences and who require intensive supervision and rehabilitation. We found staff shortages mean some newly-qualified probation officers are allocated complex cases that they do not have the skills and experience to handle competently.”

Inspectors did find “significant areas of positive performance”, including improved services for victims and women under supervision. 

Good leadership

Leadership is good at every level of the NPS, but middle managers are too stretched. More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of Senior Probation Officer managers said they ‘seldom’ or ‘never’ complete their management tasks each week. Nearly half (47 per cent) put in more than five extra hours per week.

Mr Russell said:

“Senior probation officers should be supervising up to 10 staff. In practice, we found half of middle managers are supervising 11 to 20 members of staff, and often have extra corporate responsibilities. They told us they are frequently overwhelmed and do not have enough time to supervise their staff effectively.”

In May 2019, the government announced that the NPS will take over the supervision of all offenders from 2021, taking on nearly 150,000 low and medium-risk cases from Community Rehabilitation Companies.

Mr Russell added:

“HMPPS has made some progress on staffing issues, but they must pursue this work with a greater sense of urgency.
Immediate steps must be taken to improve workloads. Senior probation officers should be freed up to provide oversight and guidance to junior colleagues; probation officers need enough time to manage their caseloads properly and to develop their professional skills. Greater investment is needed in ongoing training and development.
I urge HMPPS to fill vacancies quickly and work to ensure that the probation workforce better reflects the population as a whole. This will help them to get the right workforce in place to ensure a smooth transfer of cases next year.”