It was good to see that our call (and that of many others) for extra resources for the probation service (PDF, 146 kB), was at least partially answered in the Spending Review announcement at the end of November. Although the settlement was only for next financial year, the additional investment in probation running costs this year is to be continued into 2021/2022, with some welcome capital investment too – including in approved premises.

I hope this greater stability in funding will help probation services deal with some of the recurring issues highlighted in our inspections: a shortage of probation officers, high caseloads, lack of investment in ongoing professional development, and ongoing concerns about effective risk management. It should also help the service recover from the impact of the pandemic, which has been considerable – as we found in our national reports on the impact of Covid-19 on probation services and the impact of Covid-19 on youth offending services (both published in November). In general, both services responded remarkably quickly and effectively to the first national lockdown in March.

Operating models were switched overnight from face to face to phone-based supervision, with a focus on welfare needs and public protection. Relationships with key partners like the police and children’s social care, if anything strengthened, with MAPPA and MARAC meetings and out-of-court panels going virtual. More vulnerable and chaotic service users, however, suffered from a lack of face-to-face contact. A clear digital divide emerged, with almost half of the children on YOT caseloads lacking either the IT devices or broadband connections they needed for online schooling or contact with their YOT worker.

We also published our youth annual report in November. This was based on the 16 YOT inspections that we completed before the first Covid-19 lockdown and which we published between November 2019 and October 2020. It was great to present key findings from our youth annual report at a YJB Live event on 25 November. Although it’s difficult to make direct comparisons, it was disappointing that the overall quality of the services we inspected over the past year was worse than the previous year, with nine out of 16 requiring improvement and only one service rated ‘Outstanding’. While we continued to find experienced and committed staff in many YOTs and a good range of embedded support services, 10 services were rated ‘Requires improvement’ or ‘Inadequate’ on leadership standard – with management boards having a crucial role to play in driving effective performance.

In the course of this year’s YOT inspections, we have inspected more than 770 individual cases, with a continuation of many of the trends that we identified last year. For example, out-of-court cases make up a growing proportion of YOT caseloads, but the quality of supervision for these cases continues to receive lower ratings than for court-ordered cases. The quality of supervision of informal community resolution cases rated lowest of all. The assessment and management of risk of harm to others remains the weakest area of performance – a concern when a recent YJB analysis shows that 85 per cent of children going through the courts are assessed as presenting some risk of harm and violent offences are making up an increasing proportion of the workload. I was also concerned to see that looked after children, particularly those placed out of area, are receiving poorer quality support and supervision than others, which should be a priority for improvement going forward.

As well as looking back over the past year, we have also been completing live inspections and launching new thematic reviews. Local fieldwork for our inspection into the probation service’s recovery from the first Covid-19 lockdown finished at the end of November, with detailed assessments of 240 cases and interviews conducted with hundreds of staff and managers across 12 local services (CRCs and NPS). I look forward to publishing our findings in the new year. As we move into December, our focus will turn to our national inspection into the progress the probation service is making to transition to a new unified structure in June 2021. We look forward to hearing what staff and leaders in six areas make of preparations for this key event.

Note: HM Inspectorate of Probation will be publishing its annual probation report on 03 December. Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell will launch the report at an online event on 03 December 2-3pm. To book your free space, please email media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address) by 02 December 5pm (instructions will be sent out on the morning of the event).