HM Inspectorate of Probation’s black, Asian and minority ethnic shadowing scheme offers staff currently working in the Civil Service or Youth Justice sector the opportunity to shadow a member of our inspection teams. The purpose of this scheme is to provide the opportunity to see our inspection teams at work and to speak to our staff about what it is like to be an Assistant Inspector or HM Inspector.

Assistant Inspectors play a key role in our inspections of adult and youth offending work. During inspection visits they examine and assess the quality of practice carried out by frontline staff, against the Inspectorate’s published inspection standards, including observation of interventions being delivered. They provide written feedback to lead inspectors on individual cases and feedback to individual case managers/responsible officers about their work. They lead and facilitate meetings of staff groups and service users. Assistant Inspectors have experience of working within or close to probation or youth justice services (in a youth or adult setting) and experience of assessing quality of performance against a specified set of standards.

HM Inspectors are responsible for leading inspections. They are involved in every stage of our inspections: planning, conducting fieldwork, and drafting the final report. They interview and hear from senior leaders and practitioners as well as use a wide range of data sources to form judgments. They identify effective practice as well as areas for improvement, make recommendations and contribute to final ratings. HMIs have worked at a senior level in a related profession, and have experience of interacting with senior stakeholders (such as Directors of Children’s Services, Chief Executives and the Office of Police Crime Commissioners)

Shadowing can be flexible and may be for anything between a couple of hours to a full day. Those selected for the scheme will spend time with a member of our inspection teams during a live inspection.

We will be holding an online launch event on Monday 17 April 2023, 4.30pm – 5.30pm [link to details of launch event] to introduce those interested to the scheme.

Please note that our Shadowing Scheme is open to black, Asian and minority ethnic staff currently working in the Civil Service or Youth Justice sector.

After our launch event, we will invite anyone interested in taking part in the scheme to contact us to register their interest, including whether you are interested in shadowing an Assistant Inspector or HM Inspector. You will then be matched to a member of our inspection staff who will contact you to discuss the type of opportunity you are looking for. This might be shadowing a specific part of a core inspection or observing work on a thematic inspection. We will do our best to match you to your preferred area of interest. Dependant on the number of people interested in joining the scheme, it may be a while before we can offer a shadowing opportunity, but we will keep you up to date on likely timescales.