About this guidance
Foreword from Chief Inspector of Probation
About this guide
Who is this guide for?
How should this guide be used?
A note on inspections
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Foreword from Chief Inspector of Probation
Over the past two years Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation has conducted detailed inspections of over 4,500 individual cases against our quality standards for effective probation work. Based on that extensive data set and individual feedback from our team of inspectors, we now have very good evidence of what delivery of work that meets those quality standards looks like, which we are keen to share with the probation service.
This guide is designed for probation practitioners and those tasked with supporting the development of their skills.
The capacity to be reflective, learn from experience and look for ways to improve are key qualities of good probation practitioners. This guide shares examples found by our inspectors that illustrate what good practice against our standards and key questions looks like. We want to shine a light on practice that engages the individual, supports them to change their behaviour so there is a reduced likelihood of further crime, and shows how the risk of harm to others can be reduced and managed. The practice examples for this guide have been drawn from both National Probation Service (NPS) divisions and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs), to demonstrate effective work across the whole probation caseload.
This effective practice guide is designed for use within a wider framework of guidance, quality management, oversight and performance evaluation. We hope it encourages a wider and continuous process of evaluation and improvement to take place.
Justin Russell
HM Chief Inspector of Probation
About this guide
HM Inspectorate of Probation is committed to promoting effective practice across the probation system to enable work with service users to be as effective as possible. We have collated case supervision practice examples for this effective practice guide. These examples have been drawn from both the NPS divisions and CRCs, to demonstrate that they apply across the probation caseload. We have developed these so that the reader can see how they meet our researched and evidence-based inspection standards, and we have added a section to prompt the reader to apply the learning in each case.
We believe that identifying effective practice is crucial in developing and improving practitioners’ understanding about what inspectors look for in probation practice.
Who is this guide for?
This is a digital handbook, accessible in short modules, for practitioners managing statutory cases in the probation system. The modules describe the features of effective practice in assessment, planning, implementation and delivery of interventions, and reviewing.
How should this guide be used?
This guide can be used for evidence-based self-assessment, practice development and quality assurance. It can be used as part of a service’s preparation for inspection, for action-planning after inspection or for general learning and training. Services can benchmark their own practice against inspection expectations using both HM Inspectorate of Probation’s published standards and this effective practice guide.
A note on inspections
HM Inspectorate of Probation’s standards for supervision, which underpin this effective practice guide, were designed to provide a single, shared view of good-quality probation services. They apply equally across the whole probation caseload, regardless of organisational structures.
Since the start of the current adult inspection programme in the summer of 2018, probation inspectors have interviewed over 4,015 probation practitioners about individual cases they were supervising. When we inspect case supervision, we look at a sample of cases that commenced their supervision six months previously. It is important to recognise that our inspection case examples focus on work undertaken up to this six-month point only.
The four standards for inspection of adult case supervision follow the ASPIRE model by focusing on the quality of assessment, planning, implementation and review. Within each standard we assess the quality of engagement, work to address desistance and work to keep other people safe. In this practice guide we have chosen examples that illustrate what good looks like for these areas of probation work.
The Inspectorate makes sure that inspectors inspect consistently. We carry out internal quality assurance and produce detailed guidance on what we expect in our published case assessment and rules and guidance (CARaG).
We recognise that there is no ‘one size fits all’ and that practice needs to be attentive and tailored to the diversity of service users, and their local communities and the services and opportunities that are available.
Our key principle is that we inspect the quality of work overall rather than the use of any particular document, tool or process. We do not require the use of any specific assessment or planning tool, but instead judge the quality of case supervision in the round. We inspect against our published standards, not against the adherence of the NPS or CRCs to any specific policy.
Inspectors assess the quality of probation work by following HM Inspectorate of Probation’s ‘Probation inspection domain two Case Assessment Rules and Guidance’ (2019).
The rules and guidance are based on international and national probation practice and research, and are designed to set high standards to assess quality. For more information please see our evidence section.
