Probation service for Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight ‘Requires improvement’

Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “The building blocks are in place for this probation service to succeed, not least strong leadership and a hardworking and trusting group of probation practitioners and support staff. However, like many services we have inspected recently they are overloaded with too many cases and a high vacancy rate. Work is being done to improve this, and it will take time for the service to benefit from these efforts.”

The inspection found that Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight PDU had weathered the impact of Covid-19 and the unification of probation services well, thanks to clear direction from managers, the commitment of staff and the support of their partner agencies. However, at the time of our inspection, the service was feeling the effects of having too many cases with too few staff, with practitioners telling us their workloads were unmanageable. The service is attempting to rectify this by bringing in new recruits and recognises the importance of providing high-quality training and guidance to less experienced or newly qualified probation officers.

The inspection also noted the unique geography of this probation service, which must balance caseloads between a busy city and the offshore rural Isle of Wight. We found probation practitioners were available to travel to the Isle of Wight to meet people on probation and that they provided opportunities for islanders to travel to the mainland to use services that may not be available closer to home.

Mr Russell continued: “There are many positive aspects to the work of Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight probation service and there is a foundation in place for a positive future. In the meantime, we feel essential improvements need to be made to important areas of their work such as how they manage the risk of harm a person on probation may pose. We want to see a greater focus on public protection, not least the better use of important information from vital domestic abuse and child safeguarding enquiries with the police and local council.”

This inspection made eight recommendations: four for Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight PDU and the rest for the South Central regional service and HMPPS.

ENDS

Notes to editor

1. *Probation Delivery Units (PDUs) replaced Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS), which merged into a unified Probation Service in June 2021.
2. This probation service sits within the Probation Service – South Central region.
3. This report is available at justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation on 20 July 2023 00.01.
4. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth offending and probation services across England and Wales.
5. The Inspectorate uses a four-point scale: ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’, ‘Requires improvement’ and ‘Inadequate’. The Inspectorate rates specific aspects of each service and also gives an overall rating.
6. Fieldwork for this inspection took place in May 2023
7. For media enquiries, please contact media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)