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“Safe and supportive environment” found at Merseybank AP, rated ‘Good’ following inspection

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Merseybank Approved Premises (AP) in Liverpool has received an overall rating of ‘Good’ following an inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.

Chief Inspector of Probation, Martin Jones, said: “This was a well-led service with a clear commitment to learning and improvement. Leaders had used learning from findings identified during previous inspections elsewhere in the region to strengthen practice through audit and quality assurance activity in several areas. They provided visible and supportive leadership, helping to create a positive culture where staff felt valued and residents were treated with respect.”

Inspectors found a number of important strengths at Merseybank, including positive relationships between staff and residents that supported both rehabilitation and the effective management of risk, robust public protection arrangements and impressive work undertaken with residents serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection (IPP).

However, the inspection also found areas requiring further improvement. The quality of rehabilitative work was variable, the AP’s strong commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion was not consistently reflected in work with individual residents, and some staff raised concerns about workload pressures, communication between staff groups, and the potential impact of planned national rota changes.

Mr Jones continued, “Merseybank was a safe and supportive environment that delivered effective work to protect the public. By building on its many strengths and addressing the concerns identified by staff, the premises was well placed to achieve even better outcomes in the future.”

The Inspectorate’s report makes eight recommendations. Five are for the Merseybank leadership team including: to establish and respond consistently to residents’ diversity-related needs, strengthen the quality of rehabilitative keywork, and improve communication and information-sharing between residential workers and probation service officers.

Three recommendations are for HM Prison and Probation Service, including to use the AP activity and resourcing review to deliver a workforce strategy with sufficient staffing and manageable workloads, and to mitigate the loss of experienced staff from national rota changes.

ENDS 

Notes to editor 

  1. Approved Premises (APs) are residential units which provide temporary placements in the community for high-risk and complex people on probation. They offer enhanced supervision and rehabilitative support to individuals following release from prison.
  2. At the time of our inspection in July 2026, Merseybank AP had 18 residents in placement.
  3. The Inspectorate uses a four-point scale: ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’, ‘Requires improvement’ and ‘Inadequate’, rating specific aspects of each service (for APs – leadership, staffing, safety, public protection, and rehabilitation) and giving an overall rating.
  4. The report is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website on 26 August 2026 at 00.01.
  5. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth justice and probation services across England and Wales.
  6. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications: media@hmiprobation.gov.uk