Effective practice: making more of what we learn through inspection
Inspection gives us a valuable view of how probation and youth justice services are working. We see where things need to improve, but we also see examples of work being done well. At HM Inspectorate of Probation, our vision is for high-quality probation and youth justice services that change people’s lives for the better. Effective practice has an important role in achieving that vision.
Our new Effective Practice Strategic Plan 2027–2029 sets out how we will use learning from the effective work we see in inspection to support improvement across probation and youth justice services.
What do we mean by effective practice?
Our definition is straightforward: Effective practice is where we see our standards delivered well in practice.
Effective practice does not have to be complex or unique. We see it when organisations, leaders, and practitioners deliver work well against our evidence-based standards. This includes both strategic leadership, day-to-day work with children and people on probation.
Over the next two years, our effective practice work will focus on three areas: highlight, engage and replicate. We will highlight examples of effective practice identified through inspection, create more opportunities for people to engage with and use our findings, and explore the factors that allow effective approaches to work so that others can consider what could be replicated in their own setting.
Making our learning more useful
We already publish a range of effective practice products in our library. Over the next two years, we want to build on that work and make our offer more practical, visible and accessible. Our products will be shaped by six principles: usability, responsiveness, relevance, visibility, collaboration and high impact. We will listen to practitioners and leaders about the challenges they face, while ensuring our work remains grounded in inspection evidence, informed by research and independent.
What do we want to achieve?
By 2029, our ambition is to use our position as a trusted authority to strengthen the link between inspection findings and service improvement. We want this work to help practitioners and leaders look at what is working well, understand why, and consider what is relevant to their own services.