Skip to content

All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated.

To view this licence, visit:
https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3

or write to:
Information Policy Team,
The National Archives,
Kew,
London TW9 4DU

or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

This publication is available at:
https://hmiprobation.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk.

© Crown copyright

Chief Inspector announces dynamic inspection of public protection

Published:

Since my appointment as Chief Inspector of Probation in March 2024, I have become increasingly concerned that probation is falling short in its duty to protect the public. While we have seen some promising signs of improvement in terms of desistance and engaging people on probation, the Service is hamstrung by its public protection work. Two-thirds of the cases we have inspected so far are judged insufficient, and in some areas fewer than one in five cases we inspected met our standards.

Every Probation Delivery Unit I have inspected has been rated as ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requires improvement’, and I know there are thousands of committed, motivated probation practitioners who want to achieve better outcomes for the people they manage. People on probation deserve to be overseen by a Service which has sufficient measures in place and our communities deserve to feel safe in the knowledge that steps are being taken to reduce the risk of harm and safeguard victims from future crimes.

As Chief Inspector, I believe I now need to take a different, more focused approach. Therefore, from October, we will be pausing our core adult programme to undertake six months of dynamic inspection activity, focusing solely on the Service’s delivery of public protection. We will inspect all twelve regions and inspections will be accompanied by follow-up activity with strategic leaders and managers to identify what can be done to support and guide regional leaders into improving work, increasing knowledge and confidence and providing a solid foundation for further improvement.

It is important to be clear: risk is intrinsic to the work of probation and cannot be eliminated. With a caseload of 240,000 cases, it is inevitable things will sometimes go wrong. Individual probation officers cannot predict the future, nor can they be held accountable if offenders under their supervision reoffend – where the officer has taken reasonable steps to understand and mitigate that risk. However, I also firmly believe, supported by our published evidence, that improved probation practice will make the public safer and reduce harm to victims.

Once we have concluded this focused piece of work, we will resume our core adult inspections in the expectation of seeing some progress in this area by the end of our current programme.

Full details of the dynamic inspection of public protection can be found here.