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Inspectorate “concerned’ by quality of work to keep people safe, following inspection of probation services in the South West region 

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HM Inspectorate of Probation has undertaken a review of public protection measures across the South West region of the Probation Service.  

Martin Jones, Chief Inspector of Probation, said: “The region had a largely inexperienced workforce who reported significant gaps in training. Worryingly, almost all staff believed they possessed the necessary skills and knowledge to undertake effective public protection; however, this did not translate into effective management of risk within all cases. Unfortunately, senior leaders reflected that given the pace and scale of workload at an operational level, opportunities to embed learning were no longer routinely available, representing a significant barrier to strengthening public protection work. It is vital this is remedied.” 

Context 

  • This report is the third to be published from HM Inspectorate of Probation’s new Dynamic Inspection of Public Protection programme. 
  • It focused specifically on public protection work being delivered across the South West region of the Probation Service.  
  • Sixty-four cases were inspected where the Inspectorate examined assessment, planning, implementation and delivery, and reviewing, all through the lens of public protection work. 
  • The South West region of the Probation Service covers nine Probation Delivery Units (PDUs), Cornwall & Isles of Scilly, Devon & Torbay, Dorset, Plymouth, Bath & North Somerset, Bristol & South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Swindon & Wiltshire. 
  • During this inspection, the region was continuing to experience longstanding staffing challenges. Recruitment efforts since our last inspection in 2023 were leading to an improving picture, however significant gaps remained.  

Findings 

  • Inspectors found the quality of work to keep people safe to be “disappointing”. Fewer than a third of all cases met the threshold of sufficiency for keeping people safe in implementation and delivery, and under half of all cases in assessment and reviewing. 
  • Of particular concern were findings that critical risk-related information was not always captured and disseminated and, even when relevant information was available, it was not consistently analysed or incorporated into risk assessments. This, along with an inexperienced workforce, meant behaviours linked to harmful behaviour and attitudes were not being adequately assessed or analysed, leading to insufficient measures for risk management. 
  • Planning was the strongest area of practice, meeting the required standard to keep people safe in 59 per cent of cases. This indicated that practitioners were able to identify and outline interventions designed to address risk of harm factors.  
  • Positive progress had also been made with court work, with the implementation of structures and systems such as the use of pre-sentence report gatekeeping demonstrating an improvement in quality and indicating benefits from peer-to-peer learning.   
  • Gaps in public protection practice across casework stemmed from multiple and varied interconnected factors.  Significant national policy changes, combined with responses to prison capacity pressures and delays in sentencing, had impacted on the time available to complete sufficient public protection work.  This was a particular concern for those subject to early release schemes and those subject to prison sentence disposals issued by court. 
  • Changes to recall processes had risked disrupting continuity of oversight and supervision, and reduced opportunities for effective engagement with partner agencies. The implementation of Probation Reset and subsequently Impact, have further compounded service delivery challenges. The application of these policies and the complexities they represent contributed to inconsistent practice in the cases inspected, particularly in relation to risk management and work to keep people safe. 

Mr Jones added: “While capacity challenges, ongoing vacancies and high workloads continued to undermine efforts to improve stability within the region, the issues at an operational level extended beyond workload pressures. The region articulated that public protection was a priority, however, there was no public protection strategy or defined priorities, resulting in a lack of clarity and impact.” 

This report makes six recommendations. Three are for the region, including to ensure mechanisms are in place to provide effective governance, assurance, and oversight of multi-agency public protection arrangement (MAPPA) eligible cases [see notes to editor] at all levels. Three recommendations are for HM Prison and Probation Service, including to develop a national strategic approach to information sharing with police and children services. 

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. 
  1. More information on MAPPA can be found on our website.  
  1. HM Inspectorate’s Dynamic Inspection of Public Protection is a new programme which started in October 2025. The Inspectorate has paused its core adult programme to undertake six months of dynamic inspection activity, focussed solely on the Service’s delivery of public protection. It will inspect all twelve regions and inspections, then deliver 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.   
  1. The South West region is one of 11 probation regions in England with a further region in Wales. 
  1. The report is available on our website 12 February 2026. 
  1. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth justice and probation services across England and Wales. We report on the effectiveness of probation and youth justice service work with adults and children. We highlight good and poor practice and use our data and information to encourage high-quality services. We are independent of government, and speak independently. 
  1. The Inspectorate typically uses a four-point scale: ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’, ‘Requires improvement’ and ‘Inadequate’ for inspections, however, has opted out of one-word ratings for this inspection programme.  
  1. For media enquiries, please contact Louise Cordell, Head of Communications 
    07523 805224 / media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)