National findings: Dynamic Inspection of Public Protection in the Probation Service

Martin Jones, Chief Inspector of Probation, said: “Frontline probation staff are working hard to keep communities safe, often in very difficult circumstances. However, public protection work was not being delivered consistently well enough to provide the assurance that victims, communities and partner agencies were entitled to expect.

“Persistent staffing shortages and workforce instability, combined with inconsistent information-sharing with the police and children’s services, meant that practitioners did not always have what they needed to identify, understand and manage risk effectively. As a result, opportunities to recognise patterns of harmful behaviour, safeguard children, protect victims and respond to escalating concerns were too often missed.”

 Context

• This report focused specifically on public protection work being delivered by all 12 regions of the Probation Service across England and Wales.
• We inspected public protection work across 858 cases and conducted 711 case inspection interviews with practitioners, examining assessment, planning, implementation and delivery, and reviewing, all through the lens of public protection work.

Findings

• Vetting delays remain a significant barrier to recruitment, hindering the timely filling of vacancies and, in some cases, causing successful candidates to withdraw before appointment.
• Increased workforce instability, and decreased resilience across probation staffing, is directly impacting the quality and consistency of risk management practice; these are longstanding problems, and recruitment shortfalls and staff shortages do not simply mean a busier workforce, they contribute to a heightened risk to public protection.
• Information-sharing with the police has improved, but in almost one in five cases (18 per cent) information received about domestic abuse was of insufficient quality to be meaningful in assessing risk; information-sharing with children’s services remains a more significant and persistent weakness, with information of insufficient quality to inform risk assessment in nearly a third of relevant cases (31 per cent).
• Even where information was available, practitioners did not always make effective use of it: in more than half of cases inspected (54 per cent), critical information was not sufficiently interrogated, analysed or translated into robust risk assessment and management activity.
• There is currently no agreed national strategy setting out overarching principles for how probation should work with the police and children’s services, meaning individual Probation Delivery Units are left attempting to solve the same shared problems in isolation.
• Public protection outcomes were consistently strongest where regions and Probation Delivery Units had the flexibility to use their initiative and apply locally innovative solutions, within a clear national framework.

Mr Jones added: “Our findings show that regions cannot resolve these issues alone. National action is needed to stabilise the workforce, strengthen information-sharing with the police and children’s services, and support practitioners to make full and confident use of the information available to them. We also need the right responsibilities sitting in the right place: clear national consistency where it matters most, alongside room for regions to use their initiative, where our evidence shows the best outcomes are delivered. If our recommendations are adopted, the foundations for sustained improvement will be in place.”

This report makes seven recommendations to HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). These include reducing vetting delays and addressing workforce instability through more regionally responsive recruitment processes; developing a national strategic approach to information-sharing with the police and children’s services; providing regions with increased learning and development resources; and reviewing approved premises capacity and placements.

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. HM Inspectorate’s Dynamic Inspection of Public Protection programme took place between October 2025 and August 2026. The Inspectorate paused its core adult programme to undertake the dynamic inspection activity, focussed solely on the Service’s delivery of public protection. It inspected all twelve regions, then delivered follow-up activity with strategic leaders and managers to identify what could be done to support and guide regional leaders into improving work, increasing knowledge and confidence and providing a solid foundation for further improvement. 
3. The report is available on our website on 24 September 2026.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. For media enquiries, please contact Louise Cordell, Head of Communications: media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)