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Probation service for Cumbria ‘Requires improvement’

Published:

The probation service, or Probation Delivery Unit (PDU*), in Cumbria has been rated as ‘Requires improvement’ following an inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation.

We have completed five inspections in the Probation Service – North West region. The others are Cheshire West PDU and Blackburn with Darwen PDU (both rated ‘Requires improvement’), and Liverpool North PDU and Knowsley and St Helens PDU (both rated ‘Inadequate’).

Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “Cumbria probation service isn’t limited by its geography and is doing its best to meet the challenges of managing people on probation across a large rural area. Another positive is, unlike other services in the region, Cumbria PDU has few vacancies. However, improvements are needed to how they manage the risks people on probation may pose – we know the service is aware of these issues and have plans in place to better protect the local community.”

Inspectors are concerned that not enough is being done to assess the risk of serious harm a person on probation may pose, particularly in terms of domestic abuse and child safeguarding. We acknowledge that Cumbria probation service has taken action to improve the information they receive on these issues from police and local children’s services, but we now want to see this utilised fully.

The way managers oversee their staff needs to improve and this was having an impact on the quality of how new and inexperienced probation officers manage people on probation which can, in turn, put public protection at risk. Cumbria probation service knows this is a critical issue and we understand they are addressing it as a priority.

Mr Russell continued: “We were impressed with the efforts the service had made to eliminate the backlogs of unpaid work required of people on probation, which has been an issue across the probation service since the onset of Covid-19. This has had a significant positive impact on their ability to move forward and look to the future, not least in growing relationships with partners.”

This inspection made 13 recommendations: six for Cumbria PDU and the rest for the North West regional service and HMPPS.

ENDS

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. This probation service sits within the Probation Service – North West region.
  3. This report is available at justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation on 13 July 2023 00.01.
  4. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth offending and probation services across England and Wales.
  5. The Inspectorate uses a four-point scale: ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’, ‘Requires improvement’ and ‘Inadequate’. The Inspectorate rates specific aspects of each service and also gives an overall rating.
  6. Fieldwork for this inspection took place in April 2023
  7. For media enquiries, please contact media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)

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