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Public protection barriers remain in East Midlands region of the Probation Service

Published:

HM Inspectorate of Probation has undertaken a review of public protection measures [see notes to editor] across the East Midlands region of the Probation Service.

Martin Jones, Chief Inspector of Probation, said: “The region had a clear and sustained focus on improving resettlement which was encouraging. However, despite leaders and staff displaying a clear commitment to obtaining timely information from partner agencies, a significant barrier remained across the region which continued to undermine effective risk management.”

 Context

  • This report focused specifically on public protection work being delivered across the East Midlands region of the Probation Service.
  • Fifty-four cases were inspected where the Inspectorate examined assessment, planning, implementation and delivery, and reviewing, all through the lens of public protection work.
  • The East Midlands region of the Probation Service spans five counties and six Probation Delivery Units (PDUs).

Findings

  • Since our last inspection of the East Midlands region in 2025, leaders had acted quickly to address previously identified areas for development. Inspectors identified early signs of progress across sentence management; however, many changes were still bedding in and several long-standing issues remained.
  • Planning was found to be a strength, while assessment remained weak. Implementation and delivery were inconsistent, and inspectors found missed opportunities to act on new information or coordinate work with other agencies.
  • A renewed strategic focus in the region was addressing some of the longer-standing barriers to public protection. Progress remained slow and training implemented over a year ago was only starting to impact casework.
  • Our 2025 inspection highlighted that assessments were too often completed without reference to critical risk information. In response, the region had launched the ‘WHAT’ model, a four-step framework which prompted practitioners to interpret and act on external information.

Mr Jones added: “Overall, improvements were evident and momentum was building. However, the region had further to go before public protection work was delivered to a consistently good standard. Continued leadership focus, supported by a national effort to improve information-sharing and workforce capacity will be essential.”

This report makes six recommendations. Four of these are for the East Midlands probation region, including to improve the quality of court reports to inform sentencing proposals and work with sentencers to ensure advice from probation court staff is obtained pre‑sentence. Two recommendations are for HM Prisons and Probation Service, including to develop a national strategic approach to information sharing with police and children’s services to support regions in achieving consistency and compliance with legislation to obtain and use information to protect the public.

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 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 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. 
  3. The East Midlands region is one of 11 probation regions in England with a further region in Wales.
  4. The report is available on our website on 14 May 2026.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. For media enquiries, please contact Louise Cordell, Head of Communications: media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)