Swansea Neath Port Talbot Probation Delivery Unit – ‘Requires improvement’

Martin Jones, Chief Inspector of Probation, said: “We found evidence of strong, impressive leadership, and a commitment to staff wellbeing and development, but as we see so often, work to keep people safe was insufficient.”

Leaders, managers, and practitioners had a clear understanding of the risk and need profile of the PDU caseload which was resulting in some promising work to engage people on probation and promote desistance. There were strong relationships with Commissioned Rehabilitative Service [see notes to editor] providers, with several of these services being co-located within the PDU. This co-location enabled robust working relationships and timely referrals to services.

However, despite leaders’ focus on activity to increase the quality of public protection practice, the work to keep the public safe was the weakest area of practice across all our standards. Information was not always used effectively to assess and manage risk, and management oversight was ineffective. This is in line with the findings from all our recent PDU inspections.

Given these consistent deficiencies in public protection work across the Service, from October 2025, HM Inspectorate of Probation will be undertaking a new, six-month Dynamic Inspection of Public Protection of all twelve probation regions [see notes to editor].

Mr Jones continued: “While further work is needed to improve the quality of work to keep people safe, Swansea Neath Port Talbot PDU has the necessary measures in place to achieve high-quality service delivery, and I wish them well for the future.”

The report makes six recommendations, including to improve the quality of work to assess, manage, and review risk of harm, and to ensure all practitioners have a clear understanding of how often, and in what circumstances, they should complete domestic abuse enquiries with police.

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. The report is available at https://hmiprobation.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/ on 16 October 2025
3. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth justice and probation services across England and Wales. 
4. Commissioned Rehabilitative Services are part of HMPPS. They provide flexible support to those in the criminal justice system and are delivered by organisations who have bid for and have been awarded contracts across different regions. Services include: support to access accommodation, support to deal with finances, benefits and debt; dependency and recovery services, as well as personal and emotional wellbeing support.
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 July 2025
7. HM Inspectorate’s Dynamic Inspection of Public Protection is a new programme, starting in October 2025. The Inspectorate will be pausing its core adult programme to undertake six months of dynamic inspection activity, focusing 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. 
8. For media enquiries, please contact Louise Cordell, Head of Communications 07523 805224 / media@hmiprobation.gov.uk