creating a safe, just and democratic society

Probation in England and Wales: Transforming Rehabilitation

STREAM Final Conference – 24th Oct 2014

Natalie WoodierTransforming Rehabilitation Programme, Ministry of Justice

Introduction

Drivers• Reduce

Reoffending• Innovation &

efficiencies • Diversify

Suppliers

Structure•National Probation Servicers (NPS)

•Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRS)

Legislation•Supervision•Licence Conditions•Breach Process

Next Steps• Announcement

of preferred bidders

• Contract management

Summary of the Reforms

• 35 Probation Trusts = 1 National Probation Service (NPS) and 21 Community

Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs)

• NPS will retain ultimate responsibility High Risk offenders for public protection, working in

partnerships.

• The majority of low and medium risk offenders will be managed by CRCs who will be

independent providers from the voluntary/private sectors or mutual.

• The CRCs will come from a diverse range of organisation encompassing private, public,

volunteer sector and mutuals. This will help to drive innovation, enable efficiencies and

community involvement.

• Legislative changes including; extending supervision to sentences under 12 months.

• Resettlement prisons – to improve the way offenders reintegrate back into communities

• Payment by Results (PBR) - a part of payment for providers based on success of

reducing reoffending.

The Drivers

Sustained Reduction in Re-offending

The best from all

sectors – supply chain safeguards

Incentives to reduce

reoffending – payment by results

35 Probation Trusts

The New Structure

Pre 1 June Post 1 June – NEW STRUCTURE

NOMS NOMS

National Probation

Service

Sub-contracts

21 Community Rehabilitation

Companies

Supply chain

• High ROSH offenders• Advice to court• Decisions on breach

• Low / Medium ROSH offenders

Sub-contracts

Sub-contracts

Supply chain

Transforming Rehabilitation – Contract Package Areas

London (31,000)

Derbyshire , Nottinghamshire & Leicestershire (12,000)

Northumbria (5,000)Cumbria and Lancashire (8,000)

Merseyside (6,000)

Greater Manchester and Cheshire (16,000)

Staffordshire and West Midlands (16,000)

Wales (14,000)

Essex (6,000)

Norfolk and Suffolk (5,000)

South Yorkshire (6,000)

West Yorkshire (10,000)

North Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire (8,000)

West Mercia & Warwickshire (4,000)

Thames Valley (6,000)

Gloucester, Wiltshire & Avon and Somerset (9,000)

Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgshire and Hertfordshire (10,000)

Devon, Cornwall, and Dorset (6,000)

Hampshire (6,000)

Durham & Cleveland (6,000)

Surrey, Sussex and Kent (11,000)

National Probation Service (NPS)

The NPS is part of NOMS, its key functions are:

• Managing offenders who pose the highest risk of serious harm;

• NPS is structured into 7 geographical divisions;

• Providing advice to courts on sentencing and risk assessment;

• Working in partnership with CRC’s in cases of escalating risk;

• Key decisions on breach and recall;

• Retaining statutory victim liaison and;

New Probation Regions – Example

8

2

13

West Yorkshire CRC

South Yorkshire CRC

Northumbria CRC

Durham & Tees Valley CRC

N Yorkshire, Humberside &

Lincolnshire CRC

NPS North East

What will Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) do?

• Responsible for managing low and medium risk of harm cases

• Deliver the sentence of the court for each offender allocated to them

• Required to identify change in risk and where there escalation, refer the case to the

NPS.

• CRCs will be required to ensure that all sentence requirements or licence

conditions/supervision requirements are delivered for the offenders they manage.

• Opportunity to engage with most offenders before their release so they can provide

“through the gate” support – working with resettlement prisons

• The package of rehabilitative support CRCs provide to each offender will be for them

to determine, meeting core principal requirements.

Offender Rehabilitation Act

• For offenders serving custodial sentences of more than 1 day but less than 12 months

it extends the release on licence conditions

• Creates a new supervision period for all offenders released from custodial sentences

of less than 2 years. This allows for a range of requirements to be imposed on the

offender to support them moving away from crime. Every eligible offender will receive

12 months of supervision in the community after release.

• Creates a new process for magistrates’ courts to deal with breaches of the

supervision period. It includes up to 14 days in custody as well as fines, unpaid work

and curfews – that can be applied where a breach is proved.

• Creates a new requirement for offenders who are supervised in the community after

release to attend drug appointments.

Next steps

• Final stages of competitions – announcement of preferred bidders

• Finalise implementation of contract management

• Mobilisation of contracts starts at contract signature

• Once a sale in completed the Through the Gate model goes live after a

mobilisation period

Questions?