A Bright New Future?

Well here it is - a bright new probation future outlined by those expensive and numerous bright young things in the MoJ comms team at HQ in London. Make what you will of all the guff:-  

Public safety boosted with 1,000 new probation officers

• Thousand new recruits boosting workforce by 29% to improve public protection
• Major three-year plan to improve training and better share workloads for frontline staff will help reduce reoffending
• Part of Government’s plan to make the country safer alongside police recruitment and prison building

With 800 new probation officers already in training, the commitment to recruit at least 1,000 more this year alone will see the workforce grow by 29%.

The move is part of the Government’s efforts to make the country safer, with the recruitment of 20,000 more police officers and the building of over 10,000 new prison places.

Public protection will also be improved by staff having a more balanced workload when services are brought back under National Probation Service control next June. Under the changes, probation officers will also support less dangerous criminals with underlying issues such as drug and alcohol addiction, as well as continuing to keep the public safe by supervising high-risk offenders.

The Probation Workforce Strategy published today also sets out plans to improve training and shift administrative work away from frontline staff so they have more time and skills to better monitor and support offenders and help cut crime.

Prisons and Probation Minister Lucy Frazer QC MP said:

"Every day we hear about the work police officers do to capture criminals and bring them to court, but whether offenders first go to prison or get a community sentence, it is probation officers working hard behind-the-scenes who help them turn their backs on crime.

This new vision sets out our long-term plan to boost the workforce not just in numbers, but also in terms of experience and skill, so that the Probation Service continues to play its vital role in reducing reoffending, already at a 12-year-low."

The Probation Workforce Strategy also includes plans to:

• Develop new IT systems with greater automation giving staff more time to focus on working directly with offenders.
• Foster the skills of the most talented officers through new training programmes and career opportunities, helping retain staff and make better use of their experience and knowledge.
• Create a new route for existing junior probation officers to achieve senior roles helping the Probation Service make quicker use of the experienced staff it already has.
• Improve wellbeing schemes and give more emotional support to frontline staff with professional counselling and buddy schemes.

HM Prison and Probation Service will also review how recruitment and training works to attract a more diverse group of jobseekers and respond better, and quicker, to increased demand. This could mean having more regular intakes, introducing apprenticeships or making changes that make probation as attractive to university leavers as other graduate programmes.

There are also plans to increase diversity with targeted recruitment campaigns, new regional Race Ambassadors and inclusivity training for all staff.

The selection process for new recruits has already changed, with a new online behaviour-based assessment at application-stage and role-play activities at interview that allow applicants to show how they would react to real-life scenarios they are likely to face as probation officers. These innovative changes have already proven to be an effective means of increasing the diversity of those appointed.

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The Probation Workforce Strategy, developed by HM Prison and Probation Service, sets out our collective ambition for a more positive, inclusive, and diverse probation workforce, and the steps we are committed to taking to achieve this over the three years from 2020 to 2023.

The strategy sets out our commitment to investing in staff wellbeing, ongoing professional development and ensuring that probation is an excellent and rewarding place to work. It confirms we will increase recruitment of probation staff this year and have a minimum of 1,000 new probation officers in training by January 2021.

It has been tailored specifically to reflect the needs and ambition of probation and the wider changes probation staff have undergone in the past few months. Working together with leaders and staff across probation we have assigned five key objectives for the new probation workforce:

• Promoting wellbeing for everyone
• Attracting and retaining talented people
• Supporting and developing our people
• Creating a more diverse workforce where everyone feels included
• Fostering confident leaders who inspire and empower others

In addition to these five objectives, the strategy is underpinned by tangible actions that explain how we will achieve these goals. To ensure that the strategy remains reflective of the workforce and up to date, it will be refreshed on an annual basis. We will continue to work closely with members of staff, probation leaders, trade unions, and yourselves and organisations, as we develop and implement our plans.

Please get in touch with any questions or feedback: strengthening.probation@justice.gov.uk

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Introduction 

Probation is at the heart of Government plans to strengthen the Criminal Justice System. It sits firmly within HMPPS as a fundamental service that reduces reoffending and protects the public. 

The service you, our valued workforce, provide changes the lives of those who need your support and keeps the public safe. 

Thank you for all you have done to continue to provide this service to a professional and unflinching standard while we have faced such unprecedented change as we tackle COVID-19. We know this has required a mammoth effort from all of you. 

We are also facing an opportunity to create a new, unified probation service, with one consistent service delivering end-to-end sentence management and the best possible unpaid work, accredited programmes and structured interventions. As new colleagues join us, we look forward to sharing best practice and learning from the breadth of skills and experience they bring. 

Alongside this, the challenge of COVID-19, and the current important debates about equality and inclusion we know that our entire workforce is critical, and as the workforce evolves over the next few years we are determined to support you and invest in the skills, capability and ways of working you need to do your jobs to the highest standard. 

This also includes championing and investing in our commitment to tackle racism and other forms of discrimination where it exists in the service and widen our diversity. We are firmly committed to doing more to create positive change in this space, and we hope that the actions and commitments outlined in this strategy give you a clear indication of that.

This workforce strategy contains our ambition for a positive, inclusive and diverse workforce and the steps we will take to achieve it over the next three years. You may have already seen the HMPPS People Plan, which sets out five key objectives that will allow the service to grow as an organisation and focus on our people over the next three years. 

The Probation Workforce Strategy has developed from the People Plan, with engagement from across probation services, setting out our approach to achieving the service’s vision that is tailored specifically to probation and our core purpose to Assess, Protect, Change. 

The vision of the strategy applies equally to all our workforce, regardless of where in the system you work, and sets out our commitment to you in investing in your wellbeing, your ongoing professional development and making sure that probation is an excellent and rewarding place to work. 

It also reflects the importance of flexible borders, where it is easier to move across HMPPS, MoJ and the wider Civil Service to help build up a diverse talent pipeline. Our focus on diversity also emphasises the importance of supporting staff from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities and widening our recruitment so that our workforce better reflects wider society. 

As we move from the Exceptional Delivery Model to the Recovery phase of our response to COVID-19, we will learn about the new ways of working that have made things easier for you, and those you are keen to move away from.

This is a fundamental tenet of our Recovery work. As the specifics of this emerge, we will keep you informed so that you are aware of and confident in these changes. 

The strategy is our template to ensure that the changes happening in probation and wider society go hand-in-hand with positive changes for our workforce, reflecting our desire to work more closely with all of HMPPS, especially prisons, and support the aim of the wider HMPPS Strategy to enable people to be their best. We value the impactful and often challenging work you do with integrity, every day. 

This is a new beginning for probation and the transition towards a new era. We owe it to you and the public to seize this opportunity and make probation a brilliant place to work.

Jo Farrar Chief Executive Officer, HM Prison & Probation Service

Amy Rees Director General of Probation and Wales, HM Prison & Probation Service