Approved Premises: the mid-2022 'State of Play'
In 2001, in England & Wales, Probation Hostels were redesignated Approved Premises (APs), and have undergone, and are still undergoing, major changes. These small institutions, accommodating usually 20-30 residents in the community, were mainly used to house individuals either serving a community sentence or on pre-trial bail. For some twenty years now, their residents have instead been almost exclusively individuals on release from prison – often following a long and/ or indeterminate sentence.
In mid-2022, about 100 APs are directly managed by HMPPS. An additional 14 APs are commissioned by HMPPS but managed by separate independent organisations, some of which are small historic charities whilst others are specialist accommodation providers.
HMPPS now requires all APs to accommodate only individuals that are “high-risk” and/or with complex needs. Both sectors of APs are therefore now better staffed and equipped compared with a few years ago, and cameras and monitoring devices are very evident.
HMPPS has recently formally adopted a wider Accommodation Strategy nationwide, within which APs are the “Tier 1” provision, for the highest risk cases. It is seeking to expand this provision, while at the same time develop Tiers 2 and 3, for accommodating other individuals that are being released from prison.
What are the main current issues for the APs, in mid-2022?
What are the main current issues for the APs, in mid-2022?
• COVID19 pandemic: All APs are now recovering from the hugely challenging effects of the pandemic. APs kept going when almost all of the rest of the probation ‘system’ was either shut down or ‘homebased’.
• Expansion: HMPPS’s projections forecast a rise in demand for AP places, and the main route to increasing the number of beds by ‘200 in two years’ is to commission more independent APs, especially in London and the SE where demand should be highest.
• Occupancy: At the time of writing, APs – especially the female ones – are not filling up with residents in the way that projections suggested that they should. The issues around this are complex, and might prove temporary.
• A regrading within HMPPS’s own APs: A recent big step was the regrading of a whole sector of AP staff from Band 2 to Band 3 status and pay, to provide some recognition of the nature of this work.
• New contracts for the independent APs: The contractual relationship with HMPPS is about to go through another major change, laying the ground for competitive tendering.
• Referrals, especially in the female estate: Given that APs are NOT prisons, there are questions around which residents can or cannot be managed in an AP. Some of the most difficult cases to resolve are female cases, where much of the problem can be that the self-destructive behaviour of some female residents is so relentless, and so destructive to other residents as well as to herself, that she ends up having to be recalled, which means the cycle has to start all over again. Although the independent sector is only just over 12% of the total AP provision, independent APs have over 50% of the provision in the female estate. This is, thus, a very live issue for IAPs who face wider costs and challenges such as not having Crown Immunity, and so have to buy property and liability insurance in the commercial market.
• Terrorist cases: Individuals imprisoned for terrorism offences are often required to live at an AP on first release, and while most residents are required to move on after just 12 weeks, new provisions mean that terrorism cases will be required to stay for a full year before moving on.
In both sectors of the AP world, life is currently not dull!
Andrew Bridges
Andrew Bridges
Strategic Director National Approved Premises Association (NAPA)
Just a reminder. Don't complete the Peoples Survey. They get more upset about non-completions than you "having a rant". The best way to communicate your anger is not to complete it.
ReplyDeleteYes I totally agree after a previous experience when I was asked about my views about senior management in supervision soon after I submitted a survey......it used to be they were collating statistics about the cluster now the new improved reference numbers highlight particular offices no doubt to sniff out and deal wit dissent at its root!
Delete"HMPPS’s projections forecast ... increasing the number of beds by ‘200 in two years’ "
ReplyDeleteQ: How many actual AP beds are there across Eng & Wales?
Bridges hints at there being between 4,000 & 6,000 across both HMPPS & IAP sectors.
Has anyone looked at the number of beds the system actually needs? How have they calculated those numbers?
Bridges then says "At the time of writing, APs – especially the female ones – are not filling up with residents in the way that projections suggested that they should."
It all seems to fit in with the HMPPS methodology of making noises but not giving a shit - unless its to spend £billions on prison places.
Maybe the prospect of giving huge contracts to build-&-manage APs to their chums at Serco or Sodexo will advance the sector?
Seeing that HMPPS is now all one big happy family, I find the objections to the creation of a new AP more then a little ironic.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.shepherdsbushw12.com/#!pages/shepherdsbushw12:info:congovernorshouse001
'Getafix
Andy Slaughter, the MP for Hammersmith, has written to the Minister of Justice, Dominic Raab, over plans to use Governor’s House on Du Cane Road as accommodation for high risk former prisoners including terrorists and sex offenders.
DeleteA proposal is being considered to turn the building, which is situated about 35 metres away from the main entrance to HMP Wormwood Scrubs and is where staff enter and exit, into Approved Premises. Approved Premises house some of the highest risk offenders in the country. This would mean it would be used to house offenders, who may present a high risk of potential harm after they have been released from custody. An Approved Premises, also known as a probation hostel, serves to provide the opportunity for intensive supervision of certain categories of released inmates.
The MP points out to the Minister that the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) visited the Governor’s House just over a year ago to assess the building’s suitability to be used as an Approved Premises and identified 18 potential vulnerabilities. Mr Slaughter says many of these were very serious and therefore he was prompted to write his letter.
He points out that staff need to pass by the location which could put them at risk of intimidation, harassment and blackmail from individuals within the Approved Premises.
The MP says, “Prison staff have the right to feel safe inside and outside their place of work, especially when their job entails dealing with dangerous and vulnerable individuals.”
He also indicates that it is not just staff who will be placed at risk saying that newly released prisoners could be approached by those in Approved Premises just a few metres away undermining their chance of rehabilitation.
The proposed location of the premises is also a short distance from the visitor’s centre where many women and children will be arriving and congregating outside as they come to visit their family member inside the prison. This could put these women and children in real danger, and they would not be aware that the nearby building could house terrorists and sex offenders who are not confined to a cell.
Mr Slaughter also highlights the increased risk of drones being used to bring drugs into the prison. The proximity of the Governor’s House to the southern perimeter wall of the prison would be an ideal location to control the smuggling of drugs and other contraband. The top floor of the building has a view over the wall and into the prison grounds.
He concludes by urging the Minister to reconsider the plans for the building say that the security assessment shows that the risks of the proposal are obvious and cannot be mitigated.
I can see the reply thanks I'm not in cabinet. As for the rest of it we are in a job we do as we are told it's not a democratic process we are employees and if you want paying this is the life do as we are told not what we want.
Delete"Competitive Tendering" was the carrot and stick that overhadowed probation back at the start of this century. We went from independent local Probation Services to Trusts, and then the Trusts were threatened with "Competitive tendering" to secure their work. It was all nonsense anyway, TR came along and it all got sold off for contracts that didnt work for client or contractor, and the rest is (recent) history. The grand obession with risk management and enforcement has obviously stoked the two tier AP model, the HMPPS high risk AP provision will eclipse the needs of the stalwart charities catering for anyone else, and they in their turn will be drafted into the vortex of policing and enforcement, but on lower returns per worker.
ReplyDeleteAPs are not a beacon of independence, they are just a step or two behind the rest of Probation in being subsumed into a uniformed service and a business model
There's a lot of noise being made about spending cuts since Truss announced her tax cuts for the wealthy.
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult to see which departments might be targeted to bear the brunt of those cuts. All the low hanging fruit has long been picked.
However, even with the barristers on strike action, the MoJ is always a favourite.
This from Reuters.
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-kwarteng-favours-outsider-run-finance-ministry-newspapers-say-2022-10-02/
'Getafix
Will this see more beds in APs being pulled?
Deletehttps://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2022/10/03/ex-prisoners-to-face-compulsory-drug-testing-in-new-scheme/
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