Serious Further Offences

New framework to support staff with Serious Further Offences Review completions

A new Serious Further Offences (SFO) Policy Framework has been published to support staff with SFO Review completions.

The new Framework includes:

• Revised SFO review format with a detailed chronology which sets out what happened and why, identifies any good practice or learning and action required; and a separate overarching summary.
• Guidance on Offender Management in Custody (OMiC) and SFO reviews
• Minor additions to the list of qualifying offences
• Guidance on cases where there is a significant gap between the date of the serious further offence and charge/ first appearance in court.
• Link to prison HDC investigation following a SFO notification
• Additional template letter to promote victim engagement

Sonia Flynn, Chief Probation Officer, said of the new SFO Framework: “Serious Further Offences (SFOs) are rare and less than 0.5% of people under probation supervision are charged with SFOs. Nevertheless, it is right that we take them so seriously – they continue to attract a high level of scrutiny and you will all be aware of recent high-profile cases and inquests.  It is therefore important we keep the SFO Review procedures under review to ensure they meet the needs of the organisation and address as best we can the needs of victims whose lives can be devastated by an SFO.”

“The new Framework is designed to make the review more straightforward to complete and allows readers to decide the level of detail they require. This is a further step in delivering transparent reports that support organisational learning.”

As part of a wider piece of work on understanding resource requirements of SFO reviews post-unification focus groups (fully booked) are being held on the issue of sharing SFOs with staff members involved.  An all staff survey will also be issued shortly.

The HMPPS SFO Team have delivered briefings to the regional SFO Teams about the changes. If you want to access a recording of those briefings please contact the HMPPS SFO Team via the functional mailbox.

The final framework document is available in EQuiP