Probation Officer with Service User

Three key areas for interventions suite

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Three key areas for interventions suiteProbation Officer with Service User

Structured Interventions in the three key areas of Attitudes, Thinking and Behaviour, Emotional Management and Domestic Abuse will form part of a suite of interventions available to the Probation Practitioner, alongside Accredited Programmes and Toolkits.

CRC interventions review

Current Structured Interventions delivered by CRCs are being reviewed by the National Effective Interventions Panel (EIP) for approval for delivery in the Unified Model. The EIP has so far considered over 40 different Structured Interventions and a review is now taking place of those which have been identified for approval/conditional approval.

Next steps

Further work is now required to develop the content and materials and remove duplication between interventions with a similar offer. This will ensure that Structured Interventions provide an evidence-informed and effective offer to support service users which can be evaluated.

Structured Interventions currently delivered by CRCs in these three areas will continue to be delivered in from day one of the new unified organisation.

The refined suite of Approved Structured Interventions will be available during 2021/22 and Regional Probation Directors will choose at least one Structured Intervention in each category for delivery as part of the suite of Interventions in their region. Roll out and roll down activity will be complete by March 2022.

Practice guidance, operating manuals, training and support will be provided to colleagues to enable successful delivery of our Structured Interventions model.

Prepare a Case for Sentence Service

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Prepare a Case for Sentence ServiceThe Civil Service crest

We are committed to improving the quality of our advice to court and pre-sentence reports, to ensure proposals target specific interventions and treatment requirements that will facilitate reduced reoffending.

What it is

Prepare a Case for Sentence is a new digital service for probation practitioners and administrators in magistrates’ courts.  It provides an overview of all defendants attending court on a given day, automatically identifying offenders with existing probation records and their probation status – current, previously known, or no record.  If a defendant is known to probation, the service links the probation record to the case and displays key information from NDelius and Libra, covering three key areas: case summary, probation record and risk register.

What it offers colleagues

By providing this information in a quickly accessible and usable format, colleagues are able to provide better advice to the court with less effort and minimise avoidable adjournments.

The service also offers seven working days of court listing information; current and previous order information; defendants in breach of an order are flagged on the case list;  a direct link to a defendant’s nDelius contact log is provided;  and users can quickly switch between case lists at different courts and filter case lists by probation status, courtroom and session.

Rollout

Following an expanded trial in 10 courts involving approximately 200 staff over three months, a rollout plan will be developed which will see the service gradually introduced to all magistrates’ courts across England and Wales.  We expect all court staff to have adopted the service by the second half of 2021.

If you would like more information about our Prepare a Case for Sentence Service, please see our Staff FAQ and February Team Briefing.

Probation Officer with Service User

Commissioned Rehabilitation Services contracts awarded

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Commissioned Rehabilitation Services contracts awarded

The first contracts for commissioned rehabilitative services under the new Dynamic Framework have been awarded.

From 26 June 2021, Employment, Training and Education services will be delivered by:

  • Maximus – North West, Wales, West Midlands and London regions,
  • Ingeus – North East and East Midlands;
  • The Growth Company – Yorkshire and the Humber
  • Seetec – East of England, South West, Kent, Surrey & Sussex

The public announcement of successful bidders will happen once all contracts are signed.

Next steps

The programme team is now working with the successful bidders to ensure they are ready to deliver services from the first day of  the new NPS organisation.Probation Officer with Service User

For South Central, none of the bids met the high-quality threshold, so the competition will be re-run shortly.

Contracts will also be awarded over the next three months for Accommodation, Personal Wellbeing and Women’s Services.

In Greater Manchester, the Programme is working with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to co-commission rehabilitative services.

What it means for colleagues

A key part of our reform programme, commissioned rehabilitative services are designed to be responsive, flexible and to support Probation Practitioners to provide service users with better, more effective support and enable a focus on promoting change and encouraging desistance.

Probation colleagues will:

  • Be able to access interventions easily through accessible information about the range of activities and interventions available and a simplified referral form
  • Be able to liaise with the providers about what is needed for each service user, agreeing an action plan
  • Have confidence in the activity that is being undertaken with clear timescales so interventions can start promptly
  • Have a new digital recording system for recording all activity (replacing NSIs);
  • Benefit from the work undertaken by those with expertise in relation to specific issues.