Resettlement

Resettlement and pre-release policy and practice changes

Following probation unification, resettlement activity carried out by Enhanced Through the Gate Teams (eTTG) was replaced by a combination of provision from probation and prison staff and specialist providers.

Your RPD is responsible for commissioning key resettlement service interventions from Commissioned Rehabilitative Service (CRS) providers.

These resettlement services will be either:

  • embedded within prisons
  • provided via a regular in-reach service

They will include:

  • pre-release teams
  • banking and ID staff
  • prison employment leads
  • CRS pre-release provision which includes:
    • accommodation
    • personal wellbeing (mentoring through the gate)
    • women’s contracts.

While services are established, your leads can advise on availability in your local area.

Regional delivery

We flex our standard deliverables, approach and timeframes to more closely meet the diverse needs of communities and people on probation.

The content of these pages, unless specified otherwise, covers our national approach. Please speak with your manager and refer to local communications for information on delivery of services in your region.

New Pre-release and Resettlement Policy Framework

This framework replaces PI 07/2018 (TTG). It sets out the role of new pre-release teams, which will:

  • identify prisoners’ immediate resettlement needs on reception
  • complete any immediate actions which would support effective resettlement at end of sentence
  • particularly focus on people held out-of-area supporting community offender managers (COMs) to prepare them for release
  • work with those on remand

The policy is supported by pre-release and resettlement guidance which describes:

  • the role of pre-release teams
  • how these teams fit with offender management in custody (OMiC)
  • the CRS pre-release provision to support people leaving custody

New short sentence function (SSF)

Probation practitioners will work with all people on probation with 10 months or less to serve in prison.

This additional resettlement support will enable them to be fast tracked and offered direct engagement before they are released.

Pre-release teams will support SSF by working with those on remand – sustaining community ties, where possible, and starting the plan for release.

This will ensure a better connection with a hard to reach/engage group with high levels of recidivism.

Your RPDs will implement this enhanced service as staffing allows.

Further supporting frameworks

Two further frameworks will support resettlement work.

Taken together these 3 policies will provide a complete view of staff responsibilities from the start of a community or custodial sentence to the completion of the supervision period.

The Sentence Management policy framework will:

  • outline expectations for people on probation subject to both community orders, suspended sentence orders and licence supervision/post sentence supervision.
  • detail the responsibilities and expectations of the probation practitioner managing the order

The Offender Management in Custody (OMiC) policy framework will:

  • outline the model and process for managing cases during the custodial part of the sentence
  • ensure positive joint prison offender management work with COMs continues and is enhanced

Once probation staffing allows the pre-release model to be implemented in full, and handover from prison POMs to probation practitioners (COMs) will happen at:

  • 5 months pre-release – for all determinate sentenced custodial cases with 10 months plus left to serve at time of sentence