- More intensive supervision of medium and high-risk offenders
- 1,300 new probation officers to be recruited next year
- New tech to increase officers’ face to face time with offenders
Speaking at a probation office in London (12 February), Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood set out her vision for the future of a Probation Service that protects the public, reduces reoffending and makes our streets safer as part of the Government’s plan for change.
To support this work, the Justice Secretary announced that 1,300 new probation officers will be recruited by March 2026. These new hires are in addition to the 1,000 officers to be recruited by this March, previously announced by Shabana Mahmood when she took office in July last year.
In her speech, the Justice Secretary argued that probation officers have been asked to do too much for too long. They have been burdened with high workloads and a one size fits all approach to managing offenders, regardless of the risk that they present to the public. This has meant officers have been unable to pay enough attention to those offenders who pose the greatest risk to society. This has led, in some cases, to missed warning signs where offenders have gone on to commit serious further offences, including murder.
With all probation units inspected in 2024 marked as “inadequate” or “requires improvement”, changes will now be made to help staff refocus their efforts where they have the greatest impact – with the offenders who need the most attention.
The Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood said:
The Probation Service must focus more time with offenders who are a danger to the public, and the prolific offenders whose repeat offending make life a misery for so many.
That means for low-risk offenders, we need to change our approach too. We need to tackle the root causes of their reoffending, and end a one-size-fits-all approach that isn’t working.
The first job of the state is to keep its people safe. Today, as part of our Plan for Change, I have set out changes to the probation service to protect the public and make our streets safer.
Greater time with higher risk offenders will be made possible by changing probation’s approach to the management of low risk offenders. Probation staff will now intervene earlier with these offenders, to understand the support they require and refer them to the services that will tackle the root causes of their reoffending.
These interventions are crucial as the latest data shows that the reoffending rate for those without stable accommodation is double those who are homeless, offenders employed six weeks after leaving prison had a reoffending rate around half of those out of work, and reoffending amongst those who complete drug treatment are 19 percentage points lower. This will help tackle a pressing issue the Criminal Justice System faces, with around 80 percent% of offenders now reoffenders.
The Chief Inspector of Probation, Martin Jones said:
The Probation Service does a vital job; however, our independent inspections highlight the serious challenges it faces- too few staff, with too little experience, managing too many cases to succeed.
These plans, which rightly focus on increasing probation resources and prioritising the most serious cases, are a positive step towards increasing impact on reoffending and better protecting the public.
To reduce the administrative burden resting on probation officers’ shoulders, the Justice Secretary will also introduce new technology including:
- A digital tool that will put all the information a probation officer might need to know about an offender into one place.
- Trialling a new system for risk assessing offenders, to make it more straightforward for probation officers to make robust decisions.
- Exploring the potential of AI to be used to automatically record and transcribe supervision conversations by taking notes in real time, which will allow probation staff to focus on building relationships while removing the need to write up notes into a computer afterwards.
In her speech, the Justice Secretary also exposed one of the inherited workload challenges faced by the probation service, which the Government will now address. Accredited Programmes are rehabilitative courses handed down by the courts to offenders to address the causes of their criminality.
Over the three years to April 2024, the probation service did not deliver these courses to nearly 14,000 offenders before their sentence expired. To address this issue, the Probation Service must now put in place a process of prioritisation so they will be delivered to offenders at the greatest risk of reoffending or causing serious harm. For those who will now not complete an accredited programme, they remain under the supervision of a probation officer. All the other requirements they face will remain in place.
Further information:
- Today’s speech will be published on gov.uk
- Guidance will be issued to staff in the coming weeks to deliver these crucial changes that will ultimately help to cut crime and keep the public safe.
