London probation services shockingly bad - inspectorate

Probation services across parts of London have been rated inadequate in an assessment described by the chief inspector as "hugely disappointing".

Lewisham and Bromley Prison Delivery Unit (PDU) received the lowest rating possible.

It joins the Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster PDU, Lambeth PDU and Ealing and Hillingdon PDU at the bottom level.

Newham PDU and Barking, Dagenham and Havering PDU "require improvement".

The chief inspector of probation Justin Russell said he was "shocked by the level of poor-quality services.

"The Probation Service must look at these six inspection reports and bring about swift and effective change in the capital."

One of the services - Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster PDU - received zero out of a total of 27 inspection points in its report, which was published in October.

Mr Russell said: "These are without doubt some of the poorest probation inspection outcomes we have seen. For a probation delivery unit not to score a single inspection point is something I did not expect, or ever want, to see."

Probation Delivery Units (PDUs) replaced Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS), which merged into a unified Probation Service in June 2021.

PDUs are the local units in a regional cluster, such as London. There are 18 of them in the capital which are responsible for the management of some 38,590 people on probation.

People on probation are those serving a sentence in the community or those released from prison on licence or parole.

Probation officers also: provide pre-sentence reports for courts on people charged with an offence; manage and enforce community orders made by a court; assess prisoners to prepare them for release on licence in to the community; and help offenders serve community sentences to meet the courts requirements.

Only a quarter of cases met standards for assessment of risk of serious harm. Inspectors also found domestic abuse checks with the police were not made in two-thirds of the cases where they should have been.

Mr Russell said a high number of staff being off work sick, coupled with the difficulty in filling positions had led to remaining workers having heavier caseloads.

There are currently 500 vacant positions across the capital, increasing the chances of a person on probation reoffending.

"London expects better from its probation services and deserves to be protected from such risks," he added.

The inspectorate stressed the poor ratings were "not due to a lack of effort by individuals within the service, who show a commitment to the people they supervise, but they need help.

"Their determination, though admirable, cannot be realised without vacancies being filled, better management oversight and better delivery of all the services that people on probation need to turn away from crime."

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "We have taken rapid action to improve the performance of the London Probation Service including bringing in extra staff and deploying expert teams so offenders can be robustly supervised to prevent reoffending.

"We are now investing an extra £155 million into the Probation Service every year and have recruited a record number of trainee probation officers to keep the public safe. This is alongside the roll out of new technology including GPS and alcohol tags to drive down crime."

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