Probation services in Gloucestershire managing higher risk individuals well, but those with lower risk of harm are managed poorly

Individuals posing a medium and lower risk of harm are managed by the Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) where services to help offenders move away from crime and deliver the sentence of the court are not being delivered well enough in a sufficient number of cases, according to the HM Inspectorate of Probation.

The inspection, conducted by Dame Glenys Stacey, HM Chief Inspector of Probation, looked at the quality and effectiveness of probation work carried out by the CRC and the NPS.

This was the second inspection of services undertaken by the CRC owned by Working Links, and the first of the NPS South West & Central Division.

The work of the CRC in Gloucestershire was poor, the probation watchdog said.

It said that Working Links did not implement its plans, set out in their original contract bid, for continuity of support for people throughout their period of supervision.

Instead, cases were transferred between case managers too often, and staff carried too many cases.

Plans were not being followed through well enough and some offenders were not being seen often enough.

The quality of work from the NPS with higher-risk offenders in Gloucestershire was reasonably good overall.

The court team was providing a good service.

Those under supervision were seen often enough, with any failure to attend dealt with appropriately.

But in the majority of the cases, NPS’ efforts to rehabilitate offenders often came to little or nothing, either because the offender disengaged or because interventions planned to help someone turn away from crime were not delivered.