Probation staff praised for work in cutting reoffending

All probation services in the country are being examined as part of a three-year exercise by HM Inspectorate of Probation, and the South Yorkshire unit received its marks in a report published yesterday.

The chief inspector of probation, Liz Calderbank, said the results were “very creditable” with the South Yorkshire Probation Trust receiving the highest mark in the country so far for its work to reduce reoffending.

But her report also pointed out that changes were necessary to ensure that an individual’s risk of harm to others was more accurately assessed in a higher proportion of cases.

She said: “The trust had a strong commitment to practice improvement and we found that there was generally good work being done to with offenders to protect the public and reduce reoffending, including in some difficult and demanding cases.

“However, attention was needed to some aspects of offender management including assessment, risk management planning and reviews.”

The report also said that some judges and magistrates had expressed concern that when levels of demand were high, staff shortages meant probation officers were not always available in court.

The chief executive of the South Yorkshire Probation Trust, Roz Brown, said: “This report demonstrates that we are delivering on our mission to protect the public and make the communities of South Yorkshire safer by reducing reoffending.

“This inspection puts us as one of the top trusts in the country and shows the high quality of service our staff deliver.”

Ms Brown said the trust had achieved a 12.69 per cent reduction in reoffending against a 0.01 per cent increase in reoffending nationally.

North Yorkshire and York Probation Trust, which received its report from the inspectorate at the end of last month, yesterday published its own internal annual report saying it had delivered a “solid performance” in the last 12 months.