Northamptonshire's probation service 'inadequate'

The Probation Delivery Unit is responsible for helping offenders integrate back into the community

A county's service that looks after offenders being released back into the community has been graded "inadequate" by inspectors.

The Inspectorate of Probation said Northamptonshire's Probation Delivery Unit (PDU) had too many vacancies and excessive workloads for staff.

The PDU's offices were found to be "unfit for purpose".

The Ministry of Justice said it was recruiting 1,000 more probation officers nationally.

The inspectorate said it was aware that the PDU would be disappointed by the inadequate rating, which reflected a lack of progress on recommendations made during the last inspection in 2022 when it was graded as "requires improvement".

The chief inspector of probation, Martin Jones, said: "Despite leaders’ clear vision for the service... the high staff vacancy rates, excessive workloads and poor quality estates meant delivery of the vision was sadly an ambition rather than a reality at the point of inspection.”

The inspectors found that the vacancy rate for probation officers in Northamptonshire was 40%.

They said workloads at all levels were too high and officers felt "overwhelmed and uncertain about what to prioritise".

The PDU's Wellingborough office was found to have pest and maintenance issues

The unit's offices were described as "unfit for purpose" - the Kettering office was too small and lacked privacy and the Wellingborough building had "significant pest and maintenance issues".

The inspectorate said these problems should be addressed urgently.

The PDU works with offenders released from prisons like HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough

Concerns were also raised about the quality of casework, with the inspectors finding that this was partly due to "ineffective mechanisms for sharing key information with partner agencies".

Mr Jones added: "Despite the challenges, practitioners at Northamptonshire PDU spoke positively about their roles, their teams, and the level of support they were receiving."

He wanted to see "an urgent national consideration of how the wider probation estates strategy can better support a modern, responsive and high-quality service".

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The prison system is in crisis which is putting significant pressure on the whole justice system.

“We are gripping the situation and supporting our hardworking staff by improving training and recruiting 1,000 more probation officers nationally to deliver robust supervision and protect the public.”