Probation Service

The National Probation Service (NPS) has brought fresh aims and duties for probation, it has accelerated the development of effective ways of working with offenders and it has created new central and local structures.

Each year the probation service commences the supervision of some 175,000 offenders. The caseload on any given day is in excess of 200,000. Approximately 90% are male and 10% are female. Just over a quarter of offenders serving community sentences are aged 16-20 and just less than three-quarters are aged 21 and over.

Approximately 70% of offenders supervised will be on community sentences, and 30% imprisoned with a period of statutory licence supervision in the community as an integral part of the sentence.

All NPS work with offenders combines continuous assessment and management of risk and dangerousness with the provision of expert supervision programmes designed to reduce re-offending. Enforcement of the order/licence conditions is a priority.

Each year the NPS will assist magistrates and judges in their sentencing decisions through the provision of about 246,000 pre-sentence reports, and 20,000 bail information reports.

Each year probation service staff will find and supervise some 8 million hours of unpaid work by offenders in local communities, to ensure that they meet the requirements of their community punishment orders.

The NPS makes a critical contribution to decisions about the early release of prisoners through the production of reports (approximately 87,000 annually) which combine risk and dangerousness assessments with community supervision plan proposals.

Public Protection

Protecting the public is the priority of National Probation Service. We are committed to improving this protection and to achieve this we work in close partnership with other agencies including the Prison Service, the health services and local authority housing and social services. These are the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA).

The Probation Service has worked with victims since 1991 and is committed to more contact and involvement with the victims of serious sexual and violent crime.

The MAPPA began operating in April 2001. This body places a duty on the police and the National Probation Service to assess and manage risks posed by offenders in every community in England and Wales. In the most serious cases MAPPA can recommend increased police monitoring, special steps to protect victims and the use of closely supervised accommodation. The work of the MAPPAs is available to the public in the form of the MAPPA annual report published jointly by the NPS and the Prison Service.

The recognition of the benefits of victim work resulted in a statutory duty to contact victims under the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000. The NPS welcomes this advance and sees the role of victims as a priority in the criminal justice process. When they ask for it, victims will be kept informed of the offender's release arrangements and in some cases it will be imperative that the victim is included in the determination of the supervision plan.

For more information about the work of the National Probation Service click on www.probation.homeoffice.gov.uk