NEWS
Probation staff "inadequately trained"
Tuesday 29th June.
Probation staff have admitted feeling “inadequately trained” to work with sexual offenders effectively, according to a new study.
During an inspection by two watchdogs, staff said they felt “ill equipped” to work face to face with sexual offenders outside group work programmes.
The joint report by HMI Probation and HMI Constabulary said: “This lack of confidence inevitably impacted on the quality of their engagement with the individual offender and limited its effectiveness.”
Chief Inspector of the Constabulary, Denis O’Conner, said some staff simply do not have the time to work with offenders efficiently.
Rose Richardson from Intensive Alternative to Custody in Dorset says caseloads have been too high for a while.
“The service has been under enormous financial pressure over the past three years,” Mrs Richardson said. “We used to have ten people working here, now we’re down to seven, and we’re still carrying the highest caseload in Dorset.”
On average, probation staff are expected to deal with between 30 and 50 caseloads; staff in Dorset have up to 80 each.
"Offender managers carrying this number of cases would, in our opinion, be unable to engage effectively with offenders and challenge their behaviour,” said O’Conner.
The report calls on probation trusts to ensure that staff receive appropriate training and support.
There are reportedly more than 44,700 people on the sex offenders register in England and Wales according to latest figures.