Aim

This information responds to a number of queries we’ve started receiving about serving sentences in the community. This isn’t a core area that Unlock can provide advice on, but we thought it would be helpful to explain the changes that took place in early 2015, and to outline how these might have an impact on people with convictions serving their sentence in the community.

Why is this important?

On 1st February 2015, the Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) came into force. The Act provides that all those released from short prison sentences will now first be subject to a standard licence period for the remainder of their prison sentence to be served in the community, and then be subject to an additional supervision period.

The Government estimates that some 50,000 individuals will ‘benefit’ from this additional support and that it will help to tackle high reoffending rates.

The new legislation applies to individuals:-

• Whose offence was committed on or after the 1st February 2015
• Who were sentenced to a prison term of more than 1 day
• Who will be 18 years or over when released

How will the changes affect individuals serving prison sentences?

Reduction of unconditional releases

Previously, adults serving prison sentences of less than 12 months were released unconditionally after one half of their sentence had been served.

Under the ORA, adults serving prison sentences of less than 12 months, for an offence committed after 1 February 2015, will be released on licence after serving one half of their sentence in prison and will serve the remaining period in the community.

Introduction of a new supervision period for 12 months after release

The ORA also introduced a new period of post sentence supervision for anybody sentenced to less than 2 years in prison.

Those sentenced to less than 2 years and released on licence (as outlined above), will be subject to an additional period of supervision (for the purposes of rehabilitation), once their licence period comes to an end. The licence and supervision period will together add up to 12 months.

Depending on the length of the prison sentence, the length of the supervision period can vary significantly.

Are there any exceptions?

Yes, these include:-

• Those sentenced to 1 day and who are therefore not taken into prison, for example, fine defaulters
• Those aged under 18 on the last day of their prison sentence
• Those who committed the offence before 1st February 2015.

What do supervision requirements include?

• A requirement to be of good behaviour and not to behave in a way which undermines the purpose of the supervision period
• A requirement not to commit any further offence
• A requirement to keep in touch with the supervisor in accordance with the instructions of the supervisor
• A requirement to reside permanently at an address approved by the supervisor and to obtain the prior permission of the supervisor for any stay of one or more nights at a different address
• A requirement not to undertake work, or a particular type of work, unless it is approved by the supervisor and to notify the supervisor in advance of any proposal to undertake work or a particular type of work
• A requirement not to travel outside the British Islands, except with prior permission of the supervisor or in order to comply with a legal obligation
• A requirement to participate in activities in accordance with any instructions given by a supervisor
• A drug testing requirement (for individuals with problematic drug use)
• A drug appointment requirement (for individuals with problematic drug use)

What happens if I breach a requirement?

Breaches during the standard licence period are dealt with by the National Probation Service who have the discretion to consider the following courses of action:-

• Issuing a warning to the individual
• Asking the Prison Governor for a variation in licence conditions (for example by adding a curfew or imposing electronic monitoring)
• Recalling an individual to prison

Anybody who breaches the requirements of the new supervision period will be taken back to court. The court will then have the power to impose the following sanctions:-

• A fine
• Unpaid work
• A curfew
• A return to prison

Those being returned to prison will generally be recalled for an automatic period of 14 days (as opposed to 28 days for those with longer sentences) but, where there is assessed to be a risk of serious harm to the public, individuals can be recalled until the end of their sentence.

If the breach constitutes a criminal offence which leads to another conviction, a further sentence will be given.

Who is responsible for supervision?

The Offender Rehabilitation Act accompanied the new Transforming Rehabilitation Programme which saw 35 Probation Trusts abolished and replaced by a National Probation Service (NPS) and 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC’s). These CRC’s manage approximately 70% of the supervision for less serious individuals while the remaining 30% (considered more serious) are managed by the NPS. The assessment of risk (i.e. low, medium or high) is made by the NPS.

Supervision for individuals serving community orders or suspended sentences

For individuals serving a community order or suspended sentence, the Offender Rehabilitation Act has created a new Rehabilitative Activity Requirement which replaces the previous ‘activity’ and ‘supervision’ requirement.

Rehabilitation Activity Requirements can include:-

• Instructions to participate in specified activities
• Instructions to go to a specified place
• Activities that form part of an accredited programme
• Activities with a reparative purpose, such as restorative justice.

An activity is considered a restorative justice activity if:-

• The participants consist of, or include, the ‘offender’ and one or more victims
• The aim of the activity is to maximise the individuals awareness of the impact of the offending concerned on the victims
• The activity gives a victim or victims an opportunity to talk about, or otherwise express experience of, the offending and its impact

A court will determine which requirements to impose in a community order or suspended sentence order taking into consideration the advice in any Pre-Sentence Report.

When considering the content of a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement, the National Probation Service must identify and pay proper regard to the rehabilitative and criminogenic needs of individuals, as well as an assessment of their offending behaviour and associated risks. For further information see PI58/2014

Each Community Rehabilitation Company will make information available to the NPS about what rehabilitative services are available in their contract package and this will shape the advice the NPS gives to the courts on sentencing. This means that rehabilitation activity requirements are likely to vary from one contract package area to another.

More information

1. For practical information – More information on community order and suspended prison sentences
2. To discuss this with others – Read and share your experiences on our online forum
3. Questions – If you have any questions about this you can contact our helpline.

Aim of this page

This page is intended to help you if you are having difficulties with probation. It provides information about how to complain if you’re not happy about the way you have been treated. For example, maybe you feel like your probation officer is not meeting what is expected of them, or maybe you have tried changing probation officers or transferring probation areas and have come up against unnecessary barriers.

Why is this important?

People working for the National Probation Service (NPS) or a Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) will often make decisions or take actions which you may not agree with.

Although sometimes these will be necessary, there will also be occasions when members of staff fail to do something that they should do, make unjustified decisions or take inappropriate action.

If this happens, it’s important to know how you can make a complaint.

Background

In 2015, as part of the government’s ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’ strategy, the 35 Probation Trusts in England and Wales were replaced with the National Probation Service (NPS) who are responsible for supervising high-risk individuals and 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC’s) supervising those people deemed to be low to medium risk of re-offending.

The 21 CRC’s are all private companies responsible for their own management and staff and as such, will have different policies and practices around dealing with complaints from service users.

Concerns have been raised recently about the number of CRC’s who do not provide ready access to their complaints procedures making it difficult for service users to know how to complain. An example of one CRC who do publish details is London CRC whose complaints leaflet can be found here.

Who can make a complaint?

To be considered, your complaint must relate to the conduct or competence of an employee or employees of the NPS or the CRC, or an agency employee or employees working for the NPS or the CRC, with respect to the delivery of probation services. This includes their actions and decisions or failures to act or decide.

They will consider your complaint if:

• You are or have been under the supervision of the NPS or CRC
• You have been or are about to be the subject of a report for use by a court.
• You have suffered physical injury, distress, theft or damage to property as a result of the actions of an offender carrying out activities under probation supervision as part of a community order or a prison licence.
• You are a victim of a person convicted of an offence who is under the supervision of the NPS or CRC
• You are a parent, spouse or a live-in partner, brother, sister or child of a person, in the above categories, who has died.

They can’t look into something that is already being investigated by the police or subject to a decision of the courts, statutory tribunal, Parole Board, Crown Prosecution Service or the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Your complaint won’t normally be considered if it is about something that happened more than 12 months ago, or that you could have known about a year ago.

Who do I complain to?

In the first instance, you either complain to the NPS or to the CRC.

Details of NPS offices and contact details can be found in the Probation Directory: National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Companies. A map of the NPS divisions can be found here.

Complaining informally

Wherever possible, it’s always best to try to reach an amicable solution with the person involved and doing this face-to-face or over the telephone can work well. If this is difficult, ask to discuss it with a more senior member of staff.

It’s probably worth noting that it can be easier for staff to avoid dealing with a complaint that hasn’t been put in writing so don’t be surprised if you don’t get the response you’re looking for at this time.

You may still be able to have your complaint dealt with informally by either putting it in writing to the staff member involved or, their manager. If they feel you’re complaint is justified, the probation area/CRC will often prefer to deal with it at this stage.

Making a formal complaint

If you receive no response to your informal complaint or you’re not satisfied with it, you can make a formal complaint in writing.

1. If you’re making a complaint about an NPS staff member, this should be signed by you and sent it to the probation area’s Deputy Director.
2. If you are making a complaint about a CRC staff member, this should be addressed to the Chief Executive.

Within five working days of receiving your letter you should receive a response explaining how your complaint will be handled. He or she will give the date when you can expect the outcome.

The Deputy Director or Chief Executive will nominate a person to investigate. The complaint will be investigated and the outcome, with reasons, sent to you in writing within 25 days of the acknowledgement of the complaint.

Details of the Probation Standard Complaints Procedure (PI51/2014) can be found here.

What should you include in your complaint letter?

When making a complaint you should ensure that you explain very clearly what happened and why you are complaining, enclosing any evidence that you believe will add weight to your complaint. You may also wish to consider including some of the following:

• Where and when did it happen?
• Who was involved?
• What was said and done?
• Were there any witnesses to what happened, if so who?

If you are not satisfied with the outcome

If you are not happy with the response, you can appeal within 20 working days of receiving the outcome. You will need to write to the Probation Area’s Deputy Director or the Chief Executive of the CRC explaining why you want to appeal. Your letter should be acknowledged within five working days of receiving it.

The Deputy Director or Chief Executive will convene an appeal panel of at least 3 people to include senior staff who have not been involved in the subject of the complaint or the investigation. They may ask to meet you and the investigating officer to determine whether the original investigation was sufficient and reasonable. The outcome will be sent to you within 20 working days of receipt of the appeal. The panel will let you know if they need longer to make a decision.

If you have taken these steps and are still unsatisfied with the decision

You can write to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman within one month of your appeal decision if you have:

• Been under the supervision of the National Probation Service.
• Been housed in probation accommodation.
• Had a report prepared about you for use by a court.

The PPO will respond to the complainant within 10 days, informing you of whether or not your complaint has been accepted. If a complaint is not accepted, an explanation as to why will be given.

If a complaint is accepted, it will be allocated to an investigator who will contact the complainant directly.

The investigator will first consider if there is a way of resolving the complaint without a full investigation. If so, the investigator will contact the complainant and the Area Probation Board to try to negotiate a settlement. If a settlement is not possible, a full investigation will be started.

The PPO aims to deal with any complaint within 12 weeks of starting the investigation.

If your complaint is not upheld, you will receive a letter with a detailed explanation of the findings of the investigation and the specific reasons why the PPO have not upheld the complaint.

If the complaint is upheld, the investigator will write to you, setting out the details, the findings and the conclusions. The PPO may also make certain recommendations to the Probation Area against whom the complaint was brought to help them ensure the problem does not occur again.

If the complaint warrants it, the PPO will write a full report. A draft copy of this report will be sent to you and to the Probation Area against whom the complaint was brought, to check that the details of the complaint are accurate. Once confirmed, a final copy of the report will be sent to both parties.

Discuss this with others

Read and share your experiences on our online forum.

Useful links

Below you will find links to useful websites relating to this page. More specific details (including addresses and telephone numbers) of some of the organisations listed below can be found here.

• National Probation Service – The NPS is a statutory criminal justice service that supervises high-risk offenders released into the community
• Prison and Probation Ombudsman – Carry out independent investigations into complaints about the National Probation Service, CRC’s and prisons.

More information

1. For practical information – More information can be found on our probation section
2. To discuss this issue with others – Read and share your experiences on our online forum
3. Questions – If you have any questions about this, you can contact our helpline.

Get involved

Help us to add value to this information. You can:

1. Comment on this page (below)
2. Send your feedback directly to us
3. Discuss your views and experiences on our online forum

The process of how the Probation Service handle “Case Transfers” between probation areas is set out in Probation Instruction 17/2010 (Case Transfers). In particular, this sets out how the Probation Service will deal with such queries.

In the above Circular, it provides details of different responses by Probation depending on whether somebody has simply notified a change of address (as per licence or community order restrictions) or whether they have requested permission.

However, given that it is not possible for some individuals to simply notify a change of address, for example those convictions of certain offences, our advice would be that, if you wish to change Probation Area, you put this request in writing to your Probation Officer and ask for a response back in writing.

If you are moving probation area, both the sending and receiving probation area have to agree, and getting approval is not an automatic right. One difficulty is that a probation area doesn’t always have to take a referral. This is particularly likely to be the case where someone might need a lot of supervision and use a lot of resources.

Sometimes, a probation officer might transfer supervision to another area to help with managing the sentence or because there is a need for someone to be in particular kind of accommodation not available in their local area. There are a number of transfers every year and many people move addresses during their sentence. Any transfer has to be consistent with the sentence plan though.

Sometimes a probation officer will assess that someone needs to move aea because of the risk to a victim or high profile media or public concerns. A MAPPA meeting might also decide that someone could be moved because their risk could be better managed elsewhere.

If you are thinking of moving to another area after prison, and you will be on licence, apply as soon as you can, as this can take time. Make sure you have proof of your connection with the area you want to move to. Try and speak to your outside probation officer as the process might be easier if they support your move. Remember than transfers are not automatic, and can be turned down if the risk assessment is too high.

Your local Probation Area are entitled to refuse a transfer as part of their broad discretion. This was upheld in the case of R (Francis) v West Midlands Probation Board [2010] EWCA Civ 1470. In this case, the individual was serving a life sentence and had been supervised by West Midlands Probation Service since 1983. While in prison, he established a relationship with a woman who lived in the area where he wished to be transferred. However, this was refused, and it was held that Probation had not misdirected itself in law or unlawfully interfered with the individuals rights under Article 8 of the ECHR (the right to a family life).

If you have applied to another area and this has not been accepted, there is a right of appeal.

There is no standard policy or protocol governing transfers within a Probation area. However, as detailed in Probation Instruction 17/2010 – Case Transfers, which covers transfers between Probation Areas, it is expected that there should be clarity of responsibility for supervision, and the National Probation Service recommends that Areas develop their own local policies and protocols governing transfers based on the Circular.

As a result, if you wish to change your Probation Officer, you should ask to see a copy of your Areas local policy, and then put a request in writing to your Probation Officer.

About

The Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, in conjunction with the Criminal Justice Act 2003, imposed duties on the police, probation and prison services to make arrangements for the identification, risk assessment and management of people with convictions for violent or sexual offences in the community. These arrangements are known as MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements). The Violent and Sexual Offenders Register (ViSOR) was developed to support it.

Aim of MAPPA

The aim of MAPPA is to identify relevant offenders, share information about them, assess the risks that they may pose and to manage those risks. MAPPA is intended to promote the sharing of information between all the agencies, resulting in more effective supervision and better public protection. For example, police may share information with probation officers that they have gathered about an offender’s behaviour from surveillance or intelligence gathering. Issues relating to the victims of crime and any possible contact which they might have with the former offender are also considered by MAPPA.

Categories and levels

The three formal MAPPA categories are:

• Category One: All Registered Sexual Offenders
• Category Two: Violent or other sex offenders not subject to notification requirements
• Category Three: Other dangerous offenders

Whilst the majority of individuals under MAPPA do not, under its own risk assessment, present a risk of serious harm to the public, the arrangements are designed to enable the agencies involved to target resources and attention on those who present the highest risks. As a result, those under MAPPA are managed at one of three ‘risk levels’:

1. Level One: Involves normal agency management (cases with a low-medium risk of serious harm to others). This will be either the probation service (for people on community orders or on licence following release from prison) or the police (for registered sex offenders).
2. Level Two: Often called local inter-risk agency management (cases with a high or very high risk of harm to others). MAPPA meetings take place to develop a coordinated plan between the police, the probation service and other agencies.
3. Level Three: Known as Multi-Agency Public Protection Panels (or MAPPPs, reserved for those deemed to pose the highest risk of causing serious harm or whose management is so problematic that multi-agency co-operation and oversight at a senior level is required with the authority to commit exceptional resources). Only a relatively small number (924 in the year from April 2008 to March 2009) are categorised at this level – normally because they are either considered particulary dangerous or their case has received a lot of media coverage.

How do I know if I’m subject to MAPPA?

If you are subject to MAPPA you should be notified.  For Categories 1 and 2, qualification for MAPPA is based solely on offence and disposal and for Category 3, on previous offending and current risk assessment. It is important to note that MAPPA does not give the supervising agencies any additional powers – it is merely a system for assessing and managing risk.

If you want information about discussions that have taken place about you at MAPPA meetings, you can request this formally from the local MAPPA Co-ordinator. The Co-ordinator will supply an executive summary of the minutes of the meeting. This is not a full version – some information relating to managing risk (such as the address of victims) will be removed.

If you feel you have been wrongly made subject to MAPPA, you (or your solicitor) should contact the Chair of the Strategic Management Board for MAPPA in your local area. You should be able to get details from your probation officer or from the head office of your local probation area. Contact details can be found here.

How will I be managed?

Approximately 95% of ‘registered sexual offenders’ in England and Wales are managed at level one of MAPPA and will usually be managed by either a single police or probation officer. The police are ultimately responsible for managing those under MAPPA. They often work in specially trained Public Protection Units (PPU’s) and are typically ‘plain-clothes’ officers.

As part of maintaining a risk management plan for each of the registered sexual offenders they manage, they will usually conduct home visits whilst an individual is subject to the Notification Requirements.  The frequency of these visits will be related to the MAPPA risk level. As a minimum requirement, MAPPA level one cases will be visited once every twelve months, level two cases every six months and level three cases at least every three months. Any information or incident that indicates that an individual under MAPPA has an increased risk may prompt more frequent visits.

Individuals can move between MAPPA levels if assessed to be more or less dangerous over time. Violent offenders are no longer subject to MAPPA proceedings once their period of supervision by the probation service has ended.

Can details of my MAPPA status be disclosed to my family?

Family members are not automatically informed of somebody’s MAPPA status. However, in some cases a MAPPA meeting may decide that it is in the family’s interest to know. When living with a family member, typically the family will be visited by the probation service or the police, who will ensure that they are aware of any risks. Often, family members may have to agree to certain conditions, such as, where a conviction relates to offences against children, no unsupervised access to children by the individual.

Can details of my MAPPA status be disclosed to a third party?

Police or probation officers will always consider whether it is necessary to disclose information about an individual to protect the public and safeguard children. This applies to all categories and levels of MAPPA. Examples could be:-

• Where the public may be at risk through the offender’s employment, training or education.
• Where others may be at risk, e.g. in supported accommodation. This may include other service users, but usually it will be staff and managers who are told.
• Where there is a need to protect past or potential victims, in particular where an individual strikes up a new relationship with partners who have children or grandchildren. In some cases this may include friends or neighbours who have children.

Any disclosure must comply with the law, must be necessary for public protection, and must be proportionate.

Before a decision to disclose is made, consideration must be given to seeking representation from the individual concerned so that all the information necessary to make a properly informed decision is available. Seeking representation should be considered the norm.

If, having regard to individual circumstances, it is deemed necessary to disclose, it may be possible for an individual to make the disclosure to the third party himself/herself. This could either be in the presence of a police or probation officer or by allowing the police or probation officer to confirm and verify at a later date, the contents of the disclosure with the third party.

Other information

The latest MAPPA report for your area can be found here.

Official guidance on MAPPA is available here.