Rehabilitating
Probation

Members of the Rehabilitating Probation Project team, Dr Matthew Millings and Professor Harry Annison, were invited to address an HMPPS Probation Leaders Event in Manchester to share emerging findings from the on-going research study. To an audience of 280 Probation and Prison Leaders from across England and Wales, Matthew and Harry were given an hour on the first morning of the agenda to reflect on the experiences and consequences of profound organisational reform for Senior Policy Leads, Probation Managers, and frontline Probation practitioners alike.

The presentation in Manchester, in February 2024, was able to explore the challenging climate for an understaffed service in delivering effective practice, the knock-on impact for levels of individual and collective operational vulnerability, and in terms of practitioner professional roles and identities. In working through a series of themes that have characterised conditions for probation leaders and staff in the period since unification the presentation could draw on the insights from the papers already published in the Probation Journal, The British Journal of Criminology and Criminology and Criminal Justice to date, as well as exploring some new material currently being written up.

Echoing the positive feedback received on the day, a survey completed by 120 attendees identified that;

• 90.83% anticipate they will draw on the research in developing their policy and practice,
• 96.64% felt the research helps probation managers make sense of changing cultural values within the service,
• 95.84% saw value in the study in stimulating debate about the future challenges of delivering good probation practice.

The following free-text comments were representative of a series of reflections offered that captured the ability of the presentation to resonate with attendee’s own experiences of unification; ‘Very interesting research which is needed and should be shared with staff to help develop overall understanding of the changing culture’ and ‘Brilliant presentation today, has made me reflect as to how far we have come in my region and area of responsibility thank you’.

The Rehabilitating Probation Project has, from its inception, sought to help stimulate dialogue and reflection within and at all levels of the probation service to help support on-going efforts to reduce harm and promote public safety. Being able to share the voices, experiences, and perspectives the project team are gathering and making sense of in forums like the Senior Leaders Event (and this has followed other knowledge exchange activities with staff and senior leaders alike) helps the project deliver on this ambition. The raw and candid experiences the project is capturing across the five work packages highlight the challenges being faced by those working in the probation service and those who engage with the service as partners and through supervision. As a research team it is rewarding to be given a platform to be able to share these insights to audiences of leaders and practitioners to help stimulate debate about delivering effective probation and rehabilitative practice.