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Working with Offenders

Evaluation of Langley House Trust's Fresh Start Projects

During its 43-year history, the Langley House Trust has emerged as a leading national provider of accommodation for offenders. The Trust’s 5 Fresh Start Projects receive referrals on a wide range of offenders, including those rejected or evicted by an approved hostel (now known as ‘approved premises’). The Trust cares for a wide range of male offenders, including those who were emotionally damaged, difficult to place and those lacking motivation to remain offence free. Her Majesty’s Inspector of Probation (HMIP) have produced a report on the Fresh Start Projects run by the Trust. The report is summarised below.

Inspectors were impressed with the positive atmosphere and regimes developed in many of the Fresh Start Projects. Representatives from different levels of the police and probation areas also spoke positively about the work of the Fresh Start Projects. This included commending the staff for their active involvement in public protection procedures, including attendance at meetings.

There were good examples of Project staff working constructively with supervising probation officers on addressing offence related needs. However, Project and probation staff planning tended to be undertaken in isolation and needed to be improved.

The Projects were hindered in the assessment and management of potential risks of harm and reoffending posed by residents by the absence of a national standard assessment tool and procedures for probation areas, whose differing approaches often determined the practice of Project staff.

Managers and operational staff believed the Fresh Start Projects provided the National Probation Service with value-for-money services. This would be better evidenced by the introduction of a clearer service delivery specification and agreed criteria, targets and benchmarks against which the impact and value for money of the Trust’s work could be assessed and, where appropriate, compared with the performance of other providers.

Recommendations

This inspection found many commendable examples of good standards of performance across all areas of work inspected. The Fresh Start Projects provided a valuable resource that contributed to the resettlement of offenders and to public protection.

The report made recommendation under 18 headings that the Trust, following consultation with the National Probation Directorate (NPD), should

  1. Issue a Policy and Practice Guidance for the Fresh Start Projects.

  2. Establish specific standards for the supervision and care of offenders resident in the Fresh Start Projects.

  3. Introduce revised operational and value-for-money benchmarks, set targets for improvements and monitor performance.

  4. Review staffing levels and arrangements at the Fresh Start Projects.

The Trust should:

  1. Introduce practice guidance to clarify the required format, content and review of care plans, ensuring greater clarity of the purpose and desired outcomes of residency; and to ensure plans and reviews are regularly monitored for their quality and effective implementation.

  2. Ensure, where possible and with the support of probation area managers, Trust Project staff and probation cases managers work collaboratively to prepare and review their supervision and care plans in order that each informs the work of the other.

  3. Clarify the role of the key worker and how it relates to statutory supervision, planning and practice.

  4. Ensure that: proper attention is given to the recording and monitoring of referrals of minority ethnic offenders and that practice guidance is issued to enable staff to give proper attention to the needs of minority ethnic residents.

  5. Agree with the NPD and probation area managers how risk assessment and management practice can be improved, given the development of the Offender Assessment System (OASys) and ensure decisions about the nature and levels of all resident supervision are made on the basis of risk assessments.

  6. Issue guidance to improve the recording of work.

  7. Update its training strategy.

The NPD should:

  1. Ensure that its future service level agreement with the Trust is specific about the services to be provided by the Fresh Start Projects and the outcomes to be achieved.

  2. Define the required liaison standards for probation areas working with the Fresh Start Projects to ensure effective collaborative management of offenders subject to statutory supervision during their period of residency.

  3. Ensure that probation staff making a referral provide a timely copy of the risk assessment to inform the Project’s decision about suitability.

  4. Include the Fresh Start Projects in the roll-out programme for OASys and consider inclusion for other relevant voluntary organisations.

  5. Review the requirements of Probation Circular 78/2000 and issue instructions to probation areas to ensure the prompt commencement and participation of Trust residents in identified programmes.

  6. Require probation areas to include the Fresh Start Projects in multi-agency public protection protocols, including attendance at relevant meetings.

  7. Implement HMIP’s recommendation in its 1998 Approved Probation and Bail Hostels Thematic Report and devise a strategy for offender accommodation linked to a wider pubic protection strategy.

Last update: 16/09/03

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