Too many at risk of domestic abuse by people on probation, report finds

HM Inspectorate of Probation found that despite some “positive developments” by the Probation Service to reduce domestic abuse and protect victims, little appears to have improved in practice since its last report in 2018.

Its inspection found that 30 per cent of people on probation are current or previous perpetrators of domestic abuse.

It also found that only 28 per cent of the of those on probation had been sufficiently assessed for any risks of further domestic abuse.

Meanwhile, 45 per cent of the cases examined should have had access to an intervention but had not.

Only 17 out of the 60 cases looked at by HM Inspectorate for Probation for this report had a “sufficiently clear and thorough analysis” of the risk of domestic abuse the person on probation might pose.

“We identified failures to analyse previous domestically abusive behaviours or patterns of behaviour,” it said.

“In some cases, there was a failure to recognise the offending as domestic abuse, mainly where the victim was a family member rather than an intimate partner.”

The inspectorate also found that recent changes in legislation, such as the recognition of children affected by domestic abuse as victims in their own right, have not been incorporated into probation practice, and the sharing of information between services – probation, police and social services – was “inconsistent at best”.

Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “Very concerningly, despite some positive developments in policy, little appears to have improved in practice, and in some respects, things have deteriorated.

“This is unacceptable and is leaving far too many potential victims at risk of domestic abuse.”

He added: “Almost 75,000 people supervised by the Probation Service in or out of custody, have been identified as a current or former domestic abuse perpetrator, so it is essential that their risk is properly assessed and managed.

“Over the years, including in a number of very high-profile cases, we have flagged our concerns about the urgent need for the Probation Service to complete domestic abuse inquiries with the police before sentencing, or when undertaking initial risk assessments”.

“Sadly, we are still finding this is not happening in too many cases and even inquiries with local councils to ensure child safeguarding are not being completed.

“I have made many previous recommendations on how probation services should develop this practice, so it’s very disappointing not to see more improvement.”

The inspectorate found that in too many cases (45 per cent) where people on probation were assessed as needing an intervention related to domestic abuse – such as programmes to tackle abusive behaviour or attitudes and to encourage healthy relationships – these weren’t being delivered.

An additional issue is that there is insufficient national information and data about how many of these referrals are being made or completed, so the performance of these programmes cannot be evaluated.

Other factors included probation staff workloads.

“We found probation practitioners to be highly committed to improving this area of their service, but they have too many cases to manage to complete meaningful work,” the report noted.

“On too many occasions, we found contact with a person on probation at risk of further domestic violence was minimal and done via phone calls rather than by face-to-face meetings. However, where probation practitioners work with smaller caseloads, the quality of domestic abuse work is dramatically improved.”

Mr Russell said he had hoped that more progress would have been made to address the “very serious need” to improve probation practice around the risks of domestic abuse.

“Unfortunately, there has only been minimal positive change,” he said.

“I recognise that many in the Probation Service are doing all they can, with limited resource, to manage cases adequately, but there is a long way still to go. I call on HMPPS to take heed of our recommendations and address the vital improvements that are needed to assist services in their aims, to reduce the risk of further domestic abuse by people on probation for the protection of victims and potential victims.”

Lucy Hadley, head of Policy at Women’s Aid, said the report’s findings were “alarming”.

“It is unacceptable that so many women and children are put at risk of further domestic abuse from perpetrators who are on probation,” she said.

“The Probation Service has been found to lack understanding of the complexities of domestic abuse, in particular when assessing risk and coercive control.

“We know from our work with survivors that domestic abuse doesn’t stop when the relationship ends. Domestic abuse is insidious and has devastating and long-lasting impacts on the lives of survivors and their children.

“The Probation Service play a critical role in managing the ongoing risk of harm survivors face – but this inspection found less than a third of risk assessments for domestic abuse were adequate and there are serious issues with workloads and current practice.

Ms Hadley added: “The scale of change required is significant and urgent. Improving training, which must be designed and delivered by specialist domestic abuse services, is a vital first step for improving the Probation Service’s response to survivors.

“Perpetrators must be held to account and prevented from inflicting further harm while serving probation.”