Member Services
Trust Development

We actively supported the creation, from April 1, 2010, of 35 self-governing probation trusts to deliver more effective and efficient local services to reduce reoffending through the use of commissioning, innovation and partnership.  This move away from a nationally directed, one-size-fits-all service towards a more local and competitive environment will not change the purpose of probation, and  will create the potential for better local accountability and responsiveness to community issues.

We canvas the views of our members and reflect them back to the Government and the Ministry of Justice to ensure that their experience and knowledge helps shape this emerging framework into a shared vision for trusts.  We influence the future through our well-established working relationship with the Ministry of Justice and its agency, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), contributing to the development of national policy and strategy.

We provide support to our members through briefings, seminars and training events to enable them to achieve trust status and to provide best governance as a trust board.

Business freedom and flexibility

The public will be best protected from reoffending by giving trusts genuine control of their own business and budgets and we continue to campaign for these mainly financial freedoms and flexibilities. Our report Probation Trust Freedoms and Business Flexibilities - A Mechanism for Driving Forward Public Sector Reform In Probation, has been accepted by NOMS which is keen to incorporate many of our proposals into national policy.