Probation services in east Kent have been rated “inadequate” after inspectors found staff were inexperienced and overwhelmed, leading to safeguarding concerns.

A report into the services in the East Kent Probation Delivery Unit (PDU), which covers Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe, Swale, and Thanet, has been published following an inspection in December.

It comes as services in the west of the county were graded as ‘requires improvement’, an improvement from a previous ‘inadequate’ rating in 2022.

HM Inspectorate of Probation, the independent body tasked with monitoring probation services across England and Wales, found while shortfalls in staffing were gradually being addressed in the East Kent PDU, too often indicators of harm were not identified, explored, or sufficiently understood.

A level of inexperience across all grades of staff was evident in the cases looked into.

This led to a lack of effective communication with police and children’s social care to safeguard children and victims of domestic abuse.

Martin Jones, chief inspector of probation, said: “Despite efforts by the leadership team across the PDU, along with a passionate and committed staff group and some promising innovation, the quality of work to reduce reoffending and manage the risk of harm was insufficient.”

Middle managers, many of whom were also new in post, were overwhelmed by the demands of their role and were unable to provide the level of oversight required.

While leaders were concerned about staff welfare and had attempted to mitigate the impact of resourcing issues, the principles of this approach were not fully adhered to.

This is the first time east Kent PDU has been inspected under the Inspectorate’s current inspection programme.

Mr Jones said: “Undoubtedly, staff and leaders in East Kent PDU will be disappointed by our findings, but we hope they will not be deterred from continuing to make the improvements which will enable them to realise their vision that East Kent PDU will become a high-performing and inspiring place to work.”

The West Kent Probation Delivery Unit (PDU), was also inspected in January and while there were signs of improvement, issues with workloads were identified.

The inspection of the unit, which covers Medway, Dartford, Gravesham, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells, showed the leadership team, managers and staff were committed to providing a responsive service for people on probation.

‘There were difficulties managing workloads across all grades of staff...’

However, significant staff shortages meant the vision to deliver a high-quality service had not been fully realised and the quality of work to keep people safe was insufficient.

Mr Jones said: “There was a positive culture, and staff were motivated to do their best in difficult circumstances.

“Staff were well supported and involved in several positive initiatives, including engaging people on probation forums and equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging champions in each probation office.

“However, there were difficulties managing workloads across all grades of staff, including practitioners, middle managers and administrators.”

The report found that while some innovative services were in place, most were not used consistently due to staff shortages and difficult-to-follow referral processes which hindered access.

While there were some promising signs of improvement following the last inspection, work to keep people safe was inadequate across the board.

Mr Jones added: “Much progress has been made since our last inspection of West Kent, and the right foundations of strong leadership and a positive culture are now in place to further drive improvement towards delivering high-quality probation services that continue to change people’s lives for the better.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We have taken immediate action to address the concerns raised, including improved training and recruiting more administrative staff so that senior probation officers can focus on the tough management of offenders.

“We are also using the extra £155 million being invested into the Probation Service every year to strengthen supervision and recruit more staff to protect the public.”

The Ministry of Justice has recruited 4,000 trainee probation officers since 2021 and local recruitment campaigns are underway to continue to boost staffing numbers.