Probation is all about change for the better and that is certainly what the government is hoping for with its introduction of Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC’s). Whether you agree or disagree with the model, new ownership announcements are imminent and the next phase of the probation journey is about to take shape.
But what will it take for CRC success?
We have been intimately involved with probation, facilitating much of the change from Boards, Trusts and now CRCs with pam, our powerful cloud platform. Using that experience and our work in the wider world of criminal and social justice, we believe there are 5 areas where it is critical for CRC’s to get better results, beyond direct offender management work. These 5 areas are:
- CRC led initiatives involving partners
- Partner led initiatives affecting probation outcomes
- Ecosystem strategic initiatives
- Mandatory customer contract obligations
- Organisation development and growth
In addition to strong leadership and motivation, the people working in these areas need to be equipped to do their job well. This must be one of the benefits of the new world; Retained probation professionals being free from the shackles of Internet Explorer 6, slow broadband and other out of date yet costly technology that inhibits work getting done.
Across these 5 areas is a significant amount of work that needs to be performed by fewer resources than ever before. Collaborating closely with probation professionals we have looked at how pam can help CRC’s achieve more from less. Taking into account pam’s unique security credentials, there are more than 30 initiatives where the trusted platform can aid CRC’s to get better results very quickly and we are going to look at one of these areas each day this week.
Numerous CRC’s have already got a head start because of their past work with pam. Working on multiple initiatives from one proven place leads to lower cost, lower risk and faster adoption with more effective outcomes than alternatives. This combination of benefits has to be key for CRC owners to have viable business models in future. It will help them meet contract obligations like ISO 27001 as well as drive out cost and waste to quickly improve the inefficient yet crucial multi-agency working that can deliver greater reductions in reoffending and improve public protection.
Tomorrow our blog looks more closely at the first of these 5 areas. If you don’t want to wait you can learn more about how we can help your CRC by contacting us now.