Greater Manchester Probation Trust

Offender Management

Judges and Magistrates can sentence offenders to a Community Order. The Community Order will specify up to five requirements from a range of twelve,  depending on the seriousness of the offence and the potential for risk of harm and re-offending.  

The twelve requirements that are available under the Criminal Justice Act are:

1.  Unpaid Work
2. Activity
3. Programme
4. Prohibited Activity
5. Supervision
6. Exclusion
7. Residence
8. Mental Health treatment
9. Drug Rehabilitation
10. Attendance Centre
11. Alcohol Treatment
12. Curfew

• to impose obligations and restrictions on the offender to fulfil sentencers' requirements of punishment;
• to develop more responsible behaviour in the offender;
• to improve the offender's attitudes so they become less anti-social;
• to help improve the offender's social circumstances and links in the community;
• to manage risk presented by the offender so that the possibility of serious harm is reduced;
• to provide good value for money in the cost of organising and running the order.

It is the key aim of Greater Manchester Probation Trust  to manage all offenders given community orders and ensure that they complete their sentence successfully.. If an offender does not comply with the requirements of their order, they can be sent back to court.

Any offender given a supervision requirement as part of a community order is required to attend appointments with an offender manager from Greater Manchester Probation Trust .  The offender manager monitors the offender, assesses their needs and offers them support for areas such as accommodation, substance misuse, and education. 

Every offender sentenced to 12 months or more in prison is required to be supervised in the community for a proportion of their sentence. Probation staff work closely with prisons to help offenders prepare for release. Probation staff also supervise prisoners who have been released on a life licence. It is our priority to protect the public by supervising offenders in the community.

Curfews

This requirement will usually be accompanied with electronic monitoring (commonly known as wearing a tag). Electronic monitoring is managed by G4S.  The offender must remain at a specified place for a period of between two and twelve hours per day. The requirement may last for up to six months.

Greater Manchester Probation Trust also supervises offenders sentenced to a drug rehabilitation requirement (DRR). Offenders are tested regularly for drug taking while undergoing probation-supervised treatment

In addition Greater Manchester Probation provides specialists in basic skills, employment, training and education to help offenders overcome obstacles which bar their way to jobs, change their lifestyle and establish a more stable and positive future.

Integrated Offender Management

The Integrated Offender Management Project - or “Spotlight”, as it is known, has been launched in Tameside. This is a multi-agency project aimed at delivering an integrated approach to the management of all high risk offenders.

It builds on existing work carried out with prolific and priority offenders (PPO) and those subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA).

It involves the probation, police and youth offending services and local authority staff working together to: provide intensive supervision for those most at risk;  share information on a daily basis about high risk offenders; share decision making on priorities, performance management,  tasking; and co-ordinate resources at a strategic level.

Spotlight gives probation and partner agencies a good model to improve the joint management of those offenders who pose a significant risk of harm and re-offending in our communities. The potential benefits to the Criminal Justice System are significant, but the real motivation for making Spotlight work is to reduce the number of victims of crime and continue to provide a quality service to people in our neighbourhoods.  It is intended the project will be rolled out across Greater Manchester following the pilot in Tameside.