Policy Hub
On 25 November 2008, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS) at King's College London published a report (Community sentences digest) which reveals that record numbers of people are serving court orders in the community.
The report points out that in 2007, 162,648 people started court orders in the community, the highest number yet recorded. This represents a 36% increase since 1997 of those serving punishments in the community. Orders include both community sentences and suspended sentence orders.
The report notes that between 2002 and 2006 the ratio of offenders to qualified probation officers rose from 31:1 to 40:1, with staff supervising caseloads which are, on average, much larger than those of practitioners in youth offending teams. It also highlights high sickness levels amongst the probation workforce. In 2007/08, the average number of sick days for each employee was 12.1, one of the highest recorded figures in the public sector.