Presentation of findings to the from the Client Feedback Questionnaire 2008/2009 Carly Pallot November 08- March 09

Introduction A brief overview of methodologies, results and conclusions from the Client Feedback Questionnaire 2008/2009 undertaken with clients of the Jersey Probation and After- Care Service.

Joint social science degree: third year Work Based Action Research Working within an organisation or institution to solve a problem, decide on a plan of action relating to an issue in the workplace or undertake research that is needed by the organisation.

Process of the project WBAR 1:Decide an organisation within which to undertake research 2: Discuss what Is needed by the organisation 3: Complete a proposal and plan of action 4: Undertake the research project -Finding out what forms of client feedback is in place in Other jurisdictions -Put in place a system of client feedback, using information Obtained from other jurisdictions 5: Complete a Reflective progress report 6: Present findings in an oral presentation 7: Complete the final written report

PART 1 “There is evidence across both the public and private sectors that engaging service users in shaping services is one factor linked to improvement of services and higher rates of service retention.” (NPS Offender Engagement Good Practice Guide, 2007:2)

The NPS Offender Engagement Good Practice Guide (2007) recommends that Probation Services should be aware of the protocols in place within other jurisdictions.

Probation ServiceMain method of obtaining feedback DetailsOther Devon and CornwallClient QuestionnairesDistributed during one month period during year (to all offenders) Hostel questionnaires West YorkshireClient QuestionnairesNew version in pilot stage- Allocated at 16 week intervals Northern IrelandClient QuestionnairesTo representative sample. Completed by outside agency. Voluntary- £20 incentive Interviews WarwickshireOne to one interviewsNothing formal in place North WalesClient QuestionnairesQuarterly intervals, used clients and Swansea University in forming questionnaire. Part time Project Manager recently employed. Different questionnaires for licences, programmes, prison, victims and community service GloucestershireClient QuestionnairesIssued by Devon and Cornwall Probation Isle Of ManClient QuestionnairesOnly in template form due to lack of resources. Currently formulating sample

PART 2 Survey 29 questions (mostly closed questions, final questions were open to allow more depth and opinion) 5 sections  Introductory Questions  The Order  Programmes  Basic Skills  Some Final Questions

Distribution Original brief: All clients who have been on Probation or Community Service Orders longer than 6 months who are on supervision between December February 2009  Not really feasible or practical in time frame  Problems of clients not turning up

Updated brief: More in-depth interviews with fewer clients, using the Client Feedback Questionnaire as an interview schedule  24 clients  semi-structured interview  Quantitative  qualitative

General Findings All clients interviewed were either mid-way through or at the end of their Order All clients interviewed were either on Probation Orders or Combined Orders All clients were told of the confidential nature of the interview and that it was optional

PART 3: Findings DEMOGRAPHICS Gender: Female (33%), Male (67%) Age: 36+ (38%); (25%); (8%); (21%); (8%) Place of birth: Jersey (29%); Other UK (46%); Madeira (13%); Portugal (8%); Poland (4%)

LEAFLETS Only 9 people (37%) remember receiving any leaflets at the start of their order Of those 9 people, 3 found them very useful, 4 found them quite useful and 2 found them not useful at all

RESPECT ISSUES 63% of clients are seen within 5 minutes of their allocated appointment time 71% of clients answered positively (yes, always or yes, mostly) when asked if treated with respect 71% of clients answered positively (yes, always or yes, mostly) when asked if they were listened to- different break-up of statistics 6 clients interviewed did not speak English as their first language- All were happy with the support given

Areas of support

Supervision Plan Only 42% were aware a supervision plan had been made for them 21% felt they were involved in the making of the plan 33% thought that the plan had been adhered to

Victims 42% of clients felt that there were no victims in their crime Approximately 42% thought they did discuss the victims Of those who claimed to have discussed victims, all (100%) thought this was very useful to them

Programmes 11 clients took part in a programme Of these, 82% found that the programme was ‘very’ or ‘quite’ relevant to their offence 55% found the course ‘very useful’ Nobody rated the programme ‘totally irrelevant’ or ‘not useful at all

The Service

Satisfaction

Reoffending 58% felt their risk or reoffending was dramatically reduced, and 25% felt it was reduced ‘to some extent.’ Positive factors were discussed by all when asking how time on Probation has changed their lives When asked how the service could be improved, many claimed the were very happy as it is and that there was nothing more that could be done

Concluding results 1: More challenging 2: Few clients available when I was free 3: Thanks to those officers who went out of their way to get clients in when I was there 4: Document worked well, 5: No mentor/ tutor scheme 6: Developed my skills 7: Change of plan Maybe better- more In-depth 8: Response very positive 9: Leaflets have little impact 10: Supervision plan Not understood 11: Victimless crime?

Thank you very much for listening. Any questions?