Patricia Ingram, Director of Community Operations, Isle of Man and Kate Clark, Senior Practitioner, Guernsey Probation Service were invited to undertake an independent inspection of the Community Service of Jersey Probation and After-Care Service. The Inspection took place on 16th, 18th and 19th November 2012. The stated objectives were to determine the extent to which the scheme operates in accordance with agreed service standards, to ascertain views from beneficiaries, sentencers, staff and clients and to make recommendations.

A total of 48 case files were inspected for adherence to the Standards set by JPACS. Interviews were conducted with 8 Beneficiaries, 10 Sentencers, 8 members of staff and six clients. We observed the Community Service team operation over the course of one day including visits to three work group sites. JPACS identified the criteria for the inspection of the files and formulated the interview questions.

The authors were provided with supporting documentation including the “Standards Relating to the Supervision of Community Service Orders by the Jersey Probation and After-Care Service, January 2012”; the JPACS “Community Service Inspection 2012 Client End Of Order Questionnaire”, an internal inspection of 100 questionnaires drawn from January to October 2012 inclusive; and the Social Enquiry Report (SER) for each client file read.