NCJ Number
140873
Date Published
1992
Length
91 pages
Annotation
This report presents results from the British Home Office's 1990 National Probation Survey, which determined how probation staff divide their time between functions.
Abstract
The survey sample consisted of 2,400 probation staff comprised of senior probation officers, main-grade officers, and probation service assistants. Each officer completed a work diary that recorded how respondents spent a full work week, information on each offender dealt with during the survey week, the number of offenders supervised at the end of the diary week, the number of reports of each type completed both during the diary week and the last 4 weeks, and details on the respondents. The survey found the largest category of work is the supervision of offenders on probation orders and other court orders. The main aim of the survey was to provide some form of workload weightings that show the average amount of staff resources consumed per case per year. If this information is combined with projections of expected workload for a given time, estimates can be made of numbers of staff needed to deal with the work. The report presents two types of workload weighting. The first method is based on the proportion of time spent on various tasks by all grades of officers combined. Under this method, an average probation order is estimated to require 2.6 percent of a staff year annually. The second method estimates the total time spent on each type of case and the corresponding total caseload. Unit costs are also reported. 5 tables and appended survey methodology, calculation of workload weightings, workload weightings for all grades and specializations, and respondent profiles