IMPLEMENTATION OF THE VICTIM LIASION SERVICE SPECIFICATION

This instruction applies to :

Reference :

Probation Services

PI 03/2010

Issue date

Effective Date

Expiry Date

30 March 2010

5 April 2010

29 March 2014

Issued on the authority of

For action by

NOMS Agency Board

All staff responsible for the commissioning and provision of
services to victims.

For information

Directors of Offender Management

Chairs of Probation Boards / Trusts
Chief Officers / Executives

Contact

Felicity Hawksley Head of Victims Team, NOMS PPMHG

Felicity.Hawksley@noms.gsi.gov.uk
020 7217 6396

Associated documents

The Service Specification Document together with supporting

documents :
Operating Model,
Direct Service Costs and Assumptions Document
Costing Spreadsheet
PC 11/2008 Victim Liaison Guidance Manual
PC 23 / 2008 Mental Health Act 2007 Extension of Victims
Rights
PI 08 / 2009 Victim Representation at Parole Board Hearings

Audit/monitoring :
Directors of Offender Management will monitor compliance in their region with the mandatory
actions set out in this Probation Instruction, including completing Equality Impact Assessments.
Probation Areas and Trusts must demonstrate compliance with these actions when required to do
so by Directors of Offender Management.
Introduces amendments outlined in Annex A to the following documents - PC 11/2008. Copies
held on the HMPS Intranet/EPIC will be amended; hard copies must be amended or cross
referenced locally.

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CONTENTS

Section
1

Subject
Executive summary
Background
Desired outcomes
Application
Mandatory Actions
Resource Impact

Applies to
All Staff
1.1
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7

Operational guidance
Additional mandatory instructions
Performance Monitoring

All Staff
2.1
2.2

Policy and strategic context

Guidance

Annex A

Amendments to Guidance and notes

on Interpretation of the Specification.

All Staff
3.1
All Staff
4.1
All staff

Annex B
Business Case
Annex C
Equality Impact Assessment
Annex D
Resource Impact Assessment
Executive summary

Authors
Authors and DOMs Offices
Authors

1. Background
1.1

As part of the NOMS Change Programme, Service Specifications are being developed
which set out what services should be commissioned and delivered by providers under
contracts or service level agreements. The Specifications define outputs and outcomes
for each business area and are underpinned by examples of operating models and related
direct service cost models.

1.2

Under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (as amended), providers of probation
services have a statutory duty to:
provide information to victims of specified sexual or violent crimes where the court
imposed a sentence of imprisonment of 12 months or more or where certain
disposals under the Mental Health Act were made; and
seek representations from victims and their families about restrictions which may be
attached to the offenders release.
NOMS broader obligations to victims are set out in the Code of Practice for Victims of
Crime.

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1.3

The Service Specification for Victims Services sets out the mandatory services which,
from 1 April 2010, must be offered to eligible victims, including the minimum outputs and
outcomes which must be achieved as part of the core service. The Operating Model is
not mandatory; providers may, if they wish, develop different models for delivery which are
efficient and effective. Similarly, the Direct Service Costs and Assumptions document
is linked to the operating model and is indicative only.

Desired outcomes
1.4

The desired outcome is that providers of probation services fulfil their statutory duty to
victims as follows:

Staff commissioning services use the Service Specification to inform service level
agreements and contracts;

Providers of probation services understand their responsibilities in delivering the

specification, particularly in respect of the statutory requirements for victim
services;

Staff responsible for delivering services to victims understand and act upon the
mandatory requirements set out in the Service Specification;

Offender Managers, Victim Liaison Officers and prison staff share relevant
information in a timely manner to enable obligations to victims under the
Specification and the Victims Code to be met;

Commissioners and providers monitor performance against the Specification.

Application
1.5

Commissioners and staff delivering Victim Liaison Services should read the whole of
this Instruction and the Service Specification. Offender Managers should read Rows 10,
11, 16, 18 and 25 of the Specification. Governors should ensure that prison staff are
aware of rows 10 and 11 of the Specification.

Mandatory actions
1.6

All elements of the Service Specification are mandatory; it does not contain any options
for variations in the elements of required service delivery. Staff commissioning and
delivering Victim Liaison Services therefore must ensure that the outputs and outcomes in
the Service Specification are met for eligible victims.

Resource Impact
1.7

Implementation of the Specification will be driven forward at local level initially via Best
Value processes; Service Level Agreements or contracts will be developed locally as
appropriate. As the Specification covers core services currently being provided to victims
it is anticipated that the net national impact of implementation will be resource neutral; the
impact at local level will depend on how current provision relates to the service level set
out in the new Service Specification.

2.

Operational instructions

2.1

The activity in the Specification is largely already covered by existing operational

instructions (see Section 4 below). Two service elements should be noted as they become
mandatory under the Specification:

At Row 4, consideration of the offer of victim contact in some non-statutory cases

where there is a public interest in offering a service to the victim is now mandatory.

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At Row 13, the Specification also makes mandatory the practice of caseworkers
ensuring that, when meetings with victims or families are held, records of those
meetings are made available to victims.

2.2

Current national requirements for monitoring victim contact remain in place and returns
should continue to submit returns on the timeliness of initial contact and victim satisfaction
with first contact to Performance Management Group via the Hub. The Specification also
contains a large number of suggested areas for local performance monitoring against
individual outputs in Service Level Agreements or contracts. Directors of Offender
Management will wish to consider which of these they wish to prioritise so as to ensure
that there is an appropriate balance between monitoring key areas which contribute to
effective service delivery to victims and not imposing a disproportionate burden on
providers. Further guidance will be provided on monitoring of numbers of discretionary
cases by Public Protection and Mental Health Group.

3.

Policy and strategic context

3.1

Commissioners and providers need to be mindful of the wider policy drivers to ensure that
victims needs are met and public confidence in the Criminal Justice System is
maintained. Advice has been circulated to Directors of Offender Management about using
the Best Value Process and the Specification locally and further national work is being
undertaken on benefits realisation. Providers should note that the Operating Model gives
an example of how Victim Liaison Services may be configured but that there is scope to
develop alternative models of service delivery providing that the quality of this sensitive
service to victims is not degraded.

4.

Guidance

4.1

The principles of delivering the Victim Liaison Service are set out in

PC 11/2008 Victim Liaison Policy Guidance Manual

PC 23 / 2008 Mental Health Act 2007 Extension of Victims Rights

PI 08 / 2009 Victim Representation at Parole Board Hearings.

References to these documents, the Victims Code of Practice and the relevant sections of
the legislation are included in the Specification. The content of the Specification means
that the variations to the guidance set out at Annex A are required to ensure that all of the
mandatory elements are met. Annex A also contains notes on the interpretation of the
Specification.

(signed)

Michael Spurr
Chief Operational Officer

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Annex A
Amendments to the Guidance and Notes on the Interpretation of the Specification
Amendments to the Victim Liaison Policy Guidance Manual Probation Circular 11/2008
Insert after new paragraph after paragraph 2.1.19
2.1.19 (a)
Providers must, when notified of such a case or receiving a request direct from a
victim or family member make a decision on whether to offer ongoing victim contact. The criteria
used in reaching the decision must be in relation to any of the following factors:

The victims vulnerability or particular needs including disability, different language needs;

Concerns about ongoing risk to the victim for example in cases of domestic abuse or
cases involving serious further offences;

Cases where the offence falls outside the definitions of serious sexual or violent offences
but where the public interest requires communication of information to victims for example
some domestic extremism cases;

Cases which predate the introduction of statutory victim liaison but where there is a public
interest in keeping victims informed for example in some life sentence cases.
Providers must ensure that their reasons for deciding whether or not to offer non-statutory contact
are recorded and communicated to the referrer or victim.
Replace paragraph 3.3.9 with the new paragraph
3.3.9 Providers must ensure that an accurate written record of meetings with victims and
families are sent to them in a timely fashion. The record must confirm the information was
provided to them for example key dates of sentences and also record any views which the victim/
family wish to put forward in respect of future decisions such as licence conditions. The family
must have the opportunity to amend any information relating to them. Care must be taken to
ensure that full details of the case are not contained in communications sent by insecure means
such as the post so as not to compromise the victims or offenders privacy, for example letters
should refer to the offender, the offenders X Y and Z or the offence committed against you.
The following paragraph should be inserted after section 4.7
Section 4.7 A Re-categorisation (see note below under Interpretation)
Generally only re-categorisation from closed to open conditions or the reverse should be
communicated to victims. However victims should also be notified in cases where offenders who
have been categorised as suitable for open conditions but who remain in closed conditions are
eligible for temporary release.

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Notes on the Interpretation of the Specification

Timeliness of contact
The Specification (Service Element1) requires initial contact with victims within 8 weeks of
sentence; this should be interpreted as 40 working days under the Victims Code (see Paragraph
3.14 of the Policy Guidance Manual).
Notification to victims of information at key stages of the offenders sentence
The Specification (Row 10) lists the outcome of re-categorisation as an item of information which
should be communicated to victims. This should be interpreted as re-categorisation from closed
to open conditions or vice versa and in some cases, categorisation as suitable for open
conditions whilst still held in closed conditions since this may trigger eligibility for certain types of
temporary release .
Information provided to victims of mentally disordered offenders
The Specification (Row 22) allows for liaison between Victim Liaison officers (VLOs) and decision
makers around the grant of leave and discharge. This should be read in conjunction with Section
7.3.5 of the Victims Policy Guidance Manual which makes it clear that decisions to disclose
information about patients leave should be made on a case by case basis.
Data Security
Information relating to victims is highly sensitive and must be handled and protected in line with
NOMS Security policies or where appropriate Providers equivalent policies. Generally victims
information should be protectively marked as Restricted as a minimum and steps must be taken
to store victims information securely and separately from offenders main paper and electronic
records.
Consultation on licence conditions
When advising victims about reviews (Row 14 of the Specification), VLOs should discuss whether
any updating or variation of proposed licence conditions is required.

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Annex C

HQ policy
Equality Impact Assessment
Policy
Policy lead
Group
Directorate

Felicity Hawksley
Public Protection and Mental Health
COO

What is an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA)?....................................................................8

Your Equalities team.............................................................................................................8
The EIA process...................................................................................................................8
Stage 1 initial screening.........................................................................................................9
Aims.................................................................................................................................. 9
Effects...............................................................................................................................9
Evidence.........................................................................................................................10
Stakeholders and feedback............................................................................................10
Impact............................................................................................................................. 11
Local discretion...............................................................................................................11
Summary of relevance to equalities issues....................................................................11
Monitoring and review arrangements.............................................................................12

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What is an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA)?

An EIA is a systematic appraisal of the (actual or potential) effects of a function or policy on different groups of
people. It is conducted to ensure compliance with public duties on equality issues (which in some areas go
beyond a requirement to eliminate discrimination and encompass a duty to promote equality), but more
importantly to ensure effective policy making that meets the needs of all groups.
Like all other public bodies, the National Offender Management Service is required by law to conduct impact
assessments of all functions and policies that are considered relevant to the public duties and to publish the
results.
An Equality Impact Assessment must be completed when developing a new function, policy or practice, or when
revising an existing one.
In this context a function is any activity of the Prison Service, a policy is any prescription about how such a function is
carried out, for instance an order, instruction or manual, and a practice is the way in which something is done,
including key decisions and common practice in areas not covered by formal policy.

If you are completing this document as part of the OPG process, you must complete and return it together with
the final Business case for OPG approval and publication alongside the PI/PSI/PSO.

Your Equalities team

It is important that all policies are informed by the knowledge of the impact of equalities issues accumulated
across the organisation. Early in the policy development process, and before commencing the EIA, please
contact the relevant equalities team to discuss the issues arising in your policy area.
HR issues Staff Diversity and Equality Team 020 7217 6090 or frank.colyer@noms.gsi.gov.uk
Service delivery issues relating to gender and younger offenders Women and Young Peoples Group 020
7217 5048 or matthew.armer@noms.gsi.gov.uk
All other service delivery issues Race and Equalities Action Group 020 7217 2521 or
REAG@noms.gsi.gov.uk

The EIA process

The EIA has been constructed as a two-stage process in order to reduce the amount of work involved where a
policy proves not to be relevant to any of the equalities issues.
The initial screening tool should be completed in all cases, but duplication of material between it and the full EIA
should be avoided. For instance, where relevance to an equalities issue is self-evident or quickly identified this
can be briefly noted on the initial screening and detailed consideration of that issue reserved for the full EIA.
Further guidance on this will be given by the relevant equalities team.

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Stage 1 initial screening

The first stage of conducting an EIA is to screen the policy to determine its relevance to
the various equalities issues. This will indicate whether or not a full impact assessment is
required and which issues should be considered in it. The equalities issues that you
should consider in completing this screening are:

Race
Gender
Gender identity
Disability
Religion or belief
Sexual orientation
Age (including younger and older offenders).

Aims
What are the aims of the policy?

The Instruction makes adoption of the Service Specification for Victim Liaison
Services mandatory across NOMS from the 1st of April 2010

Effects
What effects will the policy have on staff, offenders or other stakeholders?

Probation victim liaison staff are responsible for delivering the statutory Victim
Liaison Service to eligible victims. The Service forms part of the NOMS
Directory of Services and will underpin regional commissioning by DOMs. Use
of the Service Specification will help to ensure the delivery of a more
consistent, efficient and cost effective service to victims by probation providers.
This should improve the quality of service delivered to victims. The
Specification itself provides greater clarity on the outcomes sought for victims
and is provider neutral, thus enabling the service to be delivered by a range of
providers including the third sector. Currently the Service is only delivered by
Probation Trusts but voluntary sector organisations such as Victim Support and
NACRO were consulted during the development of the Specification. The
Victims Advisory Panel was also consulted about the draft Instruction. No third
sector provider has yet indicated an interest in running the Service but this may
change over time as Best Value exercises are conducted locally. If 3 rd sector
organisations do take on service delivery, they will be required to comply with
national monitoring of timeliness and victim satisfaction which include diversity
monitoring. It is suggested that Equality Impact Assessments are completed
as part of Best Value exercises and the equality impact of service is regularly
reviewed by commissioners of services.

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Evidence
Is there any existing evidence of this policy area being relevant to any equalities issue?
Identify existing sources of information about the operation and outcomes of the policy, such as operational
feedback (including local monitoring and impact assessments)/Inspectorate and other relevant
reports/complaints and litigation/relevant research publications etc. Does any of this evidence point towards
relevance to any of the equalities issues?

Service Delivery to victims is subject to two types of national and local monitoring:A) By timeliness of initial contact with victims which can be analysed by gender and
ethnicity this is part of National Standards monitoring and is currently included in the
IPPF,
B) By victim satisfaction with initial face to face contact this can be analysed by gender,
age and ethnicity and will be included in the IPPF from April 2010.
The NOMS Delivery Diversity report for 2007/8 highlighted, in respect of the timeliness
target, the difficulty of interpreting the diversity data as in 45% of cases the diversity
information was not completed. This is a system wide problem for the CJS and often
victim referrals from the Police and Witness Care Units to the Probation Service do not
have any information about diversity. The report also concluded that national data which
showed a higher take up rate for victim services for women than men was skewed by
performance in two large metropolitan areas. Provisional figures for subsequent years
indicate a similar pattern of incomplete diversity data. Further work has been identified
across the CJS on diversity. The OCJR PSA 24 delivery plan indicator 4 has an
objective to Better identify and explain race disproportionality at key points across the
CJS which includes victim satisfaction measures. The Delivery Report also adds a
proviso in respect of all probation services that differential take up rates for services
does not necessarily equate to differential service delivery. This may be the case in
respect of sensitive victim services where it is not clear what factors have causal
relationship as drivers of the take up rate or satisfaction rate.
The Victim Satisfaction measure was only introduced nationally in 2009/10 and signed
off results for the year are not yet available; early trends show high levels of overall
satisfaction but results split down by diversity will need further analysis to see if they are
statistically significant.
Results of the monitoring highlight higher take up of services by women but it is unclear
what drivers affect take up and satisfaction rates.
Victim Liaison Services are also subject to periodic inspection by HMIP as part of Area
OMI inspections.

Stakeholders and feedback

Describe the target group for the policy and list any other interested parties. What contact
have you had with these groups?

The policy applies to the victims of violent and sexual offenders sentenced to
imprisonment for twelve months or more who have opted to receive the service that they
are entitled to receive under the statutory Probation Victim Liaison Scheme. The
process underpinning the policy encompasses staff across NOMS.
Consultation on the policy has therefore encompassed a range of internal colleagues eg
the Office of Criminal Justice Reform, the Victims Advisory Panel as well as Unions,
Probation and Prison staff and Directors of Offender Management.
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Do you have any feedback from stakeholders, particularly from groups representative of the
various issues, that this policy is relevant to them?

Feedback has been incorporated into the draft Instruction as submitted to the NOMS
Operational Policy Group.

Impact
Could the policy have a differential impact on staff, prisoners, visitors or other stakeholders on
the basis of any of the equalities issues?

The policy applies equally to all victims of violent and sexual offences where the offender
was sentenced to imprisonment for 12 months or more, who are receiving information
under the statutory victim contact arrangements.
By providing victims with a more consistent and better quality service, the policy will
benefit a wide range of victims, including those from different groups, or with specific
needs.
Existing national guidance on preventing discrimination on the basis of race, gender,
disability or other factors will ensure that probation providers will apply the policy
appropriately.

Local discretion
Does the policy allow local discretion in the way in which it is implemented? If so, what
safeguards are there to prevent inconsistent outcomes and/or differential treatment of different
groups of people?

No local discretion about use of the specification but methods for achieving outcomes
are not mandated. DOMs offices should therefore ensure that local Equality Impact
Assessments and reviews of service delivery are undertaken regularly.

Summary of relevance to equalities issues

Strand

Race
Gender (including gender
identity)
Disability
Religion or belief
Sexual orientation
Age (younger offenders)
Age (older offenders)
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Yes/No

Rationale

NO

See below.

NO

See below.

NO

See below.

NO

See below.

NO

See below.

NO

See below.

NO

See below.
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The policy will apply equally to all victims who fall within the scope of the statutory victim contact scheme and
have opted to take up the service offered by the National Probation Service. In applying the new policy,
probation providers will be expected to follow national guidance on preventing discrimination on the basis of race,
gender, disability or any other factor.
If you have answered Yes to any of the equalities issues, a full impact assessment must be completed. Please
proceed to STAGE 2 of the document.

If you have answered No to all of the equalities issues, a full impact assessment will not be required, and this
assessment can be signed off at this stage. You will, however, need to put in place monitoring arrangements to
ensure that any future impact on any of the equalities issues is identified.

Monitoring and review arrangements

Describe the systems that you are putting in place to manage the policy and to monitor its
operation and outcomes in terms of the various equalities issues.

National monitoring will continue and consideration is being given to the inclusion of the
victim satisfaction measure into the performance framework from 2010/11.

State when a review will take place and how it will be conducted.

The service specification and the policy will be subject to periodic review by the policy
holding Group. This will include consultation with key stakeholders.

Policy lead
Head of group

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Name and signature

Date

Felicity Hawksley

16.02.2010

Gordon Davison

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Annex D
Policy Resource Impact Assessment Template
A. SCREENING DETAILS
1. Title of Instruction
Implementation of the Victim Liaison Service Specification

2. Notes on the reliability of the costing below and issues for Operational Policy Group to
consider.
Full indicative costings were set out in the Direct Costs and Assumptions document which
accompanied the Specification. The Instruction does not create any additional tasks or
requirements over and above the Specification, so no additional financial burdens will be created.

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3. Method
Identification of Task

(a) Additional
/Reduced Time to
Perform Task
(hours)

(b) Number of
Times Task
Performed
Annually
Nationally

(c ) National
Increase
/Decrease in
Hours
(a x b = c)

(d) Hourly Cost

(determined by
grade of staff)

(e) National Annual

Total Cost/Saving
(c x d = e)

Full details are contained in the Specification

and supporting documents
Total

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