HMPPS update – change in use of Risk Assessed Recall Review (RARR) policy

This HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) policy update details a change in the use of Risk Assessed Recall Review (RARR). The policy change is part of measures to 'reduce pressure on prison capacity and cut unnecessary waits for re-release'. 

The measure is a first step towards a more ‘proactive approach to Risk Assessed Recall Reviews’, which will focus on developing risk management plans for release and actively managing people in prison while on recall, while working towards their release. In order to encourage greater usage of the RARR power, the Lord Chancellor has introduced a policy that ‘those recalled prisoners who meet the qualifying criteria will be presumed suitable for re-release unless it is judged that they do not meet the statutory re-release test’. This will be known as Presumptive RARR and only applies to people subject to a standard recall who are serving a standard determinate sentence (SDS). 

Probation practitioners will undertake a risk review to assess suitability, with safeguarding and domestic abuse checks on all cases. Probation practitioners will keep victim liaison officers (VLOs) informed of any proposed release dates and subsequent updates where the case meets the criteria for the Victim Contact Scheme (VCS) or the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS).