Notes from RR3 special interest group on Covid-19 – CRC contract management

Notes from a meeting of the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) special interest group (SIG) on Covid-19 on the contract management of Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) during Covid-19.

The RR3 is a formal voluntary sector advisory group to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), consisting of 16 senior voluntary sector leaders. The group is chaired and coordinated by Clinks. The RR3 have established a SIG on Covid-19 to channel advice to the government on how best to protect people in contact with the criminal justice system and to protect the future sustainability of the voluntary sector.

These notes summarise a meeting of the Covid-19 SIG, held in July 2020, to discuss issues related to the management of CRC contracts in the context of Covid-19. The meeting was attended by HMPPS and voluntary organisations who held contracts with at least 16 of the 21 CRCs. The group raised a number of issues around:

• Poor communication from CRCs to voluntary organisations in supply chains during Covid-19
• Lack of information flow from HMPPS to voluntary organisations on recovery plans of probation services
• How both recovery of probation services and the transition to the new probation model is being managed by HMPPS
• The need to consider how technological advances adopted during Covid-19 can be embedded in long-term service delivery.

Clinks and the RR3 will work with officials to take forward the issues raised, and a number of actions were taken forward by HMPPS.