Spotlight on Professional Standards and Behaviour at Insights25
Sam Clifton, Head of Professional Standards and Behaviour (PSB) Group in HMPPS talks about why professional standards and behaviour is important and how you can learn more about it at Insights25
Sam Clifton
Head of Professional Standards and Behaviour (PSB) Group,
HMPPS
Why professional standards and behaviour is important
Working in HMPPS and across criminal justice, isn’t your average job.
From helping improve prisoner’s literacy skills to rehabilitating some of the hardest-to-reach people in society, from supervising people on probation in the community to supporting victims of crime, the everyday reality of the jobs we do is simply extraordinary.
Doing an extraordinary job means we sometimes have to face challenging behaviours from prisoners and people on probation that can be unreasonable, anti-social and even violent. How we respond to these challenges is critical, so we don’t behave poorly ourselves and always maintain our professionalism.
Our everyday behaviours and professional working relationships underpin everything we do in probation, prisons, youth custody service or headquarters. How we behave affects our colleagues’, wellbeing and staff retention. It also affects outcomes for prisoners and people on probation and how well we can protect the public and reduce reoffending. If we fail to demonstrate and maintain professional standards, we also undermine public confidence.
What this means for staff in HMPPS
We want everyone in HMPPS to take pride in their work and demonstrate the highest professional standards. Staff have the right to expect it from colleagues too. And where these standards aren’t met, we all need to be confident we can call it out and deal with it.
HMPPS is a great place to work. But it takes all of us, working together, to uphold professional standards so everyone feels valued. HMPPS aims to create a positive, professional, and supportive work environment where everyone understands the professional standards and behaviour expected of them. This means that whatever we do in HMPPS, we must:
- carry out our duties conscientiously, honestly and with integrity
- be responsible and accountable for our actions
- be courteous, reasonable, and fair with prisoners, people on probation, colleagues, and the public
- treat people with decency and respect
We have a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, harassment, discrimination and victimisation, regardless of grade or position. This means:
- all allegations will be treated seriously
- allegations will be investigated appropriately
- we will take proportionate action
In work or outside of work, our conduct must not discredit HMPPS.
We want HMPPS to develop a culture where high professional standards are the norm, where staff feel comfortable to challenge and speak up and know it will be dealt with. We encourage everyone to report concerns about bullying, harassment, discrimination and victimisation if they experience, witness, or are told about it. We believe the answer is to deal with it quickly by speaking up and encouraging others to do the same. If we know about it, we can deal with it.
In 2023 HMPPS commissioned Jennifer Rademaker, a Ministry of Justice Non-Executive Director, to review our organisational culture, how we apply our policies, procedures and practice on bullying, harassment, and discrimination, and how we can improve our approach and staff confidence in speaking out and speed up change towards a more positive culture. You can read Jennifer’s review published earlier this year, and the HMPPS and MoJ response here: HMPPS Professional Standards Review – GOV.UK
How you can learn more about what we’re doing at Insights25
Working in HMPPS and across criminal justice, isn’t your average job, and our staff are our biggest asset. I’m really pleased that Insights25 is focusing on empowering, enabling and looking after our people who work across the criminal justice sector and celebrating their important work. Professional Standards and Behaviour is an important part of this, and I’m really pleased to be involved.
You can learn more what we’re doing in these PSB hosted events:
positive culture
effective leadership;
professional development
and of course, not forgetting, VIP opportunities to shadow colleagues, go behind the scenes, access exclusive locations or mentoring and coaching from senior leaders including one from yours truly!
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