Langdon House- Independent Approved Premises

Contract Award Notice. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) as the contracting authority is awarding a contract to provide an Independent Approved Premise (IAP). Approved Premises (APs) provide a critical community-based service to accommodate and manage high risk individuals serving community sentences and on release from custody.

Approved Premises (APs) provide accommodation for high-risk (male) and medium or high-risk complex need (female) People on Probation serving community sentences and upon release from prison. APs support the individual’s safe transition into the community, while providing an important level of public protection.

The key purpose of APs is to allow Probation Service staff to closely monitor and manage high-risk and complex behaviours while supporting the individual’s reintegration into the community.

Priority is given to those who pose a risk of serious harm to children, known victims and the public, as well as to themselves.

The model length of stay for a Person on Probation is 12 weeks.

However, a range of factors will influence the duration, including the ability to safely progress an individual on into subsequent community or supported accommodation.

There are currently 104 APs operating across England and Wales:

• 89 are operated by the Probation Service
• 15 are Independent Approved Premises, predominantly operated by the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector IAPs work with the highest-risk people on probation and are a vital element in public protection arrangements.

Effective security is essential for public protection, for people on probation, and for the safety of staff and residents. They offer a level of contact, support and supervision that exists nowhere else in the probation system with the aim of protecting the public by reducing the likelihood of re-offending.

These premises provide enhanced supervision through 24-hour a day staffing, night-time curfews, compliance with consistently enforced rules and a programme of supervision, support and monitoring, which addresses offending behaviour and the reduction of risk.

Residents are seen daily, and staff become involved in the residents’ lives to a high degree; giving advice, offering support, exercising control and supervision and liaising with the rest of the service and a wide range of agencies.

The capacity to engage directly with a wide range of Criminal Justice stakeholders – Courts, Probation, Prisons, Police – is therefore essential. This intensive level of contact is what enables IAP staff to be aware of residents’ actions and changes in their behaviour in a way that no other intervention can and allows a high level of monitoring of residents’ well-being.

There are two key elements to the provision of an IAP:

The first element is the provision and maintenance of a ‘fit for purpose’ residential unit which, will require the relevant licenses to operate as such;

The second element is the delivery of the 24-hour support service.

Further information on APs can be found under PSI 32/2014 located here: www.gov.uk/guidance/probation-i… ↗

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