Oxford Insights
From 2021 to 2024, we worked with HM Prison and Probation Service in the Ministry of Justice to design a new digital service to improve recall decisions. The service progressed from Discovery to public Beta and is now in use by all probation officers in England & Wales. Users told us it significantly reduced processing times, and the project was commended by senior stakeholders.
The challenge
Offenders released on licence may be recalled to prison if they break conditions or pose increased risks to the public. Probation officers often struggle to make these decisions because the necessary data sits in scattered legacy systems. This adds stress, delays, and administrative burden to an already complex, high-pressure environment for probation officers and the offenders they manage. To address this, the Ministry of Justice commissioned Oxford Insights, as part of a multidisciplinary agile software development team, to design and build a digital service that helps probation officers make quicker, better-informed recall decisions.
Our approach
As part of a multidisciplinary agile development team, we:
- Implemented user-centred design across all stages of the agile lifecycle. We identified needs and pain points in Discovery, tested prototypes in Alpha to ensure they fit workflows, and refined features in Beta using real-world feedback.
- Conveyed requirements to software developers and testers, translating user needs into user journeys, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
- Fostered collaboration across Ministry teams, running regular show-and-tell sessions to build trust and transparency. This allowed us to integrate data from five services, gain support from legacy system owners, and resolve issues quickly.
- Delivered a smooth handover by embedding the in-house team for two months, sharing detailed demos and documentation to ensure lasting knowledge transfer and ownership.
Our impact
After passing Alpha and Beta service assessments, our product rolled out nationally and is used for the vast majority of recall decisions across England and Wales. Probation officers reported that it significantly reduced the time needed to process a recall, easing workload pressures and delivering major efficiency gains. Senior stakeholders praised our ability to deliver working software at pace.
Grid image: Photo by Emiliano Bar on Unsplash
