Job Club attender shows Lord McNally and Tessa Webb what he is doing to find work

The work of the Probation Service is anything but soft.

That was the message Tessa Webb, the Hertfordshire Probation Trust Chief Executive, was determined to get across when Justice Minister Lord McNally visited the trust's Hertford HQ on Friday 2 December.

There he spoke to a range of staff who told him about their work with offenders, as well as with representatives from SOVA Herts, the charity whose volunteers mentor offenders through their sentences, and YMCA Central Herts, which works with probation to find accommodation for offenders so they lead more stable lives.

Lord McNally also met offenders taking part in Job Club, which aims to help offenders find jobs. Unemployment, like homelessness, is a key factor in whether someone reoffends.

Tessa said afterwards: "There is a lot of talk at the moment about probation being all about "soft" justice. While prison is understood more clearly as punishment, the full implications of community sentences can be overlooked.

"I wanted to show Lord McNally that it is actually very hard for offenders to accept things they have done wrong in their lives and to make the often huge changes that are needed to live a law-abiding life. Many of them tell us how difficult it is to confront themselves.

"We are in any case not just about enabling people to change so they stop commiting crime and creating more victims. We are also a law enforcement agency, and part of our work is supervising or arranging punishment handed out by the courts.

"Offenders can be sentenced to between 40 and 300 hours of unpaid work for the benefit of the community - the well-known Community Payback scheme. Much of that work is hard, physical labour, which can be carried out in wind, rain or snow, and it's not actually that nice to work all week at your normal job and the work to complete your sentence all day at the weekend."

Lord McNally, who is also Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, said: "I was very impressed with what I saw and heard at Hertfordshire Probation. The staff I met clearly undertake their difficult and challenging work with offenders with determination, skill and sensitivity.

"I believe there is a place for prison and a place for probation in dealing with crime. People return to the community from prison and we need to manage their resettlement."

He added: "I was also interested to hear what offenders attending Job Club had to say about the difficulties in finding a job.

"We all know that supporting an ex-offender back into employment is the most effective way to reduce re-offending.

"The Probation Service cannot achieve this on its own, and the engagement of local employers is importnt, if we are to make our communities safer."