ABSTRACT
One-to-one supervision is the essence of supervisory probation work in England and Wales and in many other jurisdictions. The encounter, relationship and work done by the offender (whether on a community order or on licence following release from prison) and his or her supervisor in a series of meetings between the two of them has always been the nub of supervisory practice. Group work and the delivery of programmes, as well as work by other probation staff or other agencies in partnership with probation (on employment, addiction, training, etc.) form part of the probation experience for offenders, particularly in recent years, but they are intended to be organised by the offender manager – or supervisor – and slotted into or interspersed with a series of supervisory meetings lasting the length of the order or licence. 2
