A wide range of organisations work in the justice sector:

• police
• prisons and other secure detention 
• probation
• criminal justice social work
• courts
• prosecution services
• voluntary sector agencies
• private sector companies

There are just under 4,000 organisations in the sector of which 78% are located in England, 11% in Scotland, 7% in Wales and 4% in Northern Ireland.  The majority of organisations are part of the community justice sub-sector.  These figures do not include non-core organisations (which are organisations outside the justice sector, but support the sector’s activities) estimated at 13,000, so may significantly underestimate the number of organisations in the sector.

Source: Skills for Justice website 2006 and UK Skill Needs Assessment 2006

The justice sector, as defined by Skills for Justice, employs approximately 559,800 of which 88% work full-time.  Only 1% of workers are self-employed and 97% of the workforce are on permanent contracts.  In addition, there are an estimated 12,500 voluntary organisations working in the sector, but there is no estimate of the number of volunteers.  66% of organisations in the sector report using volunteers mainly to provide support to justice professionals.

Although there are contradictory forecasts on employment levels in the sector over the next ten years, Skills for Justice expects employment levels to increase.  Employment levels are forecast to increase to 572,400 by 2014, expanding by 12,600 workers.  The sector workforce will increase particularly in the police and law enforcement by a further 8,000 jobs and community justice by a further 4,200.  More recent forecasts suggest a slight decline in employment levels.

In the short term, there will be an increase in employment especially for professional staff, support staff for professionals and administrative and secretarial staff, particularly in the community justice sub-sector.  The largest replacement demands (created by people retiring or changing jobs) are in the following occupational roles:

• police 
• community justice
• administration and secretarial
• associate professional and technical

Source: Working Futures 2006 and UK Skill Needs Assessment 2006

For data on employment levels and trends or employment status of the sector workforce see:

An estimated 28% of organisations in the English justice sector have vacancies, compared to 17% across all English sectors.  7% of employers report some difficulty in recruiting staff, particularly professionals, support staff to professionals, plus administrative and secretarial staff groupings.  Recruitment difficulties are not only the result of a lack of skills and knowledge of the work involved, but also of the comparatively poor terms, conditions and prospects being offered by employers.  5% of employers report skill shortage vacancies, which is equal to that across all sectors.

Significant recruitment difficulties for volunteers are also experienced by employers in the sector namely for assistance to justice professionals, administrative and professional support.  Recruitment difficulties are the result of the low number of applicants, not enough people interested in the job and a low number of applicants with the right attitude.

34% of organisations in the community justice sub-sector are expecting an increase in staff numbers, whilst 61% do not expect a change.  23% of organisations in custodial care expect an increase in staff numbers.

Hard-to-fill vacancies are the result of a low number of applicants with the required skills (55%), a lack of people with the appropriate level of qualifications (30%) and the poor terms and conditions offered (22%).

Source: UK Skill Needs Assessment 2006

For data on occupational recuritment difficulties see:

30% organisations are affected by skills gaps; a problem which is increasing.  Skills gaps are reported for managers, professionals and technical occupational areas.  For the voluntary workforce, skills gaps include general support and working with the public.  No organisations in the prosecution sub-sector reported skills gaps, whereas all other sub-sectors reported skills gaps similar to the national average.  Internal skills gaps were reported by 19% of organisations in the sector, compared to 16% in England as a whole.  Skills gaps are reported for customer handling skills, office administration, team working, together with technical and practical skills. 

The key gaps for training and workforce development are both technical and generic, including: IT skills; knowledge of the legislation and regulations (especially given the rapidly changing environment); plus generic skills in leadership, supervision, general management and team working. 

Only three in five organisations have a professional development policy in place and even fewer had career progression and staff retention policies.

Source: UK Skill Needs Assessment 2006

The major issues driving the sector include:

• economic – changes in unemployment and in the wider environment
• political – sector privatisation and outsourcing, the drive for targets and quality, the restorative justice system, and the need for organisations to collaborate more, rationalise and possibly merge
• social – increasing concerns about antisocial behaviour, community safety, and youth crime
• technical – the need to improve operational internal and external communications with particular regard to terrorism and burglary
• environmental – the need to deliver skills to deal with drink and drug abuse
• legal – changes to legislation and specific measures produce own specific requirements; skills to deal with human rights issues and equality
• delivery – the concern to maintain and improve the reputation of the sector in the community and communications; the need for greater collaboration across the sector

Recent legislative reforms are changing working practices and cultures, which has implications for training and skills requirements.  Some recent legislation reforms include:

• Police Reform Act in 2002 – making the police more responsive to local needs; the introduction of Police Community Support Officers; an increasing emphasis on working in partnership with other agencies; the establishment of the Independent Police Complaints Commission
• Criminal Justice Act 2003, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and the Courts Act 2003 – introduced evidential reforms; procedural reforms; and wholesale reform of sentencing powers and procedures 
• National Offender Management System (NOMS) – aims to provide end-to-end, integrated management of offenders
• Crime and Disorder Act 1998 – reorganised youth justice agencies, with the establishment of the Youth Justice Board (YJB) and a network of local, multi-agency Youth Offending Teams

Source: Skills for Justice Briefing Paper 2006 and UK Skill Needs Assessment 2005