Ecru are proud to announce the launch of the new Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust website. The new website incorporates all the best techniques to ensure maximum accessibility to all its potential visitors, including icons to help navigation, accessibility rating of AA (W3C), use of Plain English, intuitive navigation and icons.

surreysussexprobation.gov.uk

national probation website rationalisation

Inspired by the economies of scale enjoyed by the CPS who worked with Ecru to build a large number of unique but related local area websites, Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust is working with Ecru to create a platform that will bring similar benefits and cost savings to Probation Boards and Trusts in the UK.

The Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust website is built using the easy to use Ecru content management system and incorporates a password protected extranet to enable peripatetic employees of the Surrey and Sussex probation trust to keep in close contact with their colleagues.

The new website aims to make people more aware of the work of Surrey and Sussex Probation trust, especially focussing on Community Payback schemes where offenders do unpaid work in the community to pay for the crimes they have committed and improve local communities.

Sonia Crozier, Chief Executive of Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust, said: "I have no doubt that by merging and reorganising in this way we can better deliver on our aims of protecting the public and reducing reoffending, in partnership with various other agencies."

Clear and relevant information

The new website provides clear and relevant information to visitors, including; service users, job applicant's, victims of crime, criminal justice professionals, local residents or members of the public.

This excellent project, delivered on budget and on time, will enable us to improve our communications with victims, offenders, practitioners, stakeholders and the general public.

Paul Cook - Director of Finance, ICT and Estates

Paul Cook, Director of Finance with Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust said; "We have been delighted with the quality, professionalism and customer service of our chosen website development team Ecru."

He continued; "This excellent project, delivered on budget and on time, will enable us to improve our communications with victims, offenders, practitioners, stakeholders and the general public by including: intuitive navigation which makes it easy to find the information you are looking for; accessibility and usability at the heart of the development, making the information easy to use and find for everyone; intuitive content management system that simplifies publishing to the web and makes it easy to keep the site up to date; hidden password protected extranet that will enable us to keep in contact with practitioners in the field; the use of icons to help people with problems reading navigate the website and online recruitment area to maximise applications for vacancies."

We have been delighted with the quality, professionalism and customer service of our chosen website development team Ecru.

Paul Cook - Director of Finance, ICT and Estates

The Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust website project included:

Accessibility

Better than W3C Priority AA means we have maximised the ability of disabled people to access information.

Information optimisation

All Stakeholders now have direct access to information, including victims, offenders, their families, the general public and legal professionals.

New Extranet

The password protected area for Surrey and Sussex Probation service enables peripatetic staff to keep in close contact with colleagues.

Search engine friendly

The Ecru content management system delivers pages that are search engine friendly and designed to actively build website traffic

Use of Icons to aid navigation

The use of icons and intuitive navigation enable visitors with English as a second language or reading issues to better access the information.