| Entry | Type | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taser (HMPPS only) | New | Always capitalise, as Taser is a brand name. ‘Taser’ is more widely used across HMPPS than the generic term ‘stun gun’. Avoid using ‘Taser’ as a verb. Taser operatives ‘draw a Taser’ and follow a series of warnings before potentially ‘deploying’ the Taser. | 8 July 2025 |
| acronyms and initialisms | Updated | Added new content: There is little consensus in the department about how to style some acronyms and initialisms, especially if one letter refers to a preposition. However, you should consider writing acronyms and initialisms entirely in upper case. For example, ROSH instead of RoSH and MOJ instead of MoJ. This is because:
You should use a mix of upper and lower-case letters when referring to the names of systems such OASys and NDelius. |
24 June 2025 |
| ROSH (Risk of Serious Harm) | New | One of the risk categories used in risk and need assessments in OASys. Use upper case. Users may well understand the acronym on its own. You could also consider using the acronym first and then spelling it out in brackets. |
24 June 2025 |
| probation delivery unit (PDU) | Updated | Added that there are 12 PDUs and that they are geographical regions. Added that the term is generally well-understood. Sentence case should be used when writing the phrase in full. | 23 June 2025 |
| OASys | New | OASys is an abbreviation of Offender Assessment System, which is used by staff across prisons and probation to complete risk and need assessments. The term is well known and widely understood in its abbreviated form. It is consistently written with the capitalisation OASys. | 21 May 2025 |
| post-sentence supervision (PSS) | New | Post-sentence supervision is a period of supervision in the community that follows a prison sentence. The initialism is well understood and can be used without the term being spelt out in full. | 9 June 2025 |
| pre-sentence report (PSR) | New | Write out pre-sentence report (PSR) on first mention and use PSR or 'the report' thereafter. PSRs are reports that a court uses to help decide on a defendant's sentence. They consider a defendant's offending behaviour, the risk they pose and to whom. A PSR will provide an independent recommendation of the sentencing options available to the court. |
1 April 2025 |
| SDS40 | New | SDS40 stands for Standard determinate sentence with a 40% release date. SDS40 is a statutory instrument that changed the release points of certain sentences and offences from 50% to 40%. The term SDS40 is commonly understood in HMPPS. | 1 April 2025 |
| probation practitioner | Updated | Corrected ‘probation support officer’ to ‘probation services officer’. | 26 March 2025 |
| Identity numbers (HMPPS only) | Updated | A change to the identity numbers entry to include the probation term CRN. | 28 February 2025 |
| Prison, establishment | New |
A new entry on how to use the terms 'prison' and 'establishment'. It includes guidance on how to refer to adult prisons, young offender institutions (YOIs) and other establishments. It also outlines which terms are more likely be understood by the public and users with English as a second language. |
25 February 2025 |
| Category (such as Category A prison) | Updated | Category can be shortened to ‘Cat’ if space is limited, for example in alert flags on the prisoner profile. | 21 February 2025 |
| PNC number | New | An identity number assigned to a person in the Police National Computer (PNC). Use ‘PNC number’. This is more well known than the full version. | 9 January 2025 |