Gillian Hirst

Gillian Hirst
Probation practitioner, senior manager and former Deputy Chief Executive

Gill’s probation career falls broadly into three phases: as a practitioner, mainly in Manchester, 1980 – 1991; SPO in Merseyside 1991 – 2000; and senior manager, mostly in Essex, 2000 – 2015.

She was an Honorary Lecturer in the University of Liverpool as the 1991 CJA was implemented, a new ACO at the outset of the first incarnation of a National Probation Service in 2001 and seconded into NOMS as a Senior Contract Manager for 10 Probation Trusts in the early stages of the first Transforming Rehabilitation Programme.

Leaving Essex CRC as a Deputy Chief Executive in 2015, Gill was self-employed for two years undertaking independent investigations and delivering training in equalities, diversity, respect and inclusion before becoming a Parole Board Member in 2017.