Probation left in chaos by ‘botched contracting’
THE partial privatisation of probation services has failed to meet targets to reduce reoffending, and cancelling contracts with probation providers early is costing taxpayers millions of pounds, according to a damning report from the National Audit Office (NAO).
In 2013, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) embarked on a major reform of probation services.
It created community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) to manage low or medium-risk offenders and the National Probation Service (NPS) to manage those posing higher risks. It amended its contracts with CRCs in 2017 to increase their income and stabilise failing services, but in July 2018 the MoJ announced these would be terminated 14 months early, in December 2020.
By March 2017, midway through the reforms, there was an overall 2.5% reduction in the proportion of reoffenders since 2011, but there was a 22% overall increase in the number of reoffences per reoffender.
The MoJ expected CRCs to reduce reoffending by 3.7% over the life of the contracts, resulting in £10.4bn of economic benefits. But by March 2017, just six of the 21 CRCs consistently achieved significant reductions in the number of reoffenders.
Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “In its haste to rush through the reforms, the Ministry of Justice has failed to deliver the transformation it promised.
“Its botched contracting has left this essential service underfunded and will cost the taxpayer an extra £467m, while the NPS is hampered by a shortage of staff and intolerable workloads.
“The Ministry now needs to reflect and ensure that its new proposals can deliver the much-needed improvements to probation services.”
Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader and Home Affairs spokesperson Liz Saville Roberts said: “This report highlights the financial and operational disaster privatising probation has been. Just this week, I uncovered statistics which showed hundreds of murders may have been committed by offenders watched over by private probation companies.
“In Wales we are moving towards a renationalised system and this is clearly the only way we can ensure safety for our communities and offenders alike. The Westminster Government must now undo its failed privatisation of probation without delay.”
Prisons and Probation Minister Rory Stewart said: “We are now monitoring 40,000 more offenders than we were in the past. This is good for public safety.
“I am pleased that the report recognises the strong performance of the NPS in looking after our higherrisk offenders. But the performance of the CRCs, which look after our lower-risk offenders is too often deeply disappointing.
“We take the NAO’s findings very seriously and will set out our detailed proposals for the future of probation later this year.”