Government must overhaul 'mess' of privatised probation system, inquiry finds

The government must overhaul its “mess” of a botched programme to privatise probation that is failing against every measure and may threaten public safety, MPs have said.

An eight month inquiry by the Justice Committee found that the controversial Transforming Rehabilitation scheme had created a “two-tier” service seeing vital services outsourced to loss-making contractors.

The damning report said that some private Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) are monitoring offenders on the telephone, with overstretched staff handling up to 150 cases each.

Meanwhile, convicts are being made to carry out “meaningless” unpaid work like moving mud from one pile to another in graveyards, or turning up to placements and finding no one there.

While CRCs are meant to ensure prisoners are freed with accommodation, employment and financial support, the Justice Committee found many were being kicked out of jails homeless and with just £46 to last for several weeks.

Committee chair Bob Neill said the 2014 Transforming Rehabilitation programme had failed to meet its aims to reduce reoffending and improve the management of offenders.

“We are unconvinced that Transforming Rehabilitation will ever deliver the kind of probation service we need,” the Conservative MP and barrister added.

“Hard working and dedicated staff are doing their best with a probation system that is currently a mess.”

Mr Neill said ministers had already admitted that it needs to do more to resolve issues and called for a cross-government approach.

He added: “We are calling on the Ministry of Justice to undertake a thorough review of the reforms. Given the issues which have arisen due to the speedy implementation of the reforms and lack of piloting, any new model must be thoroughly planned and tested. Ministers have to get this right.”

The radical programme was implemented by the coalition government in 2014 without sufficient testing, during two continuing pilots that would later miss their own targets.

It saw the National Offender Management Service, which oversaw 35 self-governing probation trusts, split into the public National Probation Service and private CRCs.

The firms were only intended to supervise low or medium-risk offenders, while the public sector NPS was charged with dangerous criminals, but a recent inspection found that overstretched CRCs were letting criminals commit violent offences while supposedly under their supervision.

The Justice Committee said it had seen evidence of probation officers having too little training or experience for their cases, with some CRC workers “expected to manage cases involving domestic violence and abuse after receiving only a single day of training on this subject”.

The report said witnesses raised concerns about public protection, warning: “Splitting the system in such a way does not recognise that the risk of harm an individual poses can change over time.”

Proponents of Transforming Rehabilitation claimed it would provide “better value for the taxpayer”, but the government has already had to commit an extra £342m after CRCs forecast losses of £443m for the remainder of their contracts.

The Public Accounts Committee warned of a “contracting catastrophe” earlier this year, amid fears of a Carillion-style disaster if providers collapse.

MPs on the Justice Committee hit out at the Ministry of Justice’s “reluctance to challenge over optimistic bids” from firms running CRCs and its closed-door renegotiation of contracts.

Its inquiry found that while CRCs are only meeting one-third of government targets, it has not applied financial penalties and it “remains unclear how it is tackling underperformance on a day-to-day basis”.

Another core principle of Transforming Rehabilitation was widening probation services to include charities, but MPs concluded that the voluntary sector is “less involved in probation than before”.

The Justice Committee said failings had made judges lose confidence in community alternatives to short prison sentences, driving up the number of vulnerable people jailed for less than a year who come out “with even more issues than when they went in”.

Community sentences such as unpaid work, addiction programmes and rehabilitation activities, are both cheaper and more effective than imprisonment, MPs said, calling for the government to “introduce a presumption against short custodial sentences” to lower reoffending.

That was one of the key aims of Transforming Rehabilitation but the proven reoffending rate currently stands at 29 per cent – up from 26 per cent in 2013/14.

The Justice Committee said the situation was being worsened by “inadequate” services offered for freed prisoners, many of whom leave with just a £46 discharge grant and a leaflet.

“Real consideration should be given to whether it is appropriate to release prisoners with few family ties, from custody on a Friday, when access to government services can be difficult,” its report said.

Sussex Pathways, a charity working in HMP Lewes, warned that when offenders are left homeless and without prospects “the easy option is always going to be to blot out the cold and misery, with a bottle of alcohol or drugs, which often causes the cycle of reoffending and arrest almost immediately”.

Some local councils currently refuse to give prison leavers emergency housing because they count crime as a “deliberate act” that invalidates homelessness applications, although the law will change in October.

Rory Stewart,the prisons and probation minister, said: “This was a significant programme of reform. For instance, an additional 40,000 people who would not previously have been monitored now receive support and supervision upon release. Fewer people are reoffending and there have been some innovative and impressive programs.

“However, we accept that there have been challenges and it is clear that CRC services do need to improve. We are currently in commercial discussions with providers and will consider all possible options to ensure we deliver this improvement.”