The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a highly critical report on the Probation Service on 4 February. It described the state of the service as alarming. The report has drawn a strong response from across the justice sector.
Inspectorate shares committee’s concern
Martin Jones, the Chief Inspector of Probation, noted the committee’s warning that the service in England and Wales is under significant strain. He said that strain seriously limits its ability to protect the public and cut reoffending.
The report drew on his inspectorate’s findings and research. Mr Jones said he shared the committee’s concern. He called for urgent attention at the most senior level to give probation the staff, resources and focus it needs.
“Our inspection reports paint a grim picture,” he said.
He described a service with too few staff, too little experience and too many cases. Only one-third of cases reached a sufficient standard on work to keep people safe. That led him to pause his core inspection programme. Instead, he launched a dynamic inspection of public protection.
According to Mr Jones, that inspection has revealed an absence of accountability. It also exposed a fundamental lack of grip on what should be the bedrock of probation work.
Yet he said the approach also showed what committed and motivated practitioners could do. Where teams focused on doing fewer things well, results improved. Risk of harm fell and safeguarding got better.
Mr Jones said good local engagement could drive improvement. It also supports advice he has consistently given ministers and senior officials. In his view, a massively overstretched and understaffed service must focus on the most essential work for now. That would give it a chance to recover.
He agreed with the committee that the service misses many of its numerous Key Performance Indicators. Fewer, more focused targets would help, he said. He called the £700 million investment in probation a good starting point. But it must begin a grown-up conversation that has not so far moved far or fast enough, he added.
Warning over pressure from prisons
Alex Hewson, the Prison Reform Trust’s Senior Policy and Communications Officer, said the report showed unsustainable pressures after years of turbulent reform. These included declining performance, chronic staff shortages, the loss of experienced practitioners and rising caseloads.
The Trust welcomed the Government’s acceptance that it cannot build its way out of the capacity crisis. It also welcomed plans for greater use of effective community sentences. The Sentencing Act should reduce short prison sentences, which have some of the highest reoffending rates, it said.
But Alex Hewson warned that easing pressure on prisons “must not simply shift that burden onto an overstretched Probation Service”. The challenge now, the Trust said, is to give probation the staff, skills and resources to supervise more people safely in the community. Without that, a shift towards community sentencing will not succeed.
The Ministry of Justice said the Government had inherited a Probation Service under immense pressure. That had placed too great a burden on staff, it said. The ministry pointed to a record £700 million funding increase and the recruitment of 1,300 probation officers. It said new technology would cut a quarter of a million days’ worth of admin. Those changes would help staff focus on reducing reoffending and protecting the public, it added.
