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The Public Accounts Committee reports on the Probation Service  

Published:

“A new report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has warned the Probation Service in England and Wales is being placed under significant strain, seriously impeding its ability to protect the public and reduce reoffending rates. 

This report draws on the Inspectorate’s inspection findings and research; and I share the Committee’s concern around the huge strain on probation and the critical need for urgent attention, at the most senior level, to ensure it has the staff, resources and focus it needs to protect the public and reduce reoffending. 

Our inspection reports paint a grim picture. The probation service has too few staff, with too little experience, managing too many cases.  The quality of work to keep people safe is so poor (with only one third of cases judged sufficient), I recently took the decision to pause my core inspection programme to undertake a dynamic inspection of public protection.  

That inspection has revealed an absence of accountability, and a fundamental lack of grip on what should be the foundation stone of probation delivery.  

However, the programme’s approach is also demonstrating the potential of the committed, motivated probation practitioners who want to achieve better outcomes for the people they manage. 

We are seeing that where probation can focus on doing fewer things well, it is driving better results, with a reduced risk of harm and improved safeguarding.  

The excellent engagement we are seeing at a local level can be built upon to drive improvement, and reinforces my consistent advice to ministers and senior officials – that a massively overstretched and understaffed service needs to focus on the most essential work in the short term to give it a chance of recovering.   

As noted by the Public Accounts Committee, the Service is failing to meet many of its plethora of KPIs and a focus on achieving fewer, more focused targets would yield benefits. 

£700M investment in probation is a good starting point – but it must be the start of a grown-up conversation that has not previously moved far or fast enough. Strong leadership and a laser focus on prioritisation will be essential to ensure the probation service gets the resources it needs to keep the public safe, reduce reoffending, and safeguard victims from future crime.”