The Probation Service in England and Wales “has too few staff” with “too little experience and training” and leaves members of the public at risk, an official watchdog has found.
Martin Jones, the chief inspector of probation, said in his annual report that attempts by under-pressure staff to “keep others safe” is “consistently insufficient across all our inspections”.
The findings come as the number of prisoners in England and Wales has reached a six-month high, despite thousands of inmates being released early to tackle overcrowding.
A government-commissioned review of sentencing, which is due to report back in late spring, will explore ways of monitoring greater numbers of offenders in the community, increasing the workload for the Probation Service.
Jones’s report, his first as chief inspector, paints a bleak picture despite praising the “dedication and hard work” of many “heroic” probation officers.
“The Probation Service currently has too few staff, with too little experience and training, managing too many cases,” he said. “While it has been positive to see that recruitment efforts by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) are gradually closing the gap … vacancies are still too high – especially at probation officer grade.
“My main area of concern is the work to manage risk of harm and keep others safe. We have found this to be consistently insufficient across all our inspections, where work undertaken to protect actual or potential victims needs to improve considerably.”
The prison population stood at 87,556 as of Monday, according to new data published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). This is the highest weekly figure since the population climbed to a record 88,521 on 6 September last year, just days ahead of the first wave of early releases.
The government began freeing thousands of inmates early in September to curb jail overcrowding, by temporarily reducing the proportion of sentences that some prisoners must serve behind bars from 50% to 40%.
The sentencing review by the former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke is expected to call for more criminals to serve their sentences in the community while being monitored by the Probation Service.
Jones’s report has concluded that there is currently “limited monitoring” of many ex-offenders on licence even when there is a possibility of domestic abuse or child safeguarding concerns.
“Across our [probation office] inspections, we found that work undertaken to protect actual and potential victims needed to improve considerably. In many cases where domestic abuse and child safeguarding concerns were evident, we found limited monitoring of developing or existing relationships to keep people safe,” the report said.
In a further development, inspectors at a women’s prison in Cheshire found that there were 14 incidents of self-harm reported every day amid a general deterioration of safety.
The report into HMP Styal by HM Inspectorate of Prisons said that the rate of self-harm had nearly doubled since the last inspection, with positive drug tests the highest among England and Wales’ 12 women’s jails.
Day-to-day frustrations have affected prisoners’ ability to cope and led to self-harm, the report said. “This included an inability to resolve basic requests through the applications system, long periods of lock up and anxiety caused by a lack of contact with their children,” it read.
An MoJ spokesperson said the new government inherited a justice system in crisis, with a prison system on the verge of collapse and the Probation Service under strain.
“Last month, the lord chancellor announced her plans for the future of the Probation Service. The government will hire 1,300 new probation officers, invest in technology to cut back on burdensome admin, and increase focus on those offenders who pose the greatest risk to the public. This will ease pressure on the service, help cut reoffending and keep our streets safe.“
Regarding the new prison figures, a statement said: “We introduced emergency measures last summer, but we were always clear that longer term action was required. That is why we are building 14,000 prison places by 2031, and will reform sentencing to ensure we never run out of space again.”
