The Probation Service is ‘failing’ amid an ‘alarming’ surge in the number of serious crimes committed by offenders under supervision in the community, MPs have warned.
A report found 770 offenders were charged with a ‘serious further offence’ while on probation in 2023–24, 55 per cent more than in 2020–21.
Probation officers only carried out adequate risk assessments in 28 per cent of cases in 2024, compared with 60 per cent in 2018–19, it went on.
The Commons’ cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found performance had ‘deteriorated’ since 2021 when probation was brought back into public sector control.
And it concluded the Ministry of Justice’s current reform plan was ‘unlikely to be sufficient’.
PAC chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said Labour’s reforms – including schemes allowing prisoners to be freed early from jail – could make matters worse.
An electronic tag on an offender’s ankle – MPs have criticised the performance of the probation service
‘The probation service in England and Wales is failing,’ he said.
‘Unfortunately, the landscape for probation is not going to become more forgiving for a service which has slipped into decline in recent years, as plans to free up capacity, including with early release schemes, in other parts of the crisis-ridden justice system are likely to increase demand.’
The report said HM Prisons and probation Service should publish an official timetable on when it will achieve ‘meaningful improvements in the performance’.
