News

Risky business

Friday, 28 June 2013

Ministry of Justice officials have warned that privatising probation carries the risk of increased reoffending, in the risk register seen by The Times and The Guardian. 18,000 probation staff would transfer to new employers and up to 250,000 offender cases would be reallocated to new private providers. The document said there was a more than 80% chance of ‘delivery failures and reputational damage’ due to problems with staff morale and senior probation managers leaving. The House of Lords subsequently blocked the Offender Rehabilitation Bill.