Privatising probation may undermine essential voluntary services
Version 0 of 1. This week, the invitation to tender for probation services is likely to kick off the most radical and controversial shakeup in how offenders are managed in many years. Thousands of probation staff are to stage a walkout today in protest at the sell-off of 70% of their work. The government's Transforming Rehabilitation strategy sets out plans to abolish the 35 probation trusts in the UK, and for the 300,000 offenders who pose a low-to-medium risk to become the responsibility of 21 new, mainly private sector providers such as Serco and G4S. These huge new contracts will also be subject to payment by results (PbR): the suppliers will only be paid in full if the group of offenders they work with meet certain targets for reduced reoffending. High-risk offenders will be overseen by a new national probation service. It is, in short, the same approach as the Work Programme – and these are the principal grounds of both the criticism and the praise that has already been levelled at the strategy. For some, the plans put cost-cutting and private sector profits before expertise, and hence threaten public safety. For others, it will lead to a wider and more creative range of ideas and interventions with a sharper focus on driving down reoffending. This split will only have been exacerbated by last week's report from the chief inspectors of prisons and probation, questioning the adequacy of current risk assessment for life-sentenced prisoners released on temporary licence. Is this a reminder of how easy it is to make dangerous mistakes – and an indicator that it may get worse under experimental new arrangements? Or is it a symptom of exactly the kind of public sector complacency which the reforms aim to address? One outcome of the Work Programme that we surely all want to avoid is the detrimental effect on the hundreds of voluntary services dedicated to this essential work. Unsung, and perhaps even unknown by the public, the services provided by charities, community groups and social enterprises have been helping offenders desist from crime for decades. This is despite scarce resources which, as my charity Clinks found when we surveyed the sector in May, are growing ever scarcer. The government says it is a core part of their vision that the prime providers will subcontract with voluntary services – and so we would expect from the architects of the "big society". But, as the fate of some Work Programme providers showed, small, not-for-profit organisations, like small businesses, simply cannot afford to carry the same risk of not being paid as large companies can – or the significant delays that PbR can entail. We need concrete assurances when the competition opens to ensure that prime providers will be encouraged to minimise the amount of risk they pass down the supply chain. And for many small organisations, wait-and-see won't be an option either. These proposed contracts could last at least seven to ten years, with no opportunities for new partners to come in at "refresh points". Again, few small businesses can afford to stick it out for a decade with their core market closed off to them, let alone voluntary organisations. And even those who are lucky enough to secure funding from other sources may find themselves squeezed out if the prime providers have exclusive say over all the rehabilitation services in a particular area. This is not special pleading on behalf of a struggling sector. Public protection has long depended upon these often tiny organisations, uniquely equipped with in-depth knowledge of their communities, local support, and the commitment of thousands of volunteers. If they are no longer there to cushion and continue the services provided through statutory funding, the progress the government hopes to make on crime reduction may not only be damaged, but even reversed, and voters' confidence in the value of rehabilitation irretrievably damaged. They must act before it is too late to ensure that this doesn't happen. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |