Probation renationalised, and May to meet Tory backbenchers

Five years ago, Chris Grayling – then justice secretary – began the part-privatisation of the probation service in England and Wales. It meant private companies were responsible for monitoring medium and low-risk offenders, with payment linked to results. But now those changes will be reversed by the end of 2020.

Dame Glenys said she was “delighted” about Justice Secretary David Gauke’s decision. But Janine McDowell, of Sodexo Justice Services in the UK & Ireland, claimed it would “increase cost and risk”.

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Danny Shaw, BBC Home Affairs Correspondent

The decision to renationalise offender supervision will be seen as an admission by the government that Chris Grayling’s flagship reforms have failed.

He went ahead in 2014 despite numerous warnings about the considerable risks of splitting probation services between different providers and introducing a method of payment-by-results.

Probation unions and criminal justice experts urged him to at least pilot the new approach, so problems could be identified and rectified. But Mr Grayling went for quick, wholesale change.

He wanted the contracts with the private companies firmly in place before the 2015 general election so the system couldn’t be undone if there was a change of government.

However, inspection after inspection signalled serious problems, with the nail in the coffin being Dame Glenys Stacey’s report in March.

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