Chief inspector ’ s report ‘final nail in coffin of probation privatisation’

Yesterday‘s damning report by the chief inspector of probation should be the final nail in the coffin of the failed privatisation of the service under former justice secretary Chris Grayling. Dame Glenys Stacey’s report did not mince its words about the system, following the split of probation in England and Wales into a National Probation Service for “serious” offenders and 14 private “community rehabilitation companies”, or CRCs, to handle all other probation services. She called the system “irredeemably flawed,” adding: “Above all, it has proved well-nigh impossible to reduce probation to a set of contractual requirements. “Professional probation work is so much more than simply a series of transactions and, when treated in that way, is distorted and diminished.” She highlighted a number of specific issues, including: the number of probation staff has dropped to a critical level with a national shortage, particularly of probation officers; the profession of probation has been downgraded; learning and development arrangements for probation are not working; high workloads and performance targets have led to professional standards being compromised; probation has lost its professional leadership; probation premises are dated, shabby and, in some cases, not secure; IT interconnections between the national service and the private companies, promised by the Ministry of Justice, have failed to materialise; there is no national strategy to provide enough loc...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article community rehabilitation companies let's fix probation national probation service police and justice privatisation Source Type: news