Private Probation providers failing to keep domestic violence victims safe warns Probation Union
Tuesday 25 September 2018
The largest trade union within the Probation Service, Napo, has reacted with anger to the latest findings from a report by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Probation into the services offered to perpetrators of Domestic violence and the potential impact on victims.
Napo had raised concerns even before Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) was implemented by the former Justice Secretary Chris Grayling that the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) would not be able to meet the level of effectiveness required for public protection in domestic violence cases. This was in part due to their need to prioritise profit driven targets rather than spending resources on complex cases that may give little in the way of financial return.
Napo members have regularly reported being under excessive workloads following massive job cuts since CRCs took over responsibility for supervising low and medium risk offenders. This means less time for face-to-face work and detailed risk assessments of clients. On top of that members have also told their union that they are required to take on ever more complex cases beyond their training and experience as professional standards and appropriate training are eroded while the CRCs look to make even more cost savings.
Ian Lawrence General Secretary said: “These findings will cause outrage amongst our hard pressed members and further demonstrate how the whole of probation has fallen into absolute chaos since TR. The government must take immediate action and bring the probation service back into public ownership as a matter of urgency. This report clearly shows how failing to do so is a direct risk to public safety and the Secretary of State is quite literally putting people’s lives at risk. Our members cannot be expected to carry out their highly skilled professional work in these circumstances.”
In 2011 the Probation service won the European Gold award for Excellence, but has now been cut to the bone in order to meet the profit margins of the private sector and their shareholders. Bespoke Domestic Violence programmes are a clear example of where cost has come before public protection. Research shows that to apply the wrong kind of intervention with domestic violence perpetrators increases the risk more than doing nothing at all.
Ian Lawrence went on to say: “Women and children are paying the price for this untested social experiment and it has to stop now. How many more people have to be put at risk and victims let down before the government admit their ideological policy has failed?”
Napo is aware that the 21 CRC contracts do not stipulate clearly enough that the Probation Officer qualification is critical in safely supervising complex cases where domestic violence is a factor and that providers have been using less qualified staff as a result in order to further reduce their overheads. Napo warned that this process of work on the cheap would ultimately impact on public protection, a vital role of the probation service. Given this damming report, Napo will be calling on the Secretary of State and Parliament urgently to intervene and to stop the continued “marketization” of probation.
ENDS
Editors notes:
Images for Napo GS from kfalcon@napo.org.uk
Media Contacts:
Ian Lawrence, Napo General Secretary: 07788 1188005 / ilawrence@napo.org.uk
Tania Bassett, National Official: 07904 184195 / tbassett@napo.org.uk
Napo HQ: 020 7223 4887