Saturday, 23 August 2025

Ballot Result

A member reflects:-

Probation is in crisis, so it is shocking that the Napo ballot turnout was only 44.82%, falling just short of the 50% required. Shocking, but not surprising. The blame lies squarely with the probation unions, not with the demographic that makes up today’s workforce.

On a Probation Facebook group I read, “I think Napo did a great job of marketing this campaign.” - I can assure you, it did not. Other comments were telling: “I’ve been too busy to complete the ballot paper” or “What’s the point of striking when you’re just rearranging your cases for the next day?” These aren’t signs of laziness, they’re signs of disillusionment.

When I was a young whippersnapper in my first jobs, I was taught the benefits of joining a trade union, and that if a strike was on the cards, it was your moral duty to take part. I don’t see that drive in probation today, and this isn’t the fault of new recruits. It’s the fault of Napo, Unison, and GMB.

Napo itself is a shadow of its former self. Once the National Association of Probation Officers, today its acronym means nothing. Napo and Unison waste energy competing against each other for members and reputation, while GMB plays the quiet role of “union for senior managers.” None of them deliver what probation truly needs.

It was Napo’s ballot. Returning a ballot paper isn’t difficult. The real issue is that the union couldn’t motivate enough of its own members to vote. Where were the roadshows? The rallies of reps? The campaigns beyond a few member outlets? Where was the coordination with so-called sister unions like Unison and GMB?

I can’t remember the last time I saw a strong Napo rep in a probation office, simply being present. Too often they carry a poor reputation, sneaky, gossipy, offering appalling advice. I stay in Napo more out of nostalgia than conviction. If I ever needed real legal advice or representation, I’d go to an employment solicitor.

Probation is in crisis, yet the unions aren’t even in first gear. The problem with Napo isn’t the members, it’s those running it. No wonder the vote failed. And please, spare me the line “a union is only as good as its members.” That’s lazy nonsense. If leaders and reps are invisible, uninspiring, or incompetent, it makes no difference how willing members are, their energy goes nowhere. Leadership sets the tone, and when leadership fails, the union fails.

This phrase is often trotted out to deflect responsibility, but it’s misleading. A union relies on both engaged members and effective leadership. Leaders and local reps are the ones who set priorities, build campaigns, and create opportunities for involvement. If they’re absent or demotivated, member enthusiasm is stifled before it even starts. When leadership fails to mobilise, communicate, or inspire, it’s no surprise when participation collapses. Blaming the membership only distracts from the real issue: weak, disconnected, and unaccountable leadership.

And then, to top it off, I read the Chief PO’s Probation Day message, a double-barrelled flourish referencing the 1907 Probation Act and its motto: Advise, Assist and Befriend. What a cheek to throw that in our faces while silently overseeing the decimation of probation, fully aware that not even the unions can save us. The failed ballot result has only confirmed that.

Friday, 22 August 2025

Homeless and Hungry

I notice that former US Providence Municipal Judge Frank Caprio has died and social media is full of warm tributes and notable videos of a truly remarkable man and his compassion and love for all who came before him for judgment and sentence. It reminds me of probation's beginnings borne of Christian concern as Police Court Missionaries. It reminds me of advise, assist and befriend, indeed of Befriending Funds that officers could dispense at will and indeed of the role and importance of Social Enquiry Reports and later PSR's. It reminds me of Social Work training and community involvement. It reminds me of compassion and care. We have lost so much...  

Wednesday, 20 August 2025

Blimey - 10,000 Staff Short!

This from BBC news website:-

Leaked report shows 10,000 gap in probation staff

There is a shortage of around 10,000 probation staff to manage offenders serving sentences in the community, documents seen by the BBC show.

Probation staff supervise offenders after they are released from prison, and check they follow terms of their release such as curfews, not taking drugs, and wearing tags that can restrict their movement. They also protect the public by assessing the risk of reoffending.

A series of documents leaked to the BBC reveal the shortfall of full-time staff dealing with sentence management. In response, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it had inherited a probation service "under immense pressure", and last year recruited 1,000 trainee officers.

According to a government study compiled last year, some 17,170 full-time staff were needed to deal with sentence management in September 2023. 
This was prior to the government releasing tens of thousands of offenders early to create more space in overcrowded prisons - creating even more work for the probation service.

According to a sentence management activity review by His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), there are only 7,236 members of staff in this specific role - around 10,000 fewer than needed. The BBC understands the findings were compiled through staff surveys, analysis of timesheets, and monitoring how employees work on a daily basis.

Probation: 'Too few staff, with too little experience, managing too many offenders'

In response to the report's findings, a probation officer told the BBC: 
"These jobs are the bread and butter of probation, and the situation in terms of staffing is considerably worse than is being thought, especially at a time when the pressure on us is immense. It's infuriating when some of us are being told it's our fault we're not doing enough and that we need to up our game, but actually the workload is sky high."
Probation staff say the early release scheme known as SDS40 has dramatically increased their workload. Between 10 September 2024 and the end of March this year, 26,456 people were released under the scheme. The staff say failing to monitor released inmates could lead to a surge in reoffending and others going off the official radar, meaning they are completely unsupervised.

In February this year, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood pledged to recruit 1,300 probation officers by April 2026. At that time, the MoJ said officers had been "asked to do too much for too long" and "burdened with high workloads" - meaning they were unable to pay enough attention to offenders posing the greatest risk. In some cases, this led to "missed warning signs" where offenders went on to commit serious offences such as murder, the MoJ said.

The probation caseload - the number of offenders staff are looking after - was 241,540 at the end of March 2025 - an increase of 9% over a decade. Staff may have multiple appointments with each offender in a week.

"Someone is going to get seriously hurt because when you're stressed and overworked you can't get everything right - it's just human nature - and that's why they need thousands of more staff because it could be dangerous otherwise," another probation officer said. "They [ministers] are trying to give the impression it's all OK and they're pumping in staff, but they're nowhere near close to filling the gaps. And it can take a year or more to train someone properly."

Last year's annual report from HM Inspectorate of Probation cited "chronic under-staffing" and the "knock-on impact on workloads" as key issues of concern. In March 2025, there were 21,022 full-time probation staff in England and Wales - an increase of 610 on the previous year. Sentence management staff are part of the wider cohort of probation staff.

One probation officer described the workload as "non-stop", and increasing until "you simply can't cope", adding: "It's just overwhelming." Many of the recommendations made in the Independent Sentencing Review earlier this year are expected to be put before parliament next month. They include more offenders being managed in the community, instead of serving jail time. This will again increase the probation workload.

In response to the findings, the MoJ told the BBC that pressure on the probation service "has placed too great a burden on our hardworking staff". 
A spokesperson said they had recently announced a £700m increase in funding by 2028, as well as recruiting more trainee probation officers. "We are also investing in new technology that reduces the administrative burden on staff time so they can focus on working with offenders and protecting the public," they added.

Monday, 11 August 2025

Contribution Selection

There's an awful lot going on in the criminal justice world at the moment with crises in most parts of our criminal justice systems and particularly the probation and prison service's. As a consequence, I'm particularly heartened by what appears to be the fairly recent re-energisation of our readers and contributors. It's re-energised me and I'd like to thank you all! Here's my recent pick:- 

Tone deaf doesn’t even begin to cover it. The MoJ and HMPPS simply don’t listen to their staff. The people designing policies and making the big decisions are so far removed from the frontline it’s almost laughable. My head in hands in despair I’ve just watched the news about deporting foreign national prisoners, electronic tags, and ‘tougher’ unpaid work, all to achieve the only thing they seem to care about: reducing prison overcrowding. They have no insight into the causes of offending and imprisonment. Just as with the all these probation officer recruitment campaigns peppered with young white middle-class female graduates claiming to ‘make a difference’ or represent diverse communities, it’s so out of touch they might as well rip up the half-baked, back-of-a-fag-packet blueprints, wait for ChatGPT-5, and just do what the computer says. Forget waiting for “probation leaders” to say anything above the parapet.

All we ever ask for is simple: fairer pay, better access to support services for the ‘PiPs’ and ‘PoPs’, legislation to make it happen, give probation some credibility instead of running it into the ground as an overflow tank for the prison service, and to stop being forced into pointless, performance-driven, civil service tick-box practices that don’t work.

There’s been a lot on here recently about staff-led initiatives and recommendations, but the reality is stark no matter what we think, feel or say. I came across this comment on one of the recent Napo articles by a fellow probation officer, and it sums it up where we are perfectly.

“…it will likely be overlooked by probation services, HMPPS, and much of the academic establishment.”

******
I’ve got nothing against white, middle-class females or graduates training as POs, but we do need a broader range of backgrounds, experiences, and skills. Right now, everyone tends to look and think the same. At 26, fresh out of university, how much real insight can most have into offending or the causes of crime? Selling probation as a “career protecting the public while supporting rehabilitation” doesn’t help either, it’s vague to the point of meaning very little.

******
The only positive of being a civil servant is that you can transfer across to another department relatively easily. Have a look on Civil Service Jobs for example. Better pay, work only contracted hours, proper meal breaks etc. Goodwill is dead, it is a one way street. Look after yourself and get out!

******
All I can see happening from these proposals is the recall rate rocketing, which will hardly ease the pressures on the prison population. There is just TOO MANY PEOPLE being shoved through the probation service. Increasing the probation capacity is not going to reduce the prison population. The focus needs to be about how best remove people from the criminal justice revolving door system, and not looking at how best to accommodate them within it.

******
And that’s exactly why they need to listen to the right people, whether the focus is on getting people out of the criminal justice revolving door, finding better ways to accommodate them within it, or preventing them from entering it in the first place.

I’m sick to death of seeing people who haven’t been near a probation office or held a caseload in years, if ever, dictating, designing, and inspecting what probation does. It’s demoralising for those that are there every day, making them feel frustrated and inadequate.

Many are proud to be probation officers, working daily alongside those on probation, with colleagues and services in every imaginable context. Real probation work. Real challenges.

Those delivering day in, day out deserve support, not endless criticism or the constant barrage of being done to. They don’t need people far removed from the frontline endlessly telling them what to do, constantly rewriting the rules, and never once genuinely asking for, let alone using, the insight of those actually doing the job.

Probation officers are all aiming for the same thing: helping people change for the better, overcome struggles, and live offence-free lives. It should be a network of encouragement and collaboration, not a hierarchy of managers and ministers in their ivory towers, academics in their cosy libraries, think-tanks detached from reality, or even certain ex-offenders with lived experience who’d rather take shots at probation officers than try to understand what’s really happening.

Because in the end, experience on the ground matters just as much as what’s on paper. I remember when probation was full of people who had a voice and spoke for probation, some were legendary, challenging senior management and ministers alike. Until we get back to that, until we have a less demoralised or docile workforce, until we have genuine leaders who know what probation is, or should be, until those in charge truly listen to the frontline, then nothing will really change. Because if we did, much of these policies wouldn’t pass quality control.

*****
A couple of observations if I may, first the inclusion of sex offenders is very sensible as that cohort has one of the lowest recividism rates. You can't see past your own prejudices when it comes to SO's and using them to appeal to public sympathy just stokes that prejudice further.

Second, the rate of recalls, which have reached absurd levels, was always going to come back to bite your backsides. The fact that you use tools to assess risk that by your own admission are all but useless suggests probation got many of those decisions wrong, the majority of them in fact.

I don't blame probation for this per se, it's on the politicians wanting to appear 'tuff on crime innit' but I also accept some will have abused that power because some always will.

*****
As a VLO I absolutely share these concerns. I’ve got 5 repeat DA perpetrators due out on 2nd September - they are SFOs waiting to happen. Victims have been extremely hard hit with all the chaos over the past 18 months with all the emphasis on reducing the prison population. I’ve never known a worse time.

With the proposals to immediately remove FNOs, there will be further upset, anger, devastation, and disillusionment in the CJS. Victims, quite rightly, expect offenders to serve their punishment in prison when a custodial sentence is passed. They’re often upset enough all ready with the current arrangements where they can be released early, back to their own countries as free men/women. This can include rapists, child abuses and death by dangerous driving. I don’t think the public have any understanding that deported offenders don’t typically serve their punishment/remainder of their sentences in their home country. Changing the legislation to allow immediate deportation is a huge slap in the face for victims, having gone through the stress and upset of a police investigation and court process - all the told that their offender will simply be returned home. I can’t help but feel that this new legislation will leave the door wide open for FNOs to come to this country with the intention of offending, knowing that IF they are caught they’re just likely to be put on a flight home.


The MoJ has completely lost all sight of putting victims at the heart of the CJS.

*****
It has been a some years since I last visited Probation Matters Blogspot. I was a regular contributor back when Probation had been largely privatised, a mistake of such enormity I am surprised noone has ever really been held to account. Some points to touch upon that struck me from reading some of the comments. OASys still an issue. Pay still an issue. Prison overcrowding still an issue. Probation workloads still an issue. Diversity and background of Probation staff still an issue. And so on. It really was better in the past as I remember, particularly protected workloads. There was a time when OASys was imagined as a tool to help probation professionals and not something that consumed an unsustainable and huge amount of time such that it almost became the job itself. 

Regards pay, it looks to me that Probation pay suffered a supercharged level of austerity measure and then some. The political ramping up of tough on crime message, always popular when looking to garner some votes, is now being supercharged by new kids on the block Reform. Other parties will follow and prison population and early release schemes will doubtless increase accordingly. Regards professional diversity, I became a Trainee Probation Officer, a rare male recruit, around the millennium without a first degree just bags of committment and some ability. I was ever grateful for the opportunity and did not disappoint, by my own say I did some very good work in MY local community. Keep on keeping on battling for your profession, it really matters. All the best.

Sunday, 10 August 2025

Prison Crisis Increases Probation Workload

With Napo members considering how to vote in relation to possible industrial action, I note this from Napo magazine:-

FTR48: A Reckless Gamble with Public Safety – And One More Reason to Vote ‘Yes’

The FTR48 scheme will see thousands of prisoners released early, despite known risks – and pile yet more work onto already overstretched Probation staff. Napo urges members to vote ‘Yes’ in the industrial action ballot to demand safe workloads and fair pay.

Napo’s members need to vote in the current ballot on industrial action on pay and workloads, saying ‘Yes’ to both options on industrial action. If members needed any further reason to do this then think about the FTR48 scheme – the huge expansion of fixed term recalls – that will see the imminent release of thousands of prisoners under the Government’s latest decision to sacrifice public safety for Prison beds.

FTR48 Means Huge Workload Increases

The Government has changed the law only because it needs to take desperate measures to reduce Prison overcrowding. Members considering their vote on the ballot on industrial action should contrast this with the abject failure of HMPPS to take any meaningful action on excessive Probation workloads. They should also consider how quickly the Government found billions to pay private companies to build and run new prisons but have been unable to find the much smaller sum required to meet the claims of Napo and other unions to pay Probation staff a decent wage.

When this comes into force from the first week of September the ‘FTR48’ scheme will see several thousand currently recalled prisoners start to be released over the following weeks. In addition, people being recalled from that point who would previously have been subject to a standard recall will now fall into this scheme. The thousands of hours of additional work this will transfer to Probation staff in the community has already begun to take effect – the latest example of an unprecedented, and apparently never-ending, increase in work we’ve been subject to from the various schemes introduced to try to reduce Prison overcrowding. Staff in the community are being forced to compress pre-release work that should be done over months into just a few weeks, all during a time of increased staff leave.

FTR48 – A Reckless and Dangerous Gamble

Napo continues to oppose the FTR48 scheme as a reckless and dangerous gamble with public safety. In the interests of trying to free up hundreds of Prison spaces the Government has chosen not to exclude people who are assessed as posing a high risk to others or those serving sentences for committing sexual, domestic abuse and stalking offences. All of those included in this scheme have, to have been recalled in the first place, been subject to an assessment by Probation workers that concluded the risk these individuals posed to others was such that they could not be managed in the community. Where previously they would have been subject to a Standard Recall, involving a much more robust risk assessment and management process in the months after recall involving Probation workers and the Parole Board, now they will be automatically re-released, regardless of any existing risk assessment.

For these reasons it remains Napo’s position the FTR48 scheme will increase Serious Further Offences committed by, and the numbers of recalls of, people subject to Probation supervision who would previously have remained in custody. The Government, and HMPPS, had other options available to it to reduce the numbers of people being recalled to custody. It could have implemented changes to the threshold for recall – for example bringing this in line with that in place for others released on licence, such as indeterminate sentenced prisoners – or undertaken a more wide-ranging change to the culture of fear and individual practitioner blame it promotes. It chose FTR48 instead.

Next Steps

We urge Napo members to vote in the current ballot on industrial action on pay and workloads, and to say ‘Yes’ to both options on industrial action. This is the only realistic remaining option to members to demonstrate the strength of feeling, and our commitment to force our employer to change course, on achieving a decent pay rise and safe workloads for all. Unfortunately, FTR48 isn’t the only reason for members to vote for industrial action in the current ballot, it’s just the latest example of the failure of the Government and HMPPS to think about when casting your vote.

Napo HQ

Napo has previously commented on the planned expansion of the eligibility for Fixed Term Recall after it was initially announced – Latest increase in Probation workload to address Prison overcrowding provokes outrage – NAPO Magazine.

May 16, 2025

Latest increase in Probation workload to address Prison overcrowding provokes outrage

Napo members have reacted with anger to Wednesday’s announcement by the Government on changes to the Fixed Term Recall process. This will effectively significantly increase the numbers of people who will now be automatically re-released 28 days after being recalled, where previously they would have been subject to a Standard Recall, involving a much more robust risk assessment and management process in the months after recall.

Changes To Fixed Term Recall Risk Public Safety

On the details provided so far it appears only very limited exclusions will be in place, meaning that large numbers of people who have committed sexual, domestic abuse and stalking offences will be subject to Fixed Term Recalls. All this despite a decision having been taken just 4 weeks before that the risk these individuals posed to others was such that they could not be managed in the community and should be returned to custody. Napo’s view is that, along with the person committing any further offence, the Government will share responsibility for the deaths and serious injury that will be caused to members of the public by those re-released early following this change.

This change has attempted to have been justified by the increase in the proportion of those in prison following recall. No mention is made of the leading role played by HMPPS over recent years in promoting the use of recall, including the climate of fear and blame created in their approach to Serious Further Offences. If it wanted to take responsibility for addressing the numbers of people recalled to custody each year the Government could have considered the immediate implementation of changes to the threshold for recall, for example bringing this in line with that in place for others released on licence, such as indeterminate sentenced prisoners.

Napo calls on the Government to urgently change course following this announcement, and to listen carefully to the range of opposition to this plan.

What This Means For Pay And Workloads

From the point where Napo representatives were informed about this change, just over three hours before the announcement was made, we have made our position clear.

We have made clear that again the Government has prioritised Prisons overcrowding over Probation workload, seeming able to find billions to expand the Prison estate as well as producing legislation in short order.

Our members are past breaking point with the approach of this Government and its treatment of the Probation Service and its workforce.

We expect the Government to find the money to meet our current pay claim in full and to instruct HMPPS to respond more positively to the workload relief demands that Napo and the other trade unions have made. If the Government can find billions to engage in the spectacle of prison-building it can find the millions required to improve the pay of Probation staff who have, by Minister’s own accounts, saved the criminal justice system from collapse by implementing various early release schemes over recent years.

Napo remains in a trade dispute with the employer on the twin issues of pay and workloads. Unless significant progress is made on both fronts in the next few weeks members will be left with no course of action but to progress the options available to us in terms of industrial action to force them to change their approach to us.

Napo HQ

--oo00oo--

I notice the piece generated this comment:-

After 4 years as a programmes facilitator (I left due to being lowered to band 3 from 4) I can see why was not wanting to start back into offender management. Out of 5 in the team I am the only full time person and with all of the team were overworked and firefighting all the time. Having to be reactive not pro-active which is frustrating. I am wanting to work less hours after 24 years in the job but can’t afford to. No tasks seem to improve including the worst.. Oasys.. The most time consuming over-rated peice of wirk there is. It’s not even really used we don’t look back at most of it, the person on probation rarely see’s it but we’re always told to ‘update it.’ plus it’s always on top of the other paperwork licences., delius, hdc’s, parole, tag and AP information etc..

Friday, 8 August 2025

More Trouble at MoJ

From this BBC investigation, I think we can see why the previous permanent secretary was keen to move on:- 

Courts service 'covered up' IT bug that caused evidence to go missing

The body running courts in England and Wales has been accused of a cover-up, after a leaked report found it took several years to react to an IT bug that caused evidence to go missing, be overwritten or appear lost. Sources within HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) say that as a result, judges in civil, family and tribunal courts will have made rulings on cases when evidence was incomplete.

The internal report, leaked to the BBC, said HMCTS did not know the full extent of the data corruption, including whether or how it had impacted cases, as it had not undertaken a comprehensive investigation. It also found judges and lawyers had not been informed, as HMCTS management decided it would be "more likely to cause more harm than good".

HMCTS says its internal investigation found no evidence that "any case outcomes were affected as a result of these technical issues". However, the former head of the High Court's family division, Sir James Munby, told the BBC the situation was "shocking" and "a scandal".

The bug was found in case-management software used by HMCTS, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) agency which administers many courts in England and Wales, and tribunals across the UK. The software - known variously as Judicial Case Manager, MyHMCTS or CCD - is used to manage evidence and track cases before the courts. It is used by judges, lawyers, case workers and members of the public.

Documents seen by the BBC show it caused data to be obscured from view, meaning medical records, contact details and other evidence were sometimes not visible as part of case files used in court. The Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Tribunal - which handles benefit appeals - is thought to have been most affected.

Sources have told the BBC that bugs have also impacted case management software used by other courts - including those dealing with family, divorce, employment, civil money claims and probate. "These hearings often decide the fate of people's lives," Sir James Munby told the BBC. "An error could mean the difference between a child being removed from an unsafe environment or a vulnerable person missing out on benefits."

'Culture of cover-ups'

The BBC has spoken to several separate sources within HMCTS who liken the situation to the Horizon Post Office scandal, where executives tried to suppress evidence of the system's flaws. One says there was "general horror" at the design of the software, introduced by HMCTS in 2018, which they claim was "not designed properly or robustly" and had a long history of data loss.

Another says there was a general reluctance from senior management to "acknowledge or face the reality" of the situation, despite repeated warnings from the agency's IT staff. "There is a culture of cover-ups," one told the BBC. "They're not worried about risk to the public, they're worried about people finding out about the risk to the public. It's terrifying to witness."

When asked, the MoJ told us several organisations had been involved in the design and development of the software but did not supply a list.

'Totally insufficient'

The BBC has seen documents from the MoJ (obtained through Freedom of Information requests), including emails where the severity of the SSCS issue was discussed. A briefing prepared for the chief executive of HMCTS - dated March 2024 - reveals the risk to proceedings was initially categorised as "high" with the possibility of court outcomes being adversely affected assessed as "very likely", resulting in "severe reputational impact to HMCTS". However, an initial manual investigation by a team within HMCTS reviewed only a subset of the most recent three months' worth of cases heard by the SSCS Tribunal, even though the bug was thought to have been in the system for several years.

Out of 609 cases identified as having potential issues, only 109 (17%) were selected for further investigation. Among those, just one was said to have had "potentially significant impact". The briefing suggested standard court procedure would mean that staff would spot any anomalies and manually correct them. Subsequently, it was decided the risk to all cases was low and "no further checks" were needed.

Sources within HMCTS argue that a snapshot of three months' worth of data was "totally insufficient", given the nature of the problem. Their concerns are shared by a leading IT security expert, Prof Alan Woodward of the University of Surrey, who has worked for the UK government and consults on issues including forensic computing. "[HMCTS] conducted their investigation on a limited set of cases", he says. "To say that they found no impact of these faults doesn't make sense to me."

Leaked report

Documents show an employee of HMCTS was so concerned, they raised a formal whistleblower complaint, which prompted a further internal investigation. This was led by a senior IT professional from the Prison Service and resulted in a detailed report, distributed internally in November 2024. This is the report that has been leaked to the BBC. It was set up to "establish the facts" on data loss and data corruption issues affecting the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal.

Investigators interviewed 15 witnesses, including software engineers and developers, and reviewed internal documents, such as incident logs and diary entries. It found "large scale" data breaches that should have been addressed "as soon as they were known". However, the report said that HMCTS had taken several years to react despite multiple warnings from senior technical staff, from 2019 onwards. Investigators concluded that because HMCTS had not undertaken a comprehensive investigation, the full extent of data corruption was still unknown, including if case outcomes had been affected.

The report added that data loss incidents continue to be raised against the IT system used by the civil, family and tribunal courts. The concerns raised in the leaked report echo those raised by those speaking to the BBC. Sources inside HMCTS express concerns that missing evidence may have gone undetected. "This is quite a frightening possibility," one told the BBC, "That information gets lost, no-one notices, and there is a miscarriage of justice. I think that has to be the biggest worry."

'Missing documents'

In the family courts, a different IT flaw caused thousands of documents to go missing, sources say. In one instance, it is claimed a fault caused more than 4,000 documents to go missing from hundreds of public family law cases - including child protection cases.

The BBC understands this bug was discovered in 2023 and may have been present for some years. We have been told it has since been resolved but that no investigation was carried out to establish potential impact on case outcomes. We asked the MoJ if any emergency child protection cases had been affected. It did not respond to this question.

In a statement, an HMCTS spokesperson told the BBC that "parties and judges involved in these cases always had access to the documents they needed". It vowed to "press ahead" with digitisation, because it was "vital" to bring courts and tribunals into the modern era.

Wednesday, 6 August 2025

Anne Owers on Prison Crisis

I note that former HMI Dame Anne Owers has delivered her independent findings on the prison crisis and it's interesting to note her recommendations, especially regarding probation. The problem is, is anyone in the government going to take heed?

Independent Review of Prison Capacity

Introduction

In May 2024, following the announcement of a general election, an official-level COBR1 meeting was convened to discuss contingency plans in case the criminal justice system collapsed during the election campaign because prisons were unable to take in any more prisoners. This could involve invoking emergency powers under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to release prisoners early, in order to avert the risk of public disorder. Those meetings and discussions continued throughout the election period. 

The risk was real: at one point there were fewer than 100 places in adult male prisons. However, the system had in fact been in crisis for over eighteen months. From 2023 onwards, prisons were running very close to the edge of capacity. On three occasions, this was only pulled back at the last minute by the use of early release schemes, gradually decreasing the amount of time many prisoners spent in custody, using powers designed to allow release on compassionate grounds. Senior officials were so concerned about a potential breakdown in the criminal justice system that an audit was kept of all decisionmaking and documents, in case there was a public or parliamentary inquiry. 

The system in fact limped through the summer of 2024, helped by the knowledge that relief was coming, in the shape of the new government’s pledge to reduce the custodial element of most standard determinate sentences from 50% to 40% (SDS40). This was a similar measure to the one that had been energetically but unsuccessfully pursued by the Lord Chancellor in the previous government. That government had also proposed to suspend most short prison sentences, alongside other measures, in legislation which fell when the general election was called. The new government commissioned an independent review of sentencing,2 chaired by the former Conservative Lord Chancellor, David Gauke. It reported in May, at a time when prisons were within sight of yet another capacity crisis.

The 2022-24 prison capacity crisis was a conjunction of some specific circumstances. However, it was also a symptom of a systemic and long-running problem: the apparently irresistible pressure for more and longer prison sentences coming up against the immovable object of the difficulty, expense and overall effectiveness of building and running more prisons. In general, population pressure has constrained prisons’ capacity to operate safe, positive and purposeful environments that can reduce the likelihood of reoffending. From time to time that pressure erupts into a crisis that requires executive action, sometimes unnoticed and sometimes public.

In 2007-08, the last Labour government faced a capacity crisis, due to the mismatch between the number of available prison spaces and the demand created by legislation that had increased some minimum sentences and introduced the now abolished imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence. The then Lord Chancellor had to introduce an early release scheme, not dissimilar to the 2023-24 schemes, but under different powers, to avoid the system collapsing. 

During the austerity measures in the Coalition government between 2010 and 2015, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) offered up savings based on the assumption that the prison population would reduce, but did not take any measures to reverse the inbuilt drivers of population increase. Eighteen expensive, mostly smaller, prisons were closed and only two new prisons were opened; overall prison officer numbers were reduced by 27%,4 with a significant loss of experienced staff; maintenance and capital budgets were cut or transferred to plug holes in running costs. By the summer of 2017, there were only around 900 prison spaces left,5 and real risks of a system collapse. This was averted by a series of barely-noticed executive measures, including a 60% increase in the use of home detention curfew6 (the use of electronic tags) and a steep rise in the executive re-release of recalled prisoners.

The 2022-24 capacity crisis, which is the focus of this review, is therefore only the latest among a succession of crises, though it was probably the deepest and longest, described by many of those who lived through it as an 18-month ‘permacrisis’. It affected the prison service at every level, as well as much of the rest of the criminal justice system. As recent events have shown, it is far from over, as recent prison capacity figures show.

Increasingly, during this time, the focus in the MoJ and the prison service, especially at senior level, was on managing the crisis, rather than managing prisons or supporting prisoners. Task forces, boards and committees, across and beyond prisons and the MoJ, were meeting weekly, and at times daily, to document, monitor and try to resolve capacity problems, at the expense of other aspects of prison strategy and policy (see Chapter 3 of this report). Only when this complex ecosystem signalled that the criminal justice system was within seven, and then three, days of collapse was action taken. On each occasion this was just enough to avert breakdown and buy time until the next predictable cliff edge was reached. 

During the crisis, senior officials struggled daily with the effort to keep the system running. This included those running prison escort services, transporting people to and from courts and prisons, as well as those responsible for population management or for working out how to implement the various interacting release and recategorisation schemes. At one point, under what was aptly called Operation Early Dawn, teams of officials worked from 5:30am until late at night to move people to and from prisons, police cells and courts, in a complex series of interrelated moves, many of people with risks and vulnerabilities. The capacity crisis also came with a financial cost. Police cells had to be used, under Operation Safeguard, to house prisoners overnight, or sometimes longer. Each police cell cost the prison service £688 a day, compared with the average daily cost of a prison place at £150: a total bill so far of over £70 million and rising. 

On the ground, the capacity crisis had a direct and damaging impact on those working and living in prisons, and on prisons’ capacity to carry out positive and rehabilitative work. In prisons outside the high security estate, initially most acutely in the north, day-to-day life was dominated by numbers: creating enough space by moving prisoners in and out of prisons and police cells, transferring prisoners from one part of an overheated prison system to another, trying to avoid releases in error while implementing ever-changing and increasingly complex release schemes. And this all dropped into a prison system that was still recovering from earlier severe staffing reductions and had only just emerged from managing the COVID-19 crisis.

Demand for prison places has risen inexorably, checked only temporarily by the COVID-19 outbreak. This has been driven by a number of factors, set out in Chapter 1 of this report. They include greater use of custody, an escalation in the length of sentences for more serious offences, and increases in the proportion of time spent in custody.10 In addition, there has been a significant rise in the number of those recalled to prison, who accounted for nearly a quarter of prison admissions in 2023-24. Nearly one in five prisoners are also remanded or unsentenced, due to the continuing backlog in the criminal courts. Though the number of short-sentenced prisoners has dropped to only 3% of the population at any one time, they account for nearly half of all new receptions into prisons. Proposals for a presumption against short sentences, by this and the previous government, are designed to relieve this pressure.

Governments have responded by focusing on the supply side, with ambitious plans for more and more prison places. However, in practice this has not been a solution (see Chapter 2). Financial pressures and planning constraints, together with the need to ensure appropriate levels of security, have severely limited the ability to create new prison places, or even, in the ambition of a previous Secretary of State, to replace old crumbling prisons with new and more efficient ones. At the same time, prison places were lost, due mainly to closures and critical infrastructure failings, so that total operational capacity fell between 2012 and 2025. But prison capacity is not just about creating enough spaces next month or next year: it is about whether prisons have the capacity and the resources to provide safe environments that can work effectively with prisoners to reduce the chances of reoffending. Moreover, prison capacity crises will keep recurring unless there is sufficient investment outside prison – both in probation and in other community services – to support those being released and to tackle some of the underlying causes of offending. 

In this context, it is important to note that there are groups which have bucked the trend of a steadily rising prison population. Over the last 20 years the number of under-18s in custody has dropped from over 3,000 to around 400. This is seen as a direct result of focusing on a multidisciplinary, community-based preventive and supportive approach, with imprisonment reserved for the most serious offending. That has not just meant disinvesting in prison: it has meant reinvesting in the community services that can prevent offending or reoffending.

The introduction of SDS40 in late 2024, combined with more extended use of home detention curfew, has provided breathing space, but not a solution. By the spring of 2025, prison numbers were once again butting up against capacity, police cells were again being used, and the forums set up to manage capacity were revived. Emergency action to expand the use of fixed-term recalls has been announced, and home detention curfew (‘tagging’) has been further extended. The recommendations of the Independent Sentencing Review aim to cap the projected rise in prison numbers at its highest ever level of around 95,000. That will still be a challenge for the prison service. Meanwhile, early release measures and greater use of community alternatives do not by themselves reduce overall pressure: they displace it from prisons to probation, third sector and community services, which, as this report notes, have their own, less well-publicised, capacity problems. Significant and much-needed additional investment in these services has now been promised. 

This report shows the risks and consequences of the cycle of prison capacity crises, and in particular the highly damaging impact of the acute crisis over the last few years. It also sets out the wider impacts: the opportunity costs at every level, of having to focus on capacity at the expense of more strategic planning, policy development and positive rehabilitative work. It concludes by proposing a change of approach from predicting to preventing crises, both in prisons and probation and community services.

Recommendations 

The Annual Statement on Prison Capacity, first presented to Parliament last December, is a step forward. However, this is a mechanism for reporting and projecting capacity, not a strategy for managing it, and it focuses mainly on prisons. Within five months of its publication, emergency action was needed to avert another capacity crisis. The accompanying ten-year strategy is the latest of many, and again deals only with prison capacity. 

I recommend that there should be a published ten-year strategy for developing capacity within probation and community services. 

Within the MoJ, it is helpful that there is now a separate strategic arm of the capacity options taskforce. However, past history strongly suggests that such strategies may not survive contact with reality, and also that the plethora of internal systems and processes set up in recent years has not been able to ensure timely action across departments and at governmental level.

I recommend that there should be an independent advisory body to provide advice and external validation of the capacity strategies and challenges in both prisons and probation, and in particular the impact of any proposed changes in the criminal justice system.

I note that the Independent Sentencing review, and a number of its witnesses, also recommend the creation of an independent external advisory body. There would need to be consultation on its precise composition and remit, but, like the Sentencing Review, I believe that it should assess the impact on prisons and probation of structural, financial or legislative changes or guidance planned or implemented in any part of the criminal justice system, including funding and organisational implications. It should provide independent advice and commentary on prison and probation capacity strategies and relevant policies. It should draw on the findings of the independent inspectorates of prisons and probation in order to provide a reality check. This process would take these discussions out of the shadows of inter-departmental or intra-governmental tugs of war, and move towards a preventative, rather than a crisis management, approach. The decisions on whether and how to legislate and where to invest resources are rightly political decisions, but this mechanism would provide greater transparency and accountability. 

In the course of this review, some strong views were expressed about the structure and focus of HMPPS. In prisons, this focused on the organisational structure, and the relationship between governors and local and central management structures. In probation, this centred on the need for a more local focus, including partnerships with organisations outside criminal justice. 

Even if the proposals in the Independent Sentencing Review are implemented and have the desired effect, the prison population will still be at its highest ever level, with pressure on the capacity to run safe and rehabilitative regimes. HMI Prisons will continue to report on the outcomes for prisoners in each prison, and those reports clearly show the scale of the challenge for most prisons, in the light of changing risks. However, some of those findings reflect, or are the result of wider organisational and resource issues within the prison service. There is no independent evaluation of the prison service as a whole – its central, regional and local management structures, strategic capability, and staffing, training and resource needs.

I recommend that the HMPPS Board should be mandated to carry out an evaluation of the prison service, in consultation with the Chief Inspector of Prisons. It should also monitor and report on progress against the 10-year prison capacity strategy and the proposed strategy for probation and community capacity. 

The capacity crisis in probation and the shortfalls in the provision of community services are much less visible than in prisons but are equally real and damaging. Given the changes proposed in the Independent Sentencing Review, and accepted by the government, those services will now have to take on much greater responsibility for supervision and support in the community. There is the promise of considerable additional funding over the next four years, but it is not clear how much of this will be in control mechanisms – extended electronic monitoring – and how much in the essential support services, within and outside criminal justice, that can prevent offending and reoffending. Probation, community services and the third sector are not pressure valves that can be turned on or off at will to relieve an overwhelmed prison system: they should be an integral part of leadership, planning and funding. That will require creating and strengthening genuine operational partnerships, not hand-offs, particularly at local level, learning from the failings of the Transforming Rehabilitation process.

I recommend that both the Chief Inspector of Probation and the third sector should be involved in discussing the design, as well as the delivery, of community services. This should include the engagement and resourcing of essential non-criminal justice support such as addiction, health, housing, and employment services. 

There have been tensions between policies and funding in different parts of the criminal justice system, particularly since the MoJ was detached from the Home Office. These tensions, both at national and local level, have at times led to blame-shifting, not problem-solving. More recently, as this review records, there have been examples of constructive operational relationships, developed during the COVID-19 pandemic and capacity crises, which can be built on to tackle underlying causes rather than symptoms. The integrated offender management (IOM) approach, when properly implemented and resourced, brought together local agencies to deal with repeat and persistent offenders.

I recommend that the IOM model should be reinvigorated, properly funded, and rolled out in a consistent way as a model for cross-agency work. 

The terms of reference of this review do not include sentencing, which has been considered by the Independent Sentencing Review, and I refer above to some of its recommendations. That review also referred to the impact of sentence inflation on the size and composition of the prison population, but did not have the time or scope to make specific recommendations. It notes, for example, that the rise in mandatory minimum sentences has created ‘additional and unsustainable pressure’ on prison capacity, as well as the nearly 70% rise in average minimum tariffs for murder. As both of these factors have a continuing impact on prison capacity, I support the Independent Sentencing Review’s proposal that there should be a separate review of the impact and effect of minimum sentences, and that the Law Commission should examine minimum murder tariffs as part of its review of homicide law and sentencing.

Dame Anne Owers
Independent Reviewer

Tuesday, 5 August 2025

Welcome to the Future

With the government intent on bringing AI into the probation world as soon as possible, we clearly need to keep up with what is being planned. This looks like something we need to watch carefully:- 

Welcome to the Justice AI Unit blog

Welcome to the first blog post from the Justice AI Unit, a new team in the Ministry of Justice created to lead the safe and effective adoption of artificial intelligence across justice services.

This blog is where we'll share what we're building, what we're learning, and what's coming next. From pilots and partnerships to real-world tools that make work easier, our mission is simple: to use AI to help make justice faster, fairer and more human.

Who we are

The Justice AI Unit was established in late 2024 as part of the government's wider ambition to responsibly scale AI across public services. We're a cross-functional team bringing together product managers, engineers, designers, policy leads and AI specialists to tackle real problems across prisons, probation, back office functions and more.

So far, we've:
  • Laid solid foundations to make sure we can pilot and scale AI safely
  • Tested our first shared AI tools and services for use across justice
  • Launched a Justice AI Fellowship to attract top technical talent
  • Partnered with leading companies to provide secure access to powerful LLMs
  • Worked with UK startups such as Taught by Humans and Pair, who bring fresh, practical approaches to enabling our people with AI
  • Started to train MoJ staff at all levels on how to use AI safely and effectively, with more to come in 2025!
What we're working on

We're delivering AI tools that save time and improve the experience of public service for both staff and the people we support.

For example, we're currently piloting AI transcription and speech tools to help probation officers reduce time spent on admin, so they can focus on building stronger relationships with those they support. We're also rolling out secure AI assistants to help MoJ staff write, summarise and problem-solve more quickly.

We recently took part in the cross-government Microsoft 365 Copilot pilot, working with DWP, DSIT and others to explore the role of generative AI in day-to-day civil service work. You can read more about the findings here.

And we're scaling these tools so that everyone across the justice system can benefit.

What makes us different

Before joining MoJ, I worked on pandemic response as a No.10 Innovation Fellow. My project was to see if we could use wastewater (yes, measuring sewage) to help predict hospital bed demand. It turned out to be a powerful and cost-effective way to track disease. But what made it work was the team: scientists, engineers, designers and policymakers working directly with decision-makers and users in a new way. That's the model we're bringing to justice.

Here's what sets the Justice AI Unit apart:
  • Interdisciplinary teams, co-located and focused. Product, design, engineering, policy, risk and security all sit together, solving problems collaboratively from day one.
  • We build with frontline users. Not just designing for them, but working with them. We embed technologists directly in frontline roles, such as probation, to solve the right problems in the right way.
  • We move continuously, not in phases. No endless discovery followed by a long wait for delivery. We do continuous discovery and delivery, finding problems, testing fast and improving rapidly.
  • We believe in small teams. You don't need a huge team to make an impact. Even a team of two can build and scale the right thing. We are bringing that lean, focused model to government.
These principles help us move quickly, learn fast, and deliver services that are cheaper, better and genuinely useful.

What to expect from this blog

We'll share regular posts from across the team: updates on what we're building, lessons learned, guest blogs from our partners, and reflections on the bigger questions we're tackling.

If you care about justice, public service or responsible AI, we hope you'll follow along.
We're just getting started.

Dan James
Director of the Justice AI Unit

Sunday, 3 August 2025

A Brave New Probation World

Those of us that heard the cobbler delivering the Bill McWilliams lecture in Cambridge recently were struck by two things, his lack of understanding of the probation ethos and his complete awe for everything AI. Well folks, you need to get your head around what he has planned for us, a bright future based on technology and super computers. We all know how good the MoJ track record is with information technology, so what could possibly go wrong?

AI action plan for justice

Published 31 July 2025

Foreword by Lord Timpson

The Prime Minister, the Lord Chancellor, and I are committed to creating a more productive and agile state - one in which AI and technology drive better, faster, and more efficient public services.

That is why I am delighted to introduce the AI Action Plan for Justice - a first-of-its-kind document outlining how we will harness the power of AI to transform the public’s experience, making their interactions with the justice system simpler, faster, and more tailored to their needs.

This plan focuses on three priorities: strengthening our foundations, embedding AI across justice services, and investing in the people who will deliver this transformation. It aligns with the Prime Minister’s vision to build digital and AI capability across government and supports our departmental priority of delivering swift access to justice.

Since joining the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) in July 2024, I have seen real opportunities for AI to improve the working lives of our frontline staff and colleagues - and clear evidence of where it is already making a difference.

I am proud to represent a department that is fundamentally rethinking its use of technology to improve outcomes for the public and contribute to wider economic growth.

I will continue to champion our ambition for the MOJ to lead the way in responsible and impactful AI adoption across government.

This plan marks a crucial first step in delivering that ambition.

James Timpson
Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending
Lead Ministry of Justice (MOJ) Minister for AI

Executive summary

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform our justice system in England & Wales and deliver our ministerial priorities. AI shows great potential to help deliver swifter, fairer, and more accessible justice for all - reducing court backlogs, increasing prison capacity and improving rehabilitation outcomes as well as victim services. But this opportunity must be seized responsibly, ensuring that public trust, human rights, and the rule of law remain central and AI risks are carefully managed.

This AI Action Plan for Justice sets out the Ministry of Justice’s approach to responsible and proportionate AI adoption across courts, tribunals, prisons, probation and supporting services (referred to here as the justice system). It has been developed in consultation with the independent judiciary and legal services regulators and we will implement it in collaboration with our wider justice sector partners such as the Home Office, the Crown Prosecution Service and our trade unions. It complements wider government efforts to safely modernise public services and builds on the UK’s global strengths in legal services, data science, and AI innovation.

We will focus on three strategic priorities:

1. Strengthen our foundations

We will enhance AI leadership, governance, ethics, data, digital infrastructure and commercial frameworks. A dedicated Justice AI Unit led by our Chief AI Officer will coordinate the delivery of the Plan, with critical input from our Data Science, Digital and Transformation teams. A cross-departmental AI Steering Group provides oversight and an AI and Data Ethics Framework, and communications plan will promote transparency and engagement.

2. Embed AI across the justice system

We will deliver more effective services across citizen-facing, operational and enabling functions alike. By applying a “Scan, Pilot, Scale” approach, we will target high-impact use cases. These include:
  • Reducing administrative burden with secure AI productivity tools including search, speech and document processing (e.g. transcription tools that allow probation officers to focus on higher-value work).
  • Increasing capacity through better scheduling (e.g. prison capacity).
  • Improving access to justice with citizen-facing assistants (e.g. enhancing case handling and service delivery in our call centres).
  • Enabling personalised education and rehabilitation (e.g. tailored training for our workforce and offenders).
  • Supporting better decisions through predictive and risk-assessment models (e.g. predicting the risk of violence in custody).
3. Invest in our people and partners

We will invest in talent, training and proactive workforce planning to accelerate AI adoption and transform how we work. We will also strengthen our partnerships with legal service providers and regulators to support AI-driven legal innovation and with our criminal justice partners on our collective response to AI-enabled criminality.

We are ready to deliver. AI rollout is already underway with encouraging early results. Initial funding is secured, with additional backing anticipated as we demonstrate impact. As AI technologies mature, we will refine our approach and plan based on real-world outcomes, evaluation, and feedback from staff, trade unions, partners, and the public. We are committed to acting boldly, learning rapidly, and ensuring AI adoption delivers real improvements. Together, these priorities will ensure AI is embedded in our services and transformation programmes, supported by the right foundations, and driven by a productive and agile workforce.

Case study: Using machine learning to create a single offender identity

Having a single, consistent ID for each offender is critical to making better-informed decisions across the justice journey. Fragmented and inconsistent data across different services has made it challenging to track an individual’s journey.

We are building a real-time system linking offender data across agencies to provide a single, consistent view. This tackles longstanding issues with duplication and missing data that can compromise sentencing and rehabilitation.

The system uses Splink, open-source data linking software developed by MOJ data scientists. It applies explainable machine learning to deduplicate records and ensure accuracy. This single view will reduce admin burden, support better decision-making, and enable more advanced AI tools to enhance public safety and rehabilitation outcomes.

2.1.2 Accelerate insight with AI-powered search and knowledge retrieval

Justice system staff often rely on large volumes of unstructured information, including operational procedures, policy documents, case records or legal precedents but traditional search tools struggle to surface what’s most relevant. AI-powered semantic or hybrid search understands meaning, context, and language variation, helping users quickly find the critical information they need.

Unlike standard keyword searches, semantic search understands context, meaning, and relationships between concepts. For example, prison officers could quickly review offender notes to identify risk indicators or rehabilitation opportunities, and caseworkers could swiftly locate relevant guidance or evidence, saving valuable time and improving decision-making.

This ultimately will reduce the time spent manually searching through lengthy documents, so staff can spend more time making informed decisions, and providing better support to those they serve.

As resources allow, we will scale these tools across justice services to reduce inefficiencies, speed up decision-making, and improve frontline service delivery.

Case study: Smarter searches for probation staff

Finding the right information quickly is critical in probation work, yet traditional keyword searches often fall short. Staff were spending time experimenting with different keywords to locate case details, leading to frustrating “search flurries.”

To solve this, MOJ Data Science introduced semantic search in the Probation Digital System (launched June 2025), powered by a Large Language Model (LLM). This AI-driven tool understands context, meaning, and variations in language such as recognising synonyms, misspellings, abbreviations, and acronyms. As a result, staff now receive more relevant results from their very first search, reducing search time and improving decision-making.

This AI-driven improvement reduces search time, enhances decision-making, and allows probation officers to spend more time focusing on offender rehabilitation, risk management, and community safety.

2.1.3 Use speech and translation AI to free frontline staff from admin burdens

Frontline staff spend significant time transcribing meetings and documenting interactions. This is time that could be better spent engaging with people and managing risk. We are piloting AI transcription and summarisation tools in probation services in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Wales to reduce this administrative load and improve the quality of recorded interactions.

Case study: Scanning for solutions to support probation officers with notetaking

In probation services, officers dedicate valuable time to writing case notes, which impacts their capacity to focus on rehabilitative work with offenders. High caseloads mean Probation Officers sometimes struggle to find the time to evidence and analyse complex conversations with People on Probation in a sufficiently detailed and consistent format. We are piloting AI-powered transcription and summarisation tools across probation services in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Wales.

Early results are very encouraging, with the tool reducing note-taking time by 50% and earning a 4.5/5 satisfaction score from officers. Freed-up time is being used for more meaningful work, better engagement, analysis, and decision-making while improving job satisfaction and reducing stress. In short, the tool is already boosting capacity, service quality, and staff morale.