UNISON opposes government plans for Probation Service (november 2012)

Présentation en Français du syndicat de la fonction publique anglaise UNISON 

UNISON opposes government plans that could see the Probation Service lose its interventions functions and become a small ‘specialist organisation’ managing only high risk offenders. In a speech delivered on 20 November 2012, Chris Grayling had the following to say about the future of the Probation Service:

• The ‘rehabilitation revolution’ will be driven mainly via payment by results (PBR) schemes, where providers of rehabilitation services will only be paid if they are successful in reducing offending. Chris Grayling indicated that he was minded to use a binary measure for assessing whether providers have succeeded in reducing offending, i.e. simply has the offender re-offended or not? If this is the measure that is brought in, it will prevent small and medium size enterprises bidding for this work as they will not have the financial resources available to take the risk on bidding for work. Large multi-national outsourcing companies will on the other hand be able to take the financial risks on board. The Justice Secretary did not indicate any particular role for the Probation Service in delivering payment by results. The Ministry of Justice will publish a paper shortly setting out its plans for PBR.

• The Probation Service will continue to have a role to play in the future, but most likely supervising only high risk offenders and managing risk in the public interest. Services to courts, where there are serious issues to be considered, will also continue to be provided by the Probation Service. Chris Grayling said that the Probation Service would become a specialist organisation, retaining a supervisory role for high risk offenders, presenting with a high risk of harm. The Justice Secretary’s idea seems to suggest that the Probation Service might shrink to become a much smaller organisation, delivering services only in relation to high risk cases, with the majority of interventions work and low-risk work being put out to competition to the private sector. UNISON is totally opposed to this reductionist vision of the Probation Service which will simply not be viable if it loses its vital interventions arms. We will campaign against this outcome.

• Commissioning of probation services will be carried out by NOMS/MoJ nationally, with no role for Probation Trusts to take on this work. This is really bad news. It means that Ministers have turned their back on any role for Probation Trusts in commissioning probation services at a local level, or other local agencies, like local government, having any role to play in delivering rehabilitation services. This is an inherently undemocratic model and one which will deny any sort of local accountability for probation services. As we know, NOMS/MoJ has a poor track record in letting contracts (the FM contract being the worst example of this) and so the Justice Secretary’s announcement does not bode well. UNISON will continue to oppose this top-down commissioning model and continue to make the case for local commissioning and a democratic base for the work that Probation delivers. Privatisation has not delivered for communities and cannot deliver in the future. UNISON will continue to campaign against the privatisation of probation services.

• The Ministry of Justice will provide a response to the Probation Review Consultation results in the new year now.Given the Justice Secretary’s announcements yesterday, it is not surprising that the MoJ will now delay its response to the Probation Review. The views of Chris Grayling on the Probation Service are so different from his predecessor that all the previous thinking on the future of the probation service has gone out of the window.
  It is unfortunate that we will have to wait a few more months before we get a definitive view from Government on its exact plans for the Probation Service, but the announcements yesterday do not bode well. UNISON will now be concentrating our resources on making the case for a Probation Service which is:
  • Local
  • Accountable
  • Delivering the whole range of probation services including interventions
  • Working with local communities
  • Publically run and managed and not handed over to the private sector

A transcript of Chris Grayling’s speech can be found at: justice.gov.uk

Le texte intégral de l’intervention en pdf: rehabilitation revolution