Transforming Rehabilitation: Progress report
| Date | 01 June 2019 |
| Published date | 01 June 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550519844106 |
| Author | Steve Collett |
| Subject Matter | Research & reports |
Research & reports
Research & reports
Transforming Rehabilitation: Progress report
This damning report of the failure of the government’s Transforming Rehabilitation
initiative was published at the beginning of March 2019 and within a few days of
the earlier publication by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation’s (HMIP) equally
damning report on the performance of one organisation within the new post-reform
probation arrangements – Dorset, Devon and Cornwall Community Rehabilitation
Company (CRC) (HMIP, 2018). The NAO has taken a close interest in the evolving
fortunes of the Rehabilitation Revolution with two previous reports (NAO, 2016,
2017). The 2016 report identified what it referred to as understandable friction at
working level that CRCs and the NPS would need to overcome. It also highlighted
significant workload pressures and the knock-on effects in terms of restrictions on
training and access to supervision. All these pressures were exacerbated by what
the report referred to as severe inefficiency arising from the various ICT systems used
(2016: 38). Particularly telling for the findings of this recent NAO publication was
the lower volumes of cases than were predicted during the bidding process.
The critical issues exposed in this 2018 report that grabbed the media headlines
were the cost to the tax payer of £467 million in additional projected payments to
the CRC above the terms of their original contracts, including minimum contract
termination costs of £171 million and the failure of CRCs to reduce reoffending to
the levels set by the Ministry of Justice. As the report outlines,
there was a 22%overall increase in the number of proven reoffences per offender. The
Ministry expected CRCs to reduce reoffending by 3.7 percentage points over the life of
the contracts. However, just 6 of the 21 CRCs achieved statistically significant reduc-
tions. (2018: 6)
In terms of wider objectives, the report summarises its concerns by highlighting:
patchy third sector involvement with CRCs
limited innovation and lack of progress transforming probation services
significant increases in the number of people being recalled to prison
ineffective through the gate services to support transition from prison to the
community
The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
2019, Vol. 66(2) 248–254
ªThe Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0264550519844106
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