Most probation services are over capacity, leaked data reveals

The bulk of the work which tries to forestall criminals reoffending successful England and Wales is moving astatine excessive capacity, interior figures seen by the BBC show.

Some officers successful the Probation Service person workloads doubly arsenic ample arsenic their recommended capacity.

A whistleblower warned the risks to the nationalist are "significant".

The authorities said it would "recruit thousands much unit to support the nationalist safe".

The revelations astir the grade of the probation situation travel aft 2 damning reports into failures to show offenders who went connected to perpetrate murders.

His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Probation, Justin Russell, said the work failed astatine each signifier to measure the hazard of slayer Damien Bendall, who murdered his spouse Terri Harris, her 2 children and their 11-year-old friend.

Mr Russell besides said it was intolerable to beryllium definite the nationalist was harmless due to the fact that of the prime of enactment successful parts of the Probation Service, aft Jordan McSweeney murdered instrumentality pupil Zara Aleena 9 days aft being released from prison.

Probation officers play a captious relation assessing however overmuch hazard criminals airs to us, during the sentencing process, during sentences served successful the community, and aft idiosyncratic is released from prison.

Their jobs harvester face-to-face meetings with criminals with penning reports and making checks to forestall them descending backmost into criminality.

The BBC has seen a snapshot of information from an interior Probation Service workload measurement strategy which monitors regular lawsuit numbers and warns if unit are operating beyond their capacity.

The numbers were collected this week and measure workload based connected a points strategy which takes into relationship the complexity of cases.

In the 12 regions of England and Wales, 10 were operating astatine implicit 100% of capacity. Only Wales and the North East Region were conscionable below.

Seven were "showing red" with mean scores of much than 110%.

Justice Minister Alex Chalk said successful 2021 that "anyone implicit 110% for a play of 4 consecutive weeks is deemed to person an excessive workload", adding that determination were policies to assistance unit who conscionable this threshold.

London is nether astir unit astatine astir 127% of its capableness connected average, followed by the Yorkshire and Humber and Eastern England regions astatine 118%.

Our investigation suggests astatine the infinitesimal the information was collected, much than 400 probation officers were moving astatine 160% of their capableness oregon more, with immoderate implicit 200%.

This includes probation officers inactive successful training, arsenic good arsenic much experienced staff.

In immoderate cases, unit had idiosyncratic caseloads of much than 70 people.

The probation watchdog concluded successful 2021 that "in our opinion, it is hard for adjacent experienced practitioners to woody with 60, 70, 80 oregon much cases properly".

The figures bash fluctuate, but insiders told the BBC the unit connected the workforce creates an inevitable hazard of mistakes.

Staff said the workload makes it harder to excavation deeper into cases and pursuit up checks with constabulary forces, who often neglect to respond.

"We are expected to question everything, but radical don't due to the fact that it opens a tin of worms," 1 said.

Even offenders rated debased and mean hazard tin beryllium radical susceptible of sidesplitting themselves and others, probation officers say.

A drawstring of cases person demonstrated the risks of failing to transportation retired checks. One execution a week is committed by an offender connected probation.

"Probation officers are being fed to the dogs by the absorption and operation of the probation system. They are near to transportation a dense load which is unsustainable," she said.

An interior study connected the case, marked "sensitive" but obtained by the BBC, describes a cardinal probation serviceman progressive feeling "overwhelmed" by enactment and says the "alertness to risk" had suffered.

Braddon missed a fig of meetings with the work and the reasons were not afloat investigated, the study found.

At moments erstwhile an offender breaches the presumption of their licence oregon sentencing conditions, the probation work is nether unit to stitchery grounds to enactment an offender being sent oregon returned to prison.

A whistleblower told the BBC that if this does not happen, "you're conscionable sitting determination waiting for different offence to beryllium committed".

Low level breaches of condemnation conditions are expected to beryllium dealt with wrong six days.

But a caller information snapshot for London besides shown to the BBC reveals that of much than 860 breaches, 669 had not been resolved wrong that people time.

After 3 months, 198 were inactive outstanding.

A whistleblower told the BBC unit were "burnt out" and "working precocious each nighttime and weekends".

Another inferior probation serviceman said they dealt with caseloads "in the precocious 70s", sometimes seeing up to 12 offenders a day. At 1 constituent successful the pandemic, an offender they were overseeing committed a superior offence.

Pressure connected the probation work grew with changes successful the instrumentality starring to an expanding fig of cases requiring their attention.

Then successful 2013, determination was a disastrous reorganisation of the service. It was reversed by 2021, but the probation inspectorate said it played a large portion successful pushing up workloads.

Covid made matters worse, with probation officers reduced to going to offenders' doorsteps for look to look meetings.

By adjacent period 4,000 caller probation officers are being recruited, the Ministry of Justice said.

But beforehand enactment officers are leaving due to the fact that of the intelligence wellness pressures they face.

In the twelvemonth up to September 2022, information reveals that intelligence wellness oregon behavioural issues were the origin of fractional of each days of unit absence. This fig is rising steadily.

The Ministry of Justice said "we person taken contiguous steps to code the superior issues raised by caller reviews and are investing £155m much each twelvemonth into probation to amended the supervision of offenders."

The ministry said the other spending would "reduce officers' caseloads and enlistee thousands much unit to support the nationalist safe".

The authorities is besides introducing much rigorous requirements for prisoners to beryllium fixed parole, and the powerfulness for the Justice Secretary Dominic Raab to forestall the astir unsafe offenders being released.

Data investigation by Olivia Podmore