Sharp decline in quality of prison resettlement support in recent years, PAC report finds

- Stark inequalities by race and gender exist in resettlement outcomes for prison leavers

- Unprecedented prison population growth heaps pressure on strained resettlement services

Prisoners are still not consistently receiving the support they need to resettle into the community. In a report published today, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) warns of a sharp decline in the quality of support given to prisoners to help to reduce their likelihood of reoffending and prepare them for release into the community across England and Wales in recent years. The report also highlights serious concerns around inequalities for prison leavers, a lack of support for prisoners with substance misuse needs, and unprecedented pressures in prison capacity.

The PAC’s inquiry found that in 2022-23, no prisons were rated by HM Inspectorate of Prisons as “good” for their work on rehabilitation and release planning. As recently as 2019-20, 30% of prisons were rated as good. Prison leavers are more likely to reoffend if they have nowhere to live, no job or income, and have poor healthcare, with adult reoffending identified in 2016 costing society and estimated £16.7bn.

The report also highlights inequalities in resettlement outcomes in both race and gender for prison leavers. In 2021-22, 8% of female prison leavers were employed after six months compared with 18% of male prison leavers, while 11% of black or black British prison leavers were employed after six months compared with 18% of white prison leavers. The PAC is calling for an action plan from HM Prison & Probation Service for improved support for those who leave the prison system.

The PAC’s inquiry heard evidence of unprecedented pressures on the prison estate. At March 2023, the prison population was at around 99% (84,400) of safe capacity (85,500). The Government forecasts this could grow to approximately 93,100-106,300 by March 2027. The PAC’s inquiry heard that an ongoing lack of “headroom” is hampering much needed refurbishment across the prison estate, with prison population growth heaping pressure on already strained resettlement services within prisons and the community.

The report further warns of the impact of staff shortages and high caseloads. In 2021-22, 8% of probation officers left the service, the highest level in the last six years. While HMPPS told the inquiry of work to improve recruitment and retention, the PAC remains concerned that the workforce no longer has the balance of experience it needs to safely manage the probation caseload.

Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Committee, said: “By serving their time, prison leavers are judged to have paid their debt to society, but if released without support are likely to reoffend. This undermines public safety and any hope of rehabilitation through the justice system, while costing the taxpayer billions of pounds. Shockingly, our report finds that around half of the work aimed at resettling prison leavers is not being routinely carried out. This makes even more critical the need for a long-term strategy to manage increased demand for resettlement services as the prison population continues to rise.

“The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) told our inquiry that its drive to save 7.5% across its budget means it faces difficult choices, and that the easiest place for cuts to fall is in discretionary programmes, such as reducing reoffending. But it is these very areas that are likely to reap dividends long-term if protected. We hope in this challenging area that the recommendations in our report help guide the Government to take decisions based on that which works best, rather than what is easiest.”

PAC report conclusions and recommendations 

HMPPS’s resettlement services are not as effective or consistent as they should be, leading to inequalities for prison leavers. Following a significant reorganisation of probation services in 2021, HMPPS set out a vision of what resettlement services should look like in its ‘target operating model’. However, prisoners are still not consistently receiving the support they need to resettle into the community. A 2022 internal review concluded that HMPPS’ plans to deliver that vision were unclear, and in 2022-23 HMPPS identified that about half of key resettlement activities were still not routinely happening. For example, essential handover meetings between prison and probation staff did not happen as intended in 50% of cases between April 2022 and January 2023. HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMI Prisons) concluded there has been a decline in outcomes for prisoners in recent years, with prison inspections recording a decline in the quality of resettlement work since 2018-19. Of the 30 inspections carried out in 2022-23 and published by 12 April 2023, HMI Prisons rated no prisons as “good” for “rehabilitation and release planning”. These inspections adult prisons containing over 23,600 prisoners). HMPPS also does not understand why some prison leavers experience differential resettlement outcomes based on their race or gender, with black prison leavers less likely to be employed six months post-release than white prison leavers (11% and 18% respectively).

Recommendation 1a: In its Treasury Minute response to this report, HMPPS should set out what steps it is taking to understand the causes of inequalities experienced by prison leavers.

1. b) Within six months, HMPPS should write to the Committee setting out an action plan for improved support for those who leave the prison system, including clear steps towards its intended approach of an adequate and consistent resettlement service for all prison leavers.

We are concerned that government is not doing enough to support prisoners with substance misuse needs before they are released. Despite the previous Committee’s recommendations in 2017, HMPPS and NHS England have been slow to improve the collection and sharing of prison leavers’ data, limiting their ability to provide appropriate support and monitor outcomes. This lack of progress puts the successful resettlement of offenders with substance misuse needs at risk. HMPPS is working on ways to improve data sharing around substance misuse through initiatives such as the Probation Notification Actioning Plan, which will enable drug treatment providers in prisons to notify the Probation Service of referrals they have made to providers in the community. However, support in prisons still lacks consistency, with treatment options often dependent on the length of prison stay. We are concerned that HMPPS and the relevant health bodies involved in resettlement do not seem to have a consistent definition of success when measuring outcomes for substance misuse. Substance misuse is also the only area where the Cross-Government Reducing Reoffending Board has not agreed key responsibilities or performance reporting arrangements.

Recommendation 2: The Cross-Government Reducing Reoffending Board should agree metrics to measure end-to-end success in treating substance misuse needs in offenders and routinely publish how it is performing against these metrics.

We are concerned that HMPPS is not doing enough to retain the experienced probation workers needed to safely manage its large and increasing caseload. Staff shortages and high caseloads are negatively affecting resettlement support for prison leavers. In 2021-22, 8% of probation officers left the service, the highest level in the last six years. People join the prison and probation services to “make a difference”, but those leaving often cite workload pressures and feeling unable to do a good job, with many probation staff managing more than 70 cases against a suggested case load of 30 to 60. HMPPS says it is seeking to improve staff retention through a new three-year pay deal and increased focus on development and wellbeing. It is also working to rebalance workloads by recruiting “a record number” of probation officers, with an extra 2,000 staff now in post across the service compared to a year earlier. However, recruitment will not provide an immediate solution to HMPPS’ problems. It takes 15 to 21 months to train new recruits and we remain concerned that the workforce no longer has the balance of experience it needs to safely manage the probation caseload.

Recommendation 3: In its Treasury Minute response, HMPPS should set out what additional steps it will take to retain and incentivise experienced staff over the next 12 to 18 months and what targets it has for doing so.

HMPPS is still not getting all the basics right when commissioning resettlement services.HMPPS works with Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) providers from the private and voluntary sectors who provide tailored support to offenders in areas such as accommodation, employment and wellbeing. HMPPS issued 110 contracts to CRS providers ready for ‘day one’ of the new unified probation service but a second wave of contracts for a wider range of services, such as finance, benefits and debt support, is still underway. HMPPS holds CRS providers to account against two administrative measures but does not systematically monitor all providers’ activities or offenders’ outcomes. Some providers have criticised the current CRS contracts for being “highly process driven” and focussing too much on inputs, such as whether a prison leaver has been offered an appointment, instead of good quality outcomes. HMPPS’s baseline audit of 28 highest value contracts identified poor performance by both the Probation Service and CRS providers. In 89% of contracts the Probation Service’s referrals to CRS providers did not meet standards in ‘some regards’ or ‘failed’ to meet standards, and in 68% of contracts providers did not sufficiently meet offenders’ rehabilitative needs. We are pleased that HMPPS tried to remove potential barriers to entry for small and voluntary sector organisations, but a 2021 survey of providers found the commissioning process was still “complex, cumbersome and bureaucratic”, with many small, specialist organisations finding it too hard to engage with HMPPS.

Recommendation 4a: In its Treasury Minute response, HMPPS should set out how it will ensure good quality outcomes for prison leavers under its existing Commissioned Rehabilitative Services contracts.

1. b) HMPPS should also set out in the Treasury Minute how it will apply the lessons learned from the procurement of these services to its future commissioning exercises.

It is vital that HMPPS understands more about what works best if it is to get the best outcomes from its limited funds for prisoner resettlement work. Although it received £550 million in the 2021 Spending Review to reduce reoffending, MoJ says that “difficult choices” lie ahead as it looks for ways to make savings and become more efficient. It is often easiest for departments to save money through cutting spending in “discretionary” areas, such as reducing reoffending. These funding decisions are made harder given many of HMPPS’s planned evaluations for resettlement programmes are still in their early stages, so it lacks the evidence base it needs to determine the effectiveness of its investments. For accommodation support, outcomes have remained stable with 76% of prison leavers from April 2022 to February 2023 in settled accommodation after three months, compared with 75% in 2021-22. HMI Probation found that HMPPS’s flagship initiative to provide 84 days of housing to prisoners at risk of homelessness was working well but securing longer term accommodation for prison leavers remained difficult. There are some encouraging signs within employment support initiatives, with 25% of prison leavers from April 2022 to February 2023 employed after six months, compared with 17% in 2021-22. But HMPPS’s plans to evaluate its employment initiatives are still in the early stages and as of May 2023 it had no firm plans to carry out essential impact evaluations. Determining whether recent improvements in prison leavers’ outcomes are attributable to its interventions or whether they may have happened anyway will be a key challenge for HMPPS.

Recommendation 5: In its Treasury Minute response, HMPPS should set out its plan for evaluating its current resettlement initiatives, including confirming how its evaluations for resettlement programmes will inform its approach in the next spending review.

Unprecedented pressures on the prison estate threaten the quality of resettlement services today and in the future. The prison estate is under “exceptional” pressure to meet current demands on capacity. At the end of March 2023, the prison population was at around 99% (84,400) of safe capacity (85,500). MoJ forecasts that the prison population could reach somewhere in the range of 93,100 to 106,300 by March 2027, an increase of 10% to 26% compared to March 2023. MoJ and HMPPS are adamant there will always be space to accommodate prisoners without compromising safety. However, they accept that the ongoing lack of “headroom” is hampering much needed refurbishment across the prison estate, and emergency solutions will cost the taxpayer more than traditional prison accommodation. MoJ also says that inflation means it will be “very challenging” to build new prison capacity and increase the number of staff in the prison and probation service. As the prison population grows, it will inevitably add pressure to already strained resettlement services within prisons and the community. HMPPS does not currently have a long-term strategy to manage the anticipated increase in demand for resettlement services.

Recommendation 6: The Ministry of Justice should write to us within six months with its latest 5 to 10 year projections for:

• its prison population and its safe prison capacity;
• bringing six new prisons online; and
• the level of demand for resettlement services.