The Ministry of Justice can take five key steps to avoid making the same mistakes when the Probation Service is privatised
The Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) £5bn Work Programme was strongly criticised after it became apparent that just 3.6% of those on the scheme had been moved off benefits and into secure employment in its first 14 months in existence.
The disappointing performance has implications beyond the unemployment statistics. This is because the government is pursuing a similar (but not identical) commissioning model for the imminent privatisation of the Probation Service. In an attempt to help the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to avoid the operational and financial difficulties of the Work Programme, Working Chance has published a five-point Action Plan.
With the Work Programme it was assumed that private sector Lead Providers would make use of the abundant specialist skills of smaller organisations, including charities, working in specific sectors and locations to improve the service they offered to those seeking employment. Since many of those smaller organisations could demonstrate a proven ability to deliver outcomes in areas where the Lead Providers lacked a strong enough track record, they were often added to the original bid applications.
So far so good. However, once those contracts were won, the smaller organisations were promptly frozen out by the providers, who are retaining almost all the contracts and the money for themselves.
Working Chance is very concerned that exactly the same thing will happen with the outsourcing of the Probation Service. Working Chance is a small organisation, like those affected under the Work Programme. We were set up in 2007 to act as a specialist employment agency to get female ex-offenders into work across London and the South East. Since our inception we have worked with over 450 women and have in the last 12 months placed over 125 in paid or voluntary work. The re-offending rate of those women supported by Working Chance is under 3%, which compares very favourably with the national average of 51%.
We have a lot to offer Lead Providers as they assemble their bid teams over the next few months. However, what's to stop them reverting to type after the deals are signed and keeping everything for themselves?
The drawback, for both ex-offenders and the taxpayer, is that the dynamic, innovative and, above all, successful approaches to rehabilitation that have been pioneered by Working Chance and other specialists in this key area will be ignored. Profit will be prioritised over people, as the Lead Providers focus on keeping the money rather than driving improvement and innovation in rehabilitation. A major opportunity to significantly reform and strengthen the current probation system could be lost.
So what's the solution? In our submission to the MoJ's Consultation on this issue last month we spelt out a series of simple, straightforward and, above all, cheap steps government could take to prevent a recurrence of this problem.
This five-point Action Plan is as follows:
1. Incentivise excellent performance and good value for money by introducing a 'whistle-blowing' hotline to the MoJ, so that the smaller organisations can report problems with the Lead Providers.
2. Maintain a truly diverse supply chain by making it one of the specific contractual measures against which Lead Providers' performance is assessed. This means not only assessing bids for evidence of inclusion of smaller partner organisations, but also including it in regular performance reviews.
3. In Lead Providers' performance reviews, question exactly who they are engaging with and whether they are meeting the specific, often highly specialist needs of those they are meant to be helping lead offence-free lives.
4. Ensure better outcomes for female offenders and others with complex needs by compelling Lead Providers to publish their own analyses of the specific groups within the criminal justice system that require specialist support – and then insist they demonstrate precisely how (and with whom) they intend to meet these needs.
5. Use this moment to revolutionise the management of women offenders by introducing a 17th Commissioning Arm (alongside the 16 regional contract centres) that focuses solely on them. This would allow best practice to be shared across the country and prevent their needs once again being swept aside by large private sector companies.
It is clear that the MoJ's 'Rehabilitation Revolution' will fail if ministers do not learn key lessons from the Work Programme. We hope that the voices of those at the coalface, delivering quality services to ex-offenders, will be heard. But, as ever, only time will tell.
Jocelyn Hillman is chief executive of Working Chance.
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