Shabana Mahmood has admitted fewer sex offenders will complete rehabilitation courses (Image: Getty Images)
Sex offenders and domestic abusers will avoid having to complete rehabilitation courses because the Probation Service is in crisis, Shabana Mahmood admitted.
The Justice Secretary announced courses for “low risk” offenders will be cancelled amid fears offenders are not being managed properly, leaving the public in danger.
Sex offenders and criminals convicted of domestic abuse will still receive supervision from a probation officer and any breaches of a licence condition could see them back in prison, Ms Mahmood added.
Asked by reporters how low-risk offenders will be assessed to have their courses cancelled, Ms Mahmood said it would be determined by how risky they are and whether they are likely to reoffend.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood during a roundtable discussion (Image: PA)
Pushed on whether sex offenders and domestic abusers would be excluded, she added: “The accredited course is all based on risk.
“And so where any offender, regardless of whether they are a sex offender, whether they have a domestic abuse flag… or indeed, any other kind of offence, it would all be based on risk of reoffending and risk of harm.”
Ms Mahmood said more than 13,000 accredited programmes ordered by the courts were not fulfilled before their sentences expired in the three years up to March 2024.
In a speech at London Probation Headquarters, the Lord Chancellor said: “Now is also a moment about the challenges that the service faces, and the simple fact is this, the service this Government inherited was burdened with a workload that was quite simply impossible.
“When we took office, we discovered that orders handed out by courts were not taking place in the three years to March 2024, around 13,000 accredited programmes, a type of rehabilitative course, did not happen.”
Ms Mahmood added that the problem had been years in the making as she ended courses for those who pose less risk to society.
“We will ensure those offenders who pose a higher risk and who need to receive these courses will do so,” Ms Mahmood said.
“This isn’t a decision I take lightly, but it is a decision to confront the reality of the challenges facing the Probation Service.”
Justice officials believe “officers have been unable to pay enough attention to those offenders who pose the greatest risk to society.
“This has lead, in some cases, to missed warning signs where offenders have gone on to commit serious further offences, including murder.”
The Justice Secretary said probation officers are wasting hours “each day” because they are “drowning in paperwork.”
She added: “And I don’t mean metaphorical paperwork.
“I mean literal pen and paperwork.
“This takes up valuable time, that would be better spent working with offenders…
“And it also introduces the risk of error – the failure to identify the critical piece of information that might shape a professional’s judgement of the risk that an offender poses.”
The Justice Secretary also laid out her plans to recruit 1,300 new probation officers by March 2026 and introduce new technology to stop staff “drowning” in paperwork when more time could be spent supervising offenders.
The new staff will be in addition to 1,000 officers to be recruited by March this year.