Probation staff ‘spend 75pc of time filling in forms ’

It is “staggering” that probation officers can spend as little as a quarter of their time dealing directly with offenders, according to MPs.

The Commons Justice Committee criticised the “tick-box, bean-counting culture” which has left staff tied up filling in paperwork rather than supervising and helping to rehabilitate criminals.

The MPs recommended that probation trusts should be given greater independence and said there was an “urgent need” for scarce resources to be focused on the front line.

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Publishing a report into the role of the probation service in England and Wales, the committee called on the Ministry of Justice to commission an external review of the National Offender Management Service (Noms).

The MPs questioned whether Noms, which was established in 2004 and effectively merged the prison and probation services, was delivering good value for money, giving probation trusts the support and freedom they need, or co-ordinating the supervision of offenders in jail and the community.

They raised particular concerns about the volume of form-filling needed to comply with targets.

The report said: “We accept that probation officers have to do a certain amount of work which does not involve dealing directly with offenders.

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“However, it seems to us staggering that up to three quarters of officers’ time might be spent on work which does not involve direct engagement with offenders.”

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of probation service union Napo, added: “Napo warned in 2004 that Noms would be a bureaucratic nightmare.

“It is scandalous that probation staff now spend 75 per cent of their time on form-filling and responding to centrally driven emails.”

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