MoJ lets slip about 'low' prison and probation service staff levels

Ministry of Justice accidentally lets slip that prison and probation service staff levels are approaching ‘dangerously low levels’

The £8million MoJ contract blamed prison expansion and ‘high staff attrition’
Some regions have less than 80 per cent of the probation officers they need

Prison and probation service staffing levels are approaching ‘dangerously low levels’, the Ministry of Justice has accidentally admitted.

In an apparent blunder, the MoJ aired its concerns in the description of a recruitment contract on the government procurement website.

The £8million contract blamed ‘government commitments on prison expansion and high staff attrition’ for the shortages.

It warned a third of regions in England and Wales have less than 80 per cent of the probation officers they need.

And it said 15 per cent of prisons were lacking more than a fifth of the prison officers or support staff they require.

The £8million contract blamed ‘government commitments on prison expansion and high staff attrition’ for the shortages

Prison and probation service staffing levels are approaching ‘dangerously low levels’, the Ministry of Justice has accidentally admitted

The MoJ contract also outlines the challenges facing ministers due to the shortages in the prison and probation services. It states: ‘Prison and probation staffing is approaching dangerously low levels.

‘This is made more acute by government commitments on prison expansion and high staff attrition levels.’

Labour’s justice spokesman Steve Reed said last night: ‘If a third of the country has “dangerously low levels” of probation officers, we risk seeing even more cases where violent criminals who never should have been released from prison in the first place are allowed to strike again.’

But a government source hit back, telling the Mail it was ‘great to hear Steve Reed backs tougher parole measures’.

An MoJ spokesman said it had hired ‘a record 4,000 probation officers since 2021 and will recruit up to 5,000 more prison officers by the mid-2020s’.

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