Domestic violence victims at risk because private probation companies 'failing to monitor abusers', new report finds

Women and children are being left at risk of domestic violence because private probation companies are failing to properly manage convicted abusers, a report has found.

HM Inspectorate of Probation found that work to protect victims was not good enough in 71 per cent of cases assessed, and the watchdog launched several urgent interventions because of “grave concerns”.

The watchdog said poor practice was widespread across more than 100 cases examined from eight Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) in five regions of England and Wales.

Dame Glenys Stacey, the chief inspector of probation, said she believed the grim findings were “consistent” across the country.

“Effective probation supervision can reduce the risk of reoffending but in a large handful of the cases we looked at we were so immediately concerned about the safety of potential victims and children that we required immediate action on the day,” she told The Independent.

“It is concerning if that’s representative because of the volumes here.”

It is estimated that 1.2 million women and 713,000 men were the victims of domestic abuse during the year to March 2017, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

Inspectors found CRC staff did not have the skills, experience or time to supervise perpetrators properly, leaving them to “drift through” court orders and potentially abuse again.

In more than half the cases assessed, convicted domestic abusers were not making enough progress on their court orders and CRC staff were making home visits in just one-fifth of cases that required them.

Dame Glenys said CRC staff were overloaded with cases under huge time pressure, while the companies’ current contracts have caused them to “prioritise processing deadlines above good-quality and safe practice”.

“There’s no national strategy to improve quality of probation work on domestic abuse and there are no specific obligations or directions in the current government contracts, so it’s not set out clearly what they must do,” she added.

CRCs were set up as part of the government’s controversial part-privatisation of probation in 2014 and have recently been bailed out for a second time after their “catastrophic” contracts were scrapped two years early.

Dame Glenys called for the Ministry of Justice to change the structure when it recasts the contracts, which will see the current 21 CRCs slashed to 11 within two years.

In domestic abuse cases, they are allegedly conducting only a “basic assessment” of offenders, committing written reviews to monitor progress in less than a third of cases and neglecting to request information from police and social services.

Perpetrators were referred to Building Better Relationships – the only nationally accredited domestic abuse programme to rehabilitate offenders – in just a quarter of cases, causing fewer courses to be put on, and less frequently.

Inspectors said the fall has put CRCs in a “downward spiral” because they are paid for each participant and can be penalised financially for dropouts.

Inspectors said some CRCs did “not have the knowledge and skills to assess the impact of domestic abuse on victims and children”, while others failed to understand the importance of potentially dangerous changes such as an abuser moving in with a new partner.

In one case, a man sentenced to undergo an accredited rehabilitation programme for assault had to wait seven months for it to start, and attacked his partner again during that time.

The new assault was reported to the responsible CRC officer but they took no action and did not liaise with the police.

Another man violated an exclusion order that should have prevented him from visiting his family home for months to continue a relationship with his victim, but the CRC did not check on his partner or children’s safety, or call the police.

Katie Ghose, the chief executive of Women’s Aid, said the recorded cases are “just the tip of the iceberg”.

Because domestic abuse is not a stand-alone crime, perpetrators have to be convicted of other offences like assault or criminal damage, and then have a “flag” added to their case by officials.

“The report makes clear that the failings found are putting survivors at risk of further abuse,” Ms Ghose added.

“Sadly we’re not surprised to see the patchy response because we know that whether it’s probation or other public services, basic knowledge about the dynamics of domestic abuse are lacking.”

Probation inspectors have previously warned that the firms were putting the public at risk by letting criminals commit murder and sexual offences while supposedly under supervision.

Last year, CRCs were found to be failing to properly assess the risk of harm in half of cases, while supervising thousands of convicts with phone calls every six weeks.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the reforms that created the companies “had been a multi-million-pound disaster since day one”.

“Poorly-run private companies, bailed out by the taxpayer, are failing to turn lives around, letting down women and children, and undermining public safety,” she added.

“Domestic abuse cases require a specialist focus that used to be the preserve of probation but which has seemingly fallen by the wayside in the rush to cut costs and turn a profit.”

The government is currently drawing up a Domestic Abuse Bill that may include new protection orders demanding compulsory addiction treatments and electronic tagging and the creation of a domestic abuse commissioner to represent victims and services.

Rory Stewart, the prisons and probation minister, said: “We are taking decisive action to improve CRCs by ending current contracts early, investing £22m in through the gate services, and we have consulted on how best to deliver probation services in the future.

“This report highlights pockets of good practice to build on, but more must be done. By putting in place new arrangements we will heed the lessons from what has and hasn’t worked, so probation plays its full part in tackling domestic abuse and protecting victims.”