- January 9, 2013
Today sees the launch of the new Justice Secretary’s plans for a substantial expansion in the use of payment by results (PBR) for the management and rehabilitation of offenders. These have been eagerly awaited and much anticipated since the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) paused previous plans to pilot PBR in a number of areas in last November.
The plans are, as always promised, subject to consultation (though only for six weeks!) and much detail has still to emerge. But it is clear that the proposals will be radical and will have huge implications for both Probation Trusts and for third and private sector providers of rehabilitation services.
The plans deserve careful analysis once more detail emerges but my initial reaction – as when the plans were first trailed in November – is that there is risk in such a radical change. Some have welcomed the new Justice Secretary’s clear desire to “get on with it”, but there were good reasons for the pilot-based approach which the MoJ was previously taking. This was not so much because otherwise the government would be taking “a reckless gamble with public safety” as the Labour Party has already alleged, but because the evidence base for the effectiveness of intervention in reducing re-offending was, and remains, poor. Without better evidence (which the pilots aimed to capture), it may be very hard to persuade many providers – already bruised by their experience of the Work Programme – to take part.
There are also many major challenges ahead for Probation Trusts – who will need to radically reorganise, and possibly mutualise or form joint ventures so they can bid for contracts; and for the MoJ commissioning team – who need to decide how they measure success in reducing reoffending, and for example whether they use “binary” or more complex measures which take account of success in reducing the severity or frequency of offences.
It’s going to be an interesting few weeks and then many months in the Justice sector!