Backlog of prisoners needing tags 'back to normal level' - minister

On Friday, Lord Timpson in a statement said: “In recent weeks I have been pushing Serco to sort the outstanding backlog in tagging offenders promptly. I am pleased to say this has now been reduced to normal levels.

"I will continue to hold Serco to account and will not hesitate to impose further financial penalties should its performance drop again”.

Serco is the security contractor which manages the prison tagging system.

But probation staff say this week they were told by the government that the backlog of offenders who needed to be tagged had reached "acceptable levels". But the government has not defined what that exactly means.

One probation officer said: “Does that mean 90% have been tagged or 50%? These problems have been going on for months and if they’ve just sorted the backlog, that doesn’t mean they’ve sorted the problem.

“Our workload is at ridiculous levels already and we’re being expected to do stuff like breathalyse people because they haven’t got an alcohol tag. We shouldn’t be doing this”.

Many of those let out early were released on licence.

In some cases, that means having to wear an ankle tag so that their movements can be monitored to check they are obeying a curfew or following other restrictions.

A Serco spokesperson said: “We continue to work closely with MoJ and the Probation Service to deal with the increased volume of tagging following the early release scheme.

“We have record numbers of staff fitting tags and are dealing with cases promptly, prioritising based on agreed risk profiles.”