Struggle to Recruit Staff Affects Quality of Criminal Justice System: Watchdog

A statue representing the scales of justice is seen on the roof of the Old Bailey courts in central London, on Jan. 26, 2007. Toby Melville/Reuters

The criminal justice system (CJS) is struggling with recruitment and retention of staff, which has affected the quality of service provided to defendants, victims, and witnesses, inspectors have found.

The HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate has highlighted the ongoing risks facing the police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Probation and Youth Offending Services, and the Prison Service.

A joint report has found “worrying levels of inexperience” across the CJS and in some areas “significant problems” in staff retention. The pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic deepened the issues faced by the system, leading to a backlog of outstanding court cases, high staff turnover, and staff shortages, the watchdog warned.

Although the report found signs of progress in recruitment, including in the CPS, the Probation Service, and the Prison Service, it said that ongoing risks remained.

One of them is the level of staff experience, a common thread running through all the inspected services.

“More experienced police officers, prosecutors and probation practitioners can also be left shouldering a disproportionately complex caseload,” the report said.

The CPS has been found to face the risks of “inexperienced staff assisting and mentoring other inexperienced staff” and losing experienced prosecutors through retirement.

“We find staff grappling with heightened pressures, from the point at which a crime is reported through to detention in overcrowded prisons,” the joint inspection revealed.

Retention

According to the National Audit Office, of all police officers, 38 percent will have fewer than five years’ service by 2024.

“Policing is a rewarding but tough career. As with any industry, we know that if you are going to leave it is likely to be within the first couple of years, and the number of leavers is around what we had expected and planned for,” a National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman said.

In 2019, the government committed to recruit 20,000 new police officers in England and Wales by the end of March 2023. As a result, 21,951 officers were recruited via the Police Uplift Programme by the March deadline.

“While the target was achieved, the scale of such rapid recruitment has risks,” said the joint inspection report.

It warned that the attrition rate is high in the early years of service and retaining staff remained a challenge, that had to be addressed.

CPS Chief Inspector Andrew Cayley, KC has called on the police, CPS, prisons, and Probation Service to “better understand why staff are leaving” and provide them with better supervision and support.

The service has been able to respond to staff shortages, a CPS spokesperson said, by hiring more legal staff in areas with high numbers of applicants and deploying them to areas with the greatest need.

Prisons

The staffing challenge has affected the operation of prisons in the country, the report added. Inspectors found that “far too many prisons” operated reduced regimes last year.

“This meant that prisoners remained locked in their cells for long periods of time without the purposeful activity that would support a successful reintegration back into society at the end of their sentences,” the watchdog said.

The prison system has been grappling with issues of overcrowding and limited capacity, which last year led to reports of compromised security regimes.

To tackle recruitment and retention, the government last year launched the first ever national TV and radio campaign to recruit prison and probation officers.

Commenting on staffing numbers, a Ministry of Justice spokesman said that it had secured an extra 1,400 prison officers since last year.

“We have also recruited an extra 750 additional frontline probation staff, part of our extra £155 million investment every year into probation to reduce caseloads, steer offenders away from crime, and keep the public safe,” the spokesman added.

PA Media contributed to this report.