The largest UK private probation operator plans to allow offenders to report in at ATM-style electronic kiosks as part of cost-cutting plans that will involve large-scale redundancies.



Sodexo justice services, which runs six of the 21 newly privatised community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) in England and Wales, intends to introduce the kiosks so offenders can report in without having to see a probation officer.

Staff have also been warned to expect jobs cuts of more than 30% – at least 700 posts – in the next six to 12 months.

The company’s “new operating model” makes clear it intends to introduce “biometric reporting” using cash machine-style kiosks.

The machines, which use fingerprint recognition technology to check identities, allow an offender to report in, to give and receive information, and to request a face-to-face meeting with a probation officer. Offenders are to be allowed to report into probation using the kiosks as a reward for good compliance with the early stages of their supervision order or prison release licence.

The company also plans to set up one centralised administrative hub supporting operational staff in face-to-face contact with offenders. The probation union Napo says this will mean some low-risk offenders being supervised via a call centre despite the majority of serious further offences being committed by offenders categorised as low-to-medium risk.

Martin Graham, the chief executive of the Sodexo CRC covering Norfolk and Suffolk, told his staff to expect a 34% staffing reduction, in an email on Friday: “I’m sure many of you will be shocked by such a figure but you need to remember that this figure is dependent on being able to deliver all the efficiency savings.



“Whatever the final agreed figures, however, it is clear that we will need to make significant staff reductions over the next weeks and months. Some of these will probably have to be compulsory redundancies.”

Napo says similar emails have gone out from Sodexo chief executives in South Yorkshire (36% job losses), Cumbria and Lancashire (30%), Northumbria (30%) and the CRC covering Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire (30%). A similar figure is expected in the remaining Sodexo company covering Essex. The job losses are expected to exceed 700 in total.



Sodexo won the largest number of probation contracts in England and Wales when the justice secretary, Chris Grayling, announced in February the outcome of the privatisation of 70% of probation work, supervising 150,000 medium and low-risk offenders each year.

Ian Lawrence, Napo general secretary, said: “We are angry and disappointed about this news. Probation staff have been through hell over the last 18 months dealing with Grayling’s so-called reforms and now many of them are facing redundancy and job insecurity.

“When we met with Sodexo earlier this year they told us there would be no reductions in workforce. The use of call centres and machines instead of highly skilled staff is downright dangerous and will put the public at risk.”



This looks like supervision of dangerous and violent offenders on the cheap Sadiq Khan, Labour

The private company has also told staff that they do not intend to honour an enhanced voluntary redundancy scheme which had been agreed between Grayling and the unions and was in place until 31 March.

Sodexo has told staff that they are planning on the basis that the majority of staff exits will be on compulsory terms from September, seven months after the contracts were awarded in line with a national agreement.

A Sodexo Justice Services spokesperson said: “We are in the process of sharing our future plans with employees across the six CRCs that we operate. Given that we will be formally consulting on these plans, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”

Sodexo’s spokesperson also said that in relation to the enhanced voluntary redundancy scheme the company was complying with the national agreement negotiated between the unions and the national offender management service.

Labour’s shadow justice secretary, Sadiq Khan, also criticised the move: “Tory and Lib Dem ministers promised a rehabilitation revolution but this looks like supervision of dangerous and violent offenders on the cheap.

“Sacking experienced and dedicated probation staff and replacing them with machines and call centres goes against everything we know that makes a difference in cutting re-offending. This is exactly why experts, probation staff and Labour warned the government’s reckless and half-baked privatisation would put public safety at risk,” he said.

