The government’s part-privatisation programme of probation services has suffered a blow as three private community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) in the south west have gone into administration.

The services are designed to help rehabilitate offenders when they leave prison.

Wales CRC, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire CRC, and Dorset, Devon and Cornwall CRC are the affected companies.

All three were run by Working Links (Employment) Limited.

The Ministry of Justice has now appointed Seetec, the parent company of Kent, Surrey and Sussex CRC, to take over delivery of the services.

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The failure comes months after a damning report concluding an eight-month inquiry by the Justice Committee which described “a probation system that is currently a mess”, and may threaten public safety.

The report said some private CRCs were monitoring offenders on the telephone, with overstretched staff handling up to 150 cases each.

It also said they had found convicts were being made to carry out “meaningless” unpaid work such as moving mud from one pile to another in graveyards, or were turning up to placements and finding no-one there.

The government was subsequently forced to end some of the “catastrophic” contracts two years early, and had to pay £170m to the private firms to cover huge losses.

This bailout announced in July 2018 was the second time the government has had to step in to support the probation services, and had already spent £342m to shore up the industry.

CRCs are providing fewer programmes than expected, meaning they are earning far less than predicted when their contracts were drawn up.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We were aware of Working Links’ financial situation and have taken action to ensure continuity of probation services.

“That means probation officers will continue to be supported, offenders will be supervised, and the public will be protected.