Skip to main content
Probation officers furious as sell-off forced through

PROBATION officers were apoplectic yesterday after Chris Grayling railroaded through plans to privatise the service despite widespread concerns over the effect of the sell-off.

The Justice Secretary signed £450 million-worth of contracts with private and voluntary sector bidders as part of his controversial “transforming rehabilitation” package.

The changes allow private firms and charities to take over the supervision of 225,000 low and medium-risk offenders each year on a payment-by-results basis.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
THE PRIVATEER: Wes Streeting
Features / 11 March 2026
11 March 2026

In the second part of her critique of Wes Streeting’s TenYear Plan for Health, HELEN MERCER looks at the central planks of this privatisation blueprint

A general view of a Prison
Prisons / 13 October 2025
13 October 2025
Construction workers during the installation of the first high speed railway platforms for the HS2 project at Old Oak Common station, west London, May 29, 2025
Features / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025
Health Secretary Wes Streeting speaking at the launch of the Government's 10-year health plan during a visit to the Sir Ludwig Guttman Health & Wellbeing Centre in east London, July 3, 2025
Features / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025

US General Stanley McChrystal has been invited to advise on creating a ‘team of teams’ for healthcare transformation. His credentials? He previously ran interrogation bases where Iraqis were stripped naked and beaten, reports SOLOMON HUGHES