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Tagging Failures Leave Thousands Unmonitored in England and Wales
By Drooid · · How we work
Tagging Failures Leave Thousands Unmonitored
A report by the Institute for Government (IfG) reveals that more than 5,000 offenders who should have been monitored were not fitted with electronic tags in the first half of the year, representing about 15 % of all tagging orders. In addition, almost 1,600 tags failed to transmit a signal for at least two weeks because of technical faults or dead batteries. The same analysis shows that no probation delivery unit inspected in 2024 or 2025 received a rating above “requires improvement,” and two-thirds were deemed “inadequate.”
Roots of the Supervision Shortfall
The IfG attributes the crisis to chronic understaffing and the rapid rollout of the 2026 Sentencing Act, which will shift many offenders onto licence periods without active supervision. Front-line staff describe a chaotic environment, with frequent safety concerns and a sense that court-imposed sentences have lost relevance. The report also notes that administrative recalls for non-offence-related issues have “skyrocketed,” and that early-release measures introduced in October—700 of an expected 4,500 prisoners—have heightened the workload for an already stretched Probation Service.
Government Response
A government spokesperson acknowledged inheriting a “justice system in crisis” after years of under-investment. The spokesperson asserts that all released offenders will be subject to strict monitoring, positioning tagging as one tool to protect the public.
Criticism from the Institute for Government
Cassia Rowland, associate director of the IfG and author of the report, warns that the lack of supervision “absolutely raises alarm bells” and that victims are being promised protection the system cannot deliver. She highlights how prisoners are often referred to substance-misuse programmes that cannot be accessed before sentences end, leaving the rehabilitative function of sentencing ineffective.
Verbatim Quotes
- “People have told me stories of referring prisoners on to substance misuse programmes and their sentence ends before they reach the front of the waiting list. The system is not functioning to try to help people,” — Cassia Rowland, the associate director at the institute and author of the report
- “This absolutely raises alarm bells. It’s very frustrating because victims are being made promises which potentially the system can’t meet.” — Cassia Rowland, the associate director at the institute and author of the report