Offenders in England and Wales who are supervised in the community are not receiving enough help to tackle drug misuse, and specialist programmes for identifying at-risk users of drugs have “withered on the vine”, a watchdog has said.
At least 75,000 of the 156,000 offenders in probation use drugs problematically yet fewer than 3,000 people were referred by probation services to specialist drug misuse treatment in 2019/2020, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) found.
In a report on drug treatment for people on probation, the inspectorate said too few people on probation received help to tackle drugs misuse and when referrals were made, the quality of services was “often not good enough”.
Few drug users on probation are being tested for drug use – just one in six of the inspected sample of known users, the inspectorate said.
The chief inspector of probation, Justin Russell, said: “Drug-related crime causes widespread misery and costs the public purse more than £9bn a year. Yet there is a lack of focus and funding across the whole criminal justice system to tackle drug use and supply.
“The current system is not working well and the findings of this inspection were very disappointing.”
The inspection found two-thirds of prison leavers received treatment for drugs misuse while in custody but did not continue to receive help on release.
For several years, HMIP has reported on heavy workloads in parts of the probation service. Some probation officers managed upwards of 70 cases, which affected the overall quality of their work.
Inspectors found practitioners did not always have the time to examine individuals’ back stories and identify factors that could help support them into recovery, stay safe and move away from drug-related offending.
At the time of the inspection, probation services were delivered by the National Probation Service and privately-owned community rehabilitation companies. A major reorganisation took place at the end of June and probation services are now unified into one public sector service.
Russell added: “The new Probation Service must strengthen every aspect of its work with drug users. It needs to build a comprehensive picture of this crime-generating cohort and commission the right services to reduce their drug use.”
A government spokesperson said: “We have recently invested an extra £80m to expand community drug treatment services in England. This is the biggest funding increase in 15 years and will allow thousands more offenders get the help they need to turn their lives around, prevent reoffending and better protect the public.”
