A joint inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has identified significant shortcomings in England and Wales’ electronic tagging system, warning that failures in monitoring and enforcement could leave victims and the public at risk.
The 105-page report, published on Thursday, found that probation officers struggled to establish which offenders were being monitored, while police forces faced difficulties responding consistently to breaches of tagging requirements.
The inspection made 30 recommendations to improve the system, including simplifying procedures, improving data quality and strengthening the response to violations.
Thousands of Offenders Were Left Without Tagging Devices
Figures published in July showed that 5,043 offenders who had received tagging orders had not been fitted with electronic monitoring devices. The figure represented approximately one in seven offenders covered by the orders in England and Wales.
Inspectors also found that significant manual work remained necessary to combine information from different databases and determine who was being monitored, who was not and why monitoring had not started.
Martin Jones, Chief Inspector of Probation, said many of the weaknesses identified during an earlier inspection in 2022 remained unresolved.
He said monitoring information was not always properly understood or used, while basic questions about which offenders were subject to surveillance continued to require considerable manual effort.
Jones said electronic monitoring could help guide offenders away from further offending, but technology alone could not deliver those benefits.
Police Raise Concerns Over Repeated Tagging Breaches
The report found that some defendants arrested for allegedly breaching electronic monitoring conditions were released by courts under the same bail conditions they had previously violated.
Police officers told inspectors that the situation could occur repeatedly, and the inspection identified examples of such cases.
The findings raised concerns about the consequences offenders faced when they failed to comply with requirements such as curfews.
Michelle Skeer, HM Inspector of Constabulary, said inspectors had identified cases in which decisions about risks to victims and the public were not clearly recorded.
She added that some police forces lacked the information needed to understand the scale of demand they faced when responding to tagging breaches.
Skeer said every breach notification could have consequences for victim safety and public protection, calling for clearer guidance, improved record-keeping and stronger scrutiny.
Breach Notifications Sometimes Sent to the Wrong Police Force
Inspectors found that information about offenders who violated tagging orders was sometimes sent to a police force that lacked the relevant details about the victims.
Under the Ministry of Justice’s arrangements, electronic monitoring companies were instructed to notify the offender’s local police force when an order was breached, rather than the force responsible for the area where the original offence occurred.
The report said the receiving force might not have access to victims’ details because those records were held by the force where the crime had been committed.
Inspectors recommended that breach notifications should instead be sent to the police force responsible for the original offence.
GPS Monitoring Data Not Always Analysed
The inspection also found that information collected by GPS-enabled tags about offenders’ movements was not always being analysed or used effectively.
One offender wearing a tag told inspectors that the monitoring had been little more than a box-ticking exercise.
The individual, who said they worked on the railway, recalled being at a shipping dock at 3am without anyone apparently knowing where they were.
The offender said the circumstances should have raised concerns because their offence involved drugs.
The example was included in the report’s findings on weaknesses in the use of satellite-based monitoring technology.
Probation Inspector Calls for Urgent Improvements
Jones urged the Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service to improve the system as electronic monitoring expands under the Sentencing Act 2026.
He said processes needed to be simplified, data quality improved and frontline practitioners given the skills and confidence required to use the technology effectively.
The inspection’s recommendations addressed operational weaknesses, information-sharing arrangements and the handling of notifications when offenders breached their conditions.
Conservatives Criticise Labour Over Tagging Policy
Conservative justice spokesman Nick Timothy said the findings contradicted Labour’s claims that it would introduce the toughest electronic tagging regime.
Timothy accused the government of failing to ensure meaningful consequences for breaches and said the weaknesses identified by inspectors put public safety at risk.
He also said he had required the prisons minister to appear before Parliament to answer questions about the problems, but claimed she had declined to answer basic questions about how many offenders being released early had been tagged.
The report comes as Labour pursues a justice policy that could see up to 50,000 prisoners a year released early, alongside the use of shorter sentences and community-based punishments for some offenders.
Ministers have repeatedly described electronic monitoring as an important part of enforcing community sentences.
Victims’ Commissioner Warns Against Relying on Tags Alone
Victims’ Commissioner Claire Waxman said the inspection highlighted the limitations of electronic monitoring ahead of another wave of early prisoner releases.
She warned that tagging could create a false sense of security for victims if it was not supported by effective monitoring, enforcement and swift action when conditions were breached.
Waxman said the government’s confidence in what it had described as a form of “prison in the community” was not yet matched by the system’s performance on the ground.
Government Defends Expansion of Electronic Monitoring
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the government had inherited a justice system facing a crisis after a decade of underinvestment.
The spokesperson said the government was expanding electronic monitoring and increasing the number of offenders fitted with tags before leaving prison.
“The protection of victims is crucial to the criminal justice system and the evidence is clear that tagging works to cut reoffending and keep the public safe,” the spokesperson said.
The ministry added that it was providing support and resources to frontline staff responsible for monitoring tagged offenders and recruiting thousands of additional probation officers.
