Key Points
- More than 5,000 offenders in England and Wales have failed to be monitored through electronic tags in the first six months of 2026 owing to probation officers’ failure to fit them, an Institute for Government report in The Guardian shows.
- That number accounted for approximately 15% of people who were ordered to wear electronic monitoring tags.
- Approximately 1,600 offenders wore tags which had been out of transmission for more than two weeks due to various technical issues or lack of charging.
- According to the report, the Institute for Government has found that electronic monitoring is not operating well enough to serve the demand for its services.
- It argued that the lack of probation staff has resulted in rationing probation supervision services such that the imposed sentences by courts on offenders “essentially became a fiction” as noted in The Guardian.
- No probation service division reviewed in 2024 or 2025 was rated “good” or above; two-thirds were rated “inadequate”.
- Cassia Rowland, the author of the report and deputy director at the Institute for Government, has pointed out that the probation service staff members are demoralized and they worry about their personal safety and that of the public.
Wales (Wales Times) October 12, 2026 – More than 5,000 offenders who should have been electronically monitored in the first half of this year did not receive tags because probation staff failed to fit the devices, according to a report by the Institute for Government. As reported by The Guardian, the finding covers January to April and accounts for 15% of all people subject to an electronic monitoring order.
The report found that the failures were not limited to tags never being installed. Nearly another 1,600 people were wearing devices that did not send a signal to the monitoring system for more than two weeks, either because of technical faults or because the equipment had not been charged.
The Institute for Government concluded that the electronic monitoring system was not operating effectively and could not meet current demand. It said the problems reflected wider pressures across the probation service, where shortages of staff had forced managers to limit supervision.
What did the report say about probation supervision?
As reported by The Guardian, the Institute for Government said that “rationing probation supervision” because of staff shortages meant sentences imposed by courts had become “essentially a fiction” for most offenders.
The report warned that, once the Sentencing Act 2026 is fully implemented, most convicted offenders will spend the final third of their sentences on licence without active supervision.
The inspection findings cited in the report added to concerns about service quality. No probation division inspected in 2024 or 2025 received a rating above “requires improvement”, while two-thirds of divisions were rated “inadequate”.
What did Cassia Rowland say?
Cassia Rowland, deputy director of the Institute for Government and author of the report, said probation staff felt demoralised and were concerned about their own safety and risks to the public.
The report recommended that the government gradually increase the number of probation staff and restore home detention curfew as part of efforts to manage prison numbers.
It also cautioned that expanding the use of electronic tags could increase the workload of already overstretched staff, rather than resolving the underlying capacity problem.
How does this compare with earlier tag findings?
The findings follow a separate report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, published in September, which found that almost half of electronic tags used to track offenders’ movements were not fitted on time. As reported by the BBC, some offenders waited up to five months for a tag, with delays linked to repeated breaches of court and prison orders.
The inspectorate found that only 55% of GPS and radio-frequency tags were fitted promptly, while 60% of alcohol monitoring tags were fitted on time. It examined a snapshot of 180 people subject to electronic monitoring under court orders or licence conditions.
According to the inspectorate, 27,847 people had been given tagging orders with equipment in England and Wales as of June 30, 2026.
Earlier reporting by the BBC also cited a National Audit Office finding that almost 9,000 people in England and Wales who were required to have an electronic monitoring tag did not have one as of March 2026. The Ministry of Justice disputed that figure, saying its own review put the number at 5,450.
What has the government said?
The government said it was making record investment in the probation service, community sentences, the expansion of electronic monitoring and the recruitment of thousands of new staff.
The Ministry of Justice has previously disputed the National Audit Office’s higher estimate of unmonitored offenders, saying its own review identified 5,450 people recorded as having an active monitoring order but no tag. The National Audit Office said possible reasons included system errors, refusal to wear a tag, delays in fitting equipment, or an arrest in which a tag was removed.
The government’s wider reforms include expanding electronic tagging of offenders released from prison. Under measures announced previously, rape and certain child sex offenders would be subject to enhanced probation supervision after release, including GPS monitoring for 12 months.
Background of the development
Electronic monitoring tags are used in England and Wales to enforce curfews, track offenders’ movements and support supervision after release or as part of community sentences. The latest Institute for Government findings come amid wider pressure on prison and probation services, including limited prison capacity and rising demand for probation supervision.
Parliamentary research published in September said both services faced significant pressures, while stakeholders argued that reforms and investment had not gone far enough. The government has responded with sentencing changes, prison expansion, enhanced offender supervision and additional victim support.
The probation caseload stood at 258,332 on March 31, 2026, according to Ministry of Justice published data.
Prediction: How could this affect victims and communities?
For victims, victims’ groups and communities in England and Wales, the development could reduce confidence that court-ordered monitoring conditions are being enforced reliably. If tags are not fitted promptly or fail to transmit signals, breaches of curfews and movement restrictions may take longer to identify, increasing concern among people who were promised additional safeguards.
For offenders and probation staff, the findings suggest that electronic monitoring may place further operational demands on a service already struggling with staffing shortages. The Institute for Government warned that expanding tagging without sufficient capacity could worsen workloads, while its recommendations point to more recruitment and restored home detention curfew as possible ways to ease pressure.
For policymakers, the report is likely to intensify scrutiny of whether investment in tagging can deliver effective supervision without parallel investment in probation staffing, equipment maintenance and timely installation.
