Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure that people on early prison release have (a) housing, (b) employment and (c) sufficient probation provision to support them.

Individuals released through the Standard Determinate Sentence changes, known as SDS40, and at risk of homelessness can be referred to HMPPS’s Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 (CAS3), which can provide up to 12-weeks temporary accommodation. We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and the Welsh Government to mitigate any impact on Local Authorities, as well as taking practical steps to minimise the chances that individuals are released homeless. This includes ensuring data is shared with the 49 Strategic Housing Specialists based in prisons and the Probation-based Homeless Prevention Teams to make sure plans are in place for those who need accommodation support.

We are also working closely with the Department of Work and Pensions to ensure that prisons and Jobcentres are prepared to support temporarily higher volumes of prisoners approaching release. We will collectively ensure that relevant staff in prisons and Jobcentres have the right data on prisoners who are being released and will provide guidance and regular communications to those staff, so they are aware of what actions to take. This will ensure that prisoners are supported on release in the community with provision of bank accounts and ID, referrals to work programmes on release, arranging employment pre-release, and timely access to benefits where appropriate.

It is vital there is sufficient probation capacity to manage these individuals upon release. The move to SDS40 gives probation staff more time to prepare and plan for release, compared to the previous government’s End of Supervised Licence Scheme meaning there will be more resilience in the system. We are also onboarding 1,000 new trainee probation officers by March 2025.

Once released, offenders will be subject to the same set of strict licence conditions that would apply had they been released at a 50% automatic release point and will be liable to recall to prison if they do not comply with these conditions or are judged to be a risk to public safety. These could include electronic monitoring, alcohol tags, and exclusion zones.