The Serious Fraud Office investigation into the G4S tagging contract is a major setback for plans to privatise the probation service, UNISON national officer Ben Priestley says.
Justice secretary Chris Grayling announced yesterday that he was calling in the Serious Fraud Office, after it was revealed that G4S and Serco had both overcharged on their contracts to monitor electronic tags in England and Wales.
Mr Grayling said that the companies had charged “for people who were back in prison and had had their tags removed, people who had left the country, and those who had never been tagged in the first place but who had instead been returned to court.
“There are a small number of cases where charging continued for a period when the subject was known to have died,” he added.
Serco has agreed to co-operate with a new “forensic audit” of its contract and charges. G4S has not, leading Mr Grayling to ask the SFO to investigate whether more than breach of contract was involved.
Mr Priestley, UNISON’s national officer for the police and justice service group, commented today: “The announcement is a major setback for the justice secretary’s plans to privatise the probation service, as both companies were likely bidders for the work.”
Justice Secretary’s statement to the House of Commons (Hansard)
