HMPPS monitors performance against a range of targets to indicate whether the Probation Service is meeting its aims. Metrics for these targets measure activities at each stage of supervision against HMPPS’s target operating model, for example, the timeliness of appointments, and the proportion of individuals in employment at six months post release for custodial sentences.8 HMPPS’s data show that the performance of its Probation Service has worsened since unification in 2021. In 2024–25, it only met seven of its 27 (26%) performance targets, a decrease of 24 percentage points since July 2021 to March 2022 when it met eight out of the 16 targets (50%) it had at that time. HM Inspectorate of Probation’s (HMIP’s) inspections also 5 C&AG’s Report, para 3.2 6 C&AG’s Report, para 3.7 7 Committee of Public Accounts, Efficiency and resilience of the Probation Service Written Evidence 8 C&AG’s Report, para 1.9, Figures 4, 5 9 suggest a deterioration in quality. For example, in 2024, HMIP found that probation practitioners adequately assessed risk of harm in just 28% of cases, compared with 60% in 2018–19.9