Preferred bidder announced

Liz Rijnenberg, CEO of Wales CRC states "I am delighted to be able to inform you that the Secretary of State for Justice Chris Grayling today announced the name of the preferred bidder for delivering future rehabilitation services across Wales."

The preferred bidder for the Wales Community Rehabilitation Company is Working Links in strategic partnership with Innovation Wessex, a probation staff mutual. The announcement follows a rigorous evaluation and moderation process.

The full list of preferred bidders for all 21 CRCs around the country is available on the Ministry of Justice website.

These important reforms mean that, for the first time in recent history, virtually every offender released from custody will receive statutory supervision and rehabilitation in the community. This includes the 45,000 most prolific offenders sentenced to less than 12 months in custody, who have the highest rates of reoffending.

The new payment by results system will incentivise providers to maintain a sharp focus on reforming offenders and will only pay them in full for real reductions in reoffending.

The Ministry of Justice will now be holding a series of meetings over the coming weeks with the preferred bidders in preparation to award contracts. The MoJ remains on track to sign contracts with the new providers within the coming weeks.

Wales CRC was created on June 1st of this year as part of the Government’s Transforming Rehabilitation scheme and provides probation services for around 8,000 low and medium risk offenders.

Liz adds, "I am very proud of the professionalism which our staff have demonstrated in managing the challenges of the last 18 months following the announcement of plans to reform the delivery of Probation Services.

We have worked together to embed the new organisation with the support of the National Offender Management Service in Wales, Welsh Government and our partners and stakeholders across all sectors.

Our track record of stepping up to new challenges means we are well equipped to work with Working Links to develop new and innovative ways to reduce reoffending and protect the public in Wales.

Over the coming weeks we will be working with Working Links and the contract management team to prepare for the contract award stage. This is a very exciting period for our senior management team, board of directors and all those who work across the CRC to deliver front line services.

I would like to say how much I am looking forward to continuing to work in partnership with you as we work towards our common goals of protecting the public and reducing reoffending while also respecting individuals and believing in their ability to change."