Support, not just surveillance: Revolving Doors responds to NAO electronic monitoring report
Today, the National Audit Office (NAO) has released a report about the implementation of electronic monitoring (tagging). The public spending watchdog reveals a system beset by confusion, delays and poor risk management, despite plans for the mass rollout of tagging later this year as the Government’s early prison release scheme expands further.
The NAO’s report reveals:
- Just 62% of tag requests between January and April 2026 were successfully installed within the standard two attempts for adults.
- A shortfall of approximately 2,200 full-time equivalent probation staff as of March 2026, with a 1,500 forecast shortfall in probation full-time equivalent staff estimated to remain by September 2026.
- Only 10–50% of alerts result in breach notifications being sent to officials, and where outcomes are recorded nearly half result in ‘no further action’. On visits, the NAO observed that both serious and minor breaches were treated in the same way regardless of severity.
Pavan Dhaliwal is Revolving Doors’ Chief Executive. She says:
“Electronic monitoring as a means to create ‘prisons in the community’ by successive Governments have failed to live up to the hype. Reoffending at unacceptably high levels will continue if the mass rollout of tagging simply opens up another avenue for chaos, as the National Audit Office’s report makes clear has hitherto been the case.
We see the human cost: for people caught in cycles of reoffending, tagging is only as good as the meaningful, sustainable support received to address the root causes of their behaviour – it is no silver bullet. The public deserves an effective justice system, which can only be achieved with smart infrastructure and investing in what we know works.
If we are serious about ending the revolving door, we need the joined-up solutions, data-sharing and oversight the NAO recommends – but also an evidence-led effort to ensure that people are supported to live crime-free lives, rather than simply surveilled at a distance”
Revolving Doors is the only organisation in England and Wales focusing on the ‘revolving door’ cohort. Last year, we carried out a series of forums with our members – people with lived experience of this cycle of crisis and crime. As one participant put it:
“We should be ensuring that the tag is used in a fair and just way, like most things in the CJS, what works for one might not work for the other, but we need as many options for people as possible. The tag on its own, though, will not get to the root causes. It has to be part of a package.”
