The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that serious problems with electronic tagging are putting the public at risk, casting doubt over Labour's plans to reduce prison sentences in favour of community punishments. The government intends to cut the number of criminals sent to jail and rely heavily on tagging to monitor offenders in the community, but the watchdog questioned whether the system could be "safely scaled up" to take on this role. The report matters because it suggests a central plank of Labour's justice reforms is being expanded before it is working reliably, potentially heightening threats to public protection.

The NAO found that a significant share of offenders ordered to wear a tag by the courts or on release from prison had not actually been fitted with one. It initially reported that nearly 9,000 criminals — around a quarter of those due to be tagged — remained without a device at the end of March, though the Ministry of Justice later published revised figures putting the total at about 5,450, or roughly one in seven. The Ministry of Justice is spending £175 million to expand tagging run by HM Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) over the next three years, but the report warned HMPPS is scaling up the service while "key elements are not yet working effectively", leaving it operating beyond its stated risk appetite and tolerance levels.