The Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has been urged to reduce the speed of the probation services timetable to outsource services.

The timetable to outsource 70 per cent of the probation service’s workload by a deadline of April 2014 has been criticised by leading figures in the probation service.

The plans will see the transfer of 225,000 low and medium risk offenders to ‘community rehabilitation companies’.

Mr Grayling has received three letters warning that performance would be risked if the timetable was enforced.

Both Leicestershire and Warwickshire probation trusts have called on Grayling to delay the timetable by at least six months.

Robin Verso, the Warwickshire probation trust chairman, said: “performance is bound to be damaged” , while Jane Wilson, chair of the Leicestershire and Rutland probation trust, said the deadline was unrealistic and posed “"serious implications for service delivery”. Gillian Wilmott, the chair of the Derbyshire probation trust,commented that the plans had the potential to lead to "more systemic risks”.

The outsourcing project , with contracts worth a total of £450 million, is based on a payment-by-results payment

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