Watchdogs have uncovered a multitude of failings in electronic tagging schemes, despite Labour claiming the technology will keep the public safe as it lets tens of thousands of criminals out of jail.

A major inspection report by HM Inspectorate of Probation and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary said shortcomings in the tagging programme are 'leaving victims and the public at risk'.

The Conservatives said watchdogs had exposed Labour's 'lies' by revealing the 'lack of real consequences' faced by criminals who breach tagging orders.

The report found that complexities in the tagging systems mean it is difficult for probation officers to even keep track of which offenders are being monitored.

Police also raised concerns that criminals taken to court for breaching the requirements of their tagging order – such as failing to observe a curfew – are simply released on the same bail conditions.

And procedures to access information from satellite tags which use GPS technology to track offenders' movements are complex and 'cumbersome', leading to potentially vital information being ignored.

It comes after Labour introduced a soft justice masterplan which will see up to 50,000 criminals a year freed early from jail, with thousands more offenders handed shorter sentences or community sentences rather than custody.

Ministers have repeatedly claimed tagging will play a key role in 'tough' community punishments.

But the report, published on Thursday, highlighted an array of flaws and oversights in the current tagging regime.

Martin Jones, the Chief Inspector of Probation, said: 'If used properly, these tools have the potential to be guard-rails, steering an offender away from the wrong choices. But technology on its own cannot deliver these benefits.

'We found that many of the weaknesses we identified in 2022 persist today, with monitoring data not always well understood or used to best effect, and basic questions about who is and isn't being monitored still requiring significant manual effort to answer.'

He added: 'As the use of electronic monitoring grows under the Sentencing Act 2026, the Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service must move quickly to simplify processes, improve data quality and ensure practitioners have the skills and confidence to use this technology effectively.'

Michelle Skeer, HM Inspector of Constabulary, said: 'We found cases where decisions about the risk to victims and the public were not clearly recorded, and where forces simply did not have the information to understand the scale of demand they face.

'Every breach notification can have consequences for victim safety and public protection.

'Forces need clearer guidance, better recording and stronger scrutiny arrangements, so they can consistently respond to breaches with the rigour the public rightly expects.'

Tory justice spokesman Nick Timothy said: 'Labour claimed they would introduce the toughest tagging regime ever, but this damning report exposes their lies and the lack of real consequences for breaches.

'These failures have put public safety at risk and must be addressed now.

'I forced the prisons minister to come to Parliament this week to account for these failures, but she refused even to answer basic questions about how many of the criminals Labour are releasing early have been tagged.'

Figures published in July showed 5,043 offenders who had been handed a tagging order had not had devices fitted – about one in seven of the total in England and Wales.

The 105-page report, which made 30 recommendations for improvement, said: 'Significant manual effort remains necessary to reconcile multiple datasets and establish key operational facts, including who is currently being monitored, who is not being monitored, and why monitoring has not yet started.'

It went on: 'Police officers told us that defendants arrested for alleged electronic monitoring bail breaches were sometimes released by the courts subject to the same conditions they had previously breached.

'We were told that this could occur repeatedly, and our fieldwork case assessments identified examples of this.'

It found details of offenders who breach their tagging orders are sometimes being sent to the wrong police force to follow up.

The Ministry of Justice has told electronic monitoring companies to notify the offender's local police if they breach the terms of the order, rather than the victim's local force, it said.

'In those cases, the receiving force will not have the details of the victims. This is because these details will be held on the crime record management systems of the force where the offence was committed,' the report said.

It recommended that notifications should instead be sent to the force where the offence was committed.

Information from GPS tags about an offender's movements was not being analysed, the report found.

One tagged offender told inspectors: 'It was absolutely pointless, just a ticking box [sic] exercise. It was not once monitored.

'I work on the railway and was on a shipping dock at 3am and no one even knew.

'Which as my offence is drugs this should have been a major red flag.'

Victims' Commissioner Claire Waxman said: 'As we approach the next wave of early releases, this report serves as a timely reminder that electronic monitoring alone cannot guarantee public protection.

'Unless backed by robust monitoring, effective enforcement and a swift response to breaches, there is a real risk of giving victims a false sense of security.

'I remain concerned that the confidence government has placed in this so-called 'prison in the community' is not yet matched by the reality on the ground.'

An MoJ spokesman said: 'We inherited a justice system in crisis after a decade of underinvestment but are taking the tough decisions needed to fix it.

'This includes the biggest ever expansion of electronic monitoring and tagging more offenders before they leave the prison gates.

'The protection of victims is crucial to the criminal justice system and the evidence is clear that tagging works to cut reoffending and keep the public safe.

'As we roll out new technology, we are making sure front line staff have the support and resources needed to monitor offenders who have been tagged and recruiting thousands more probation officers.'