Lessons for public management reform from the insourcing of the Probation Service of England and Wales

Annison, H ORCID: 0000-0001-6042-038X, Birungi, D, Millings, M ORCID: 0000-0002-1870-9435, Carr, N, Robinson, G and Burke, L ORCID: 0000-0003-4379-9070 (2025) Lessons for public management reform from the insourcing of the Probation Service of England and Wales. Public Money & Management. pp. 1-10. ISSN 0954-0962

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Abstract

This article responds to calls for fine-grained studies of public management reform, presenting findings from a major longitudinal research project examining the renationalization of probation services in England and Wales: a case study of the rare phenomenon of whole service insourcing. The authors provide three central insights: First, they demonstrate the enduring imprint of prior outsourcing on how further change programmes are experienced. Second, they demonstrate how change is experienced at different ‘speeds’ and ‘trajectories’. Third, structural reforms do not in themselves resolve complex challenges for the (re-)legitimation of an insourced organization in its wider field. The authors encourage further cross-fertilization between public management insights and emergent arguments towards ‘mission’ oriented government; arguing that both perspectives must operate in service to the grounded practice, the public sector craft, that an organisation is seeking to achieve.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1501 Accounting, Auditing and Accountability; 1503 Business and Management; 1605 Policy and Administration; Political Science & Public Administration; 3501 Accounting, auditing and accountability; 3507 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour; 4407 Policy and administration
Subjects:	K Law > K Law (General) H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology > HV7231 Criminal Justice Administrations
Divisions:	Law and Justice Studies
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis Group
Date of acceptance:	2 October 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	30 October 2025
Date Deposited:	30 Oct 2025 13:51
Last Modified:	30 Oct 2025 17:00
DOI or ID number:	10.1080/09540962.2025.2576570
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27449

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