A company whose accounts showed just £3 in assets was selected as the preferred supplier for a new probation IT system before the deal collapsed, an audit has found.

A report on Jersey’s Probation and After-Care Service, published by the island’s Comptroller and Auditor General, revealed that the joint procurement exercise between Jersey and Guernsey cost around £43,000.

But the process ended before a contract was signed, after the company’s directors said they had difficulty securing funding.

Some of the work paid for was used in a second procurement exercise, which has now identified a new preferred supplier.

Jersey’s Probation Service is still using a system first introduced in 2004, according to the report.

A business case for replacing it cited delays in sharing public protection and safeguarding data with partner agencies about work linked to violence against women and girls.

“The current case management system has limitations which result in inefficiencies, data quality issues and incompatibility with the prison system,” the report said.

I am surprised that a new company with no meaningful assets was able to satisfy the due diligence requirements and get to the latter stages of the procurement process

Comptroller and Auditor General Lynn Pamment

Comptroller and Auditor General Lynn Pamment added: “I am surprised that a new company with no meaningful assets was able to satisfy the due diligence requirements and get to the latter stages of the procurement process.”

The firm was selected at the end of 2023. Its accounts for the year to February 2024 showed £3 in assets, and the procurement lead asked for proof of funding before any contract was signed.

Both Jersey and Guernsey probation services ended the process in March 2025 after the directors reported problems raising the money.

The audit found that parts of the procurement and project management fell short of the requirements of Jersey’s Public Finances Manual.

There was no record of a formal recommendation to award the contract after bids were assessed, and early progress was neither recorded nor monitored through the government’s approved system.

The report also found that a backlog of community service work had re-emerged.

Courts ordered 21,039 hours in 2025, while 15,180 hours were worked. That was equivalent to 72% of the hours ordered that year, down from 94% in 2024.

The auditor called for a plan to clear the backlog.

The service underspent by £441,000 in 2025, its seventh consecutive year under budget.

It expects another underspend in 2026, with posts funded to supervise offenders after their release from prison still vacant because mandatory supervision has yet to be introduced.