A report into the work going on to reduce domestic abuse by the probation service found that 30% of those on probation are current or previous perpetrators of domestic abuse.

It also found that only 28% of people on probation had been properly assessed as to whether they were at risk of committing further domestic abuse.

Meanwhile, almost half of the cases looked at (45%) should have had access to an intervention but had not.

In a survey of 60 case studies by HM Inspectorate for Probation, only 17 had a thorough analysis of the risk a person on probation might pose, with the body saying it identified failures in looking at previous abusive patterns of behaviour.

The report also found that recent changes in the law, including the recognition of children affected by domestic abuse as victims in their own right, were yet to have filtered through into probation practice, and that information sharing between services was "inconsistent at best".

Since the last report in 2018, very little appeared to have improved, with the inspectorate saying it hoped that "more progress would have been made to address the very serious need to improve probation practice around the risks of domestic abuse".

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Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: "Very concerningly, despite some positive developments in policy, little appears to have improved in practice, and in some respects, things have deteriorated.

"This is unacceptable and is leaving far too many potential victims at risk of domestic abuse.

"Almost 75,000 people supervised by the Probation Service, in or out of custody, have been identified as a current or former domestic abuse perpetrator, so it is essential that their risk is properly assessed and managed.

"Over the years, including in a number of very high-profile cases, we have flagged our concerns about the urgent need for the Probation Service to complete domestic abuse enquiries with the police before sentencing, or when undertaking initial risk assessments.

"Sadly, we are still finding this is not happening in too many cases and even enquiries with local councils to ensure child safeguarding are not being completed.

"I have made many previous recommendations on how probation services should develop this practice, so it's very disappointing not to see more improvement."