Britain names preferred bidders for 21 probation service contracts

(Corrects to make clear contracts are for running rehabilitation centres for low and medium-risk offenders and not for running the National Probation Service, which manages high-risk offenders)

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Britain has provisionally awarded 21 probation service contracts worth around 450 million pounds ($725 million) a year to firms including Interserve (LSE: IRV.L - news) , Sodexo and GEO Group on Wednesday as part of its plans to use more private players and charities to reduce reoffending rates.

The chosen preferred bidders, which include private firms, charities and social enterprise groups, will be responsible for running the bulk of Britain's rehabilitation centres for low and medium-risk offenders, which includes overseeing community orders and supervising unpaid work.

Sodexo, the world's No.2 catering services company, which already runs some prisons in the UK, was provisionally awarded six contracts in partnership with charity NACRO. Interserve got five contracts as part of a partnership with social enterprise firm 3SC and charities Addaction, P3 and Shelter.

(1 US dollar = 0.6205 British pounds) (Reporting by Li-mei Hoang; Editing by Neil Maidment)