Probation officers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of potential strike action over excessive workloads – a problem they expect to get worse when the next prisoner early release scheme starts in the autumn.
Napo, the probation union, said there was a 91% vote in favour in the ballot.
Ben Cockburn, the Napo national chair, said:
double quotation markThis ballot wasn’t about members being too busy. It was professionals warning they cannot protect the public properly when there are not enough people to do the work.
Probation staff make decisions every day with life-changing consequences for the people we work with, victims and the public. If excessive workloads prevent those decisions being made properly, the consequences can be devastating.
The government cannot keep treating probation as the place where the consequences of failures elsewhere in the criminal justice system are dumped. If you overload probation, you increase risk. It really is that simple.
The strike ballot was not directly related to the early release scheme. The union is demanding various measures to reduce workload, summarised as seven key demands. But it has called for more offenders to be exempt from the early release scheme, saying that is necessary to “ensure public protection is achievable”.
In a news release last week, Napo said:
double quotation markIt is not clear if the prime minister or the lord chancellor have a clue about how ill-equipped the probation service is take on this additional work. For example, there are huge numbers of vacancies in victim liaison roles, so we are not sure how the extra victim contact scheme work will be done.
Plans to release thousands of domestic abuse perpetrators and stalkers early from prison does not boost victim protection. It means that more people, largely women, will be killed or harmed.
There’s no additional funding to retain probation staff, especially experienced ones, despite endemic staffing problems in many key roles across England and Wales.
Whilst it is welcome that the prime minister has intervened to review the policy, more now needs to be done to ensure the probation service can safely manage people in the community.
Commenting on the strike ballot, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said:
double quotation markOur probation staff do a vital job, working tirelessly to cut crime and keep the public safe. That is why we secured the biggest probation pay increase in over a decade in April and are working to cut down workloads by recruiting 1,300 probation officers this year and investing in technology that can drive down admin workloads.
While this ballot is only indicative, we are disappointed with the outcome and will continue to engage with Napo and other recognised trade unions.