Probation service 'still in crisis', union warns, despite government achieving annual recruitment target
A target to recruit 1,300 new probation officers in England and Wales has been reached and reset as ministers declare: “We're better protecting the public”
A target to recruit 1,300 new probation officers in England and Wales has been reached and reset as ministers declare: “We're better protecting the public."
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A total of 1,389 people joined the service as trainee officers over the past 12 months.
But speaking to LBC, Lord Timpson, the minister for prisons and probation, said: “Now we’re going further with another target to recruit a further 1,300 in the next year.”
The service has been under immense strain for several years, with research from the Ministry of Justice confirming the fact.
It found that almost a third of target probation appointments did not happen between 2023 and 2025.
MPs on the Public Accounts Committee also warned “longstanding staff shortages have left probation staff dealing with excessive and unmanageable workloads” of up to 126% of their capacity.
They said at the time that planned reforms to sentencing, which are now being enacted, would “likely further increase pressure” as ministers pushed for a greater use of community punishments.
The government said it “inherited a system in crisis” with prisons minister Lord Timpson adding that new technology would help to ease pressure and make sure the offenders who pose the greatest risk are “robustly supervised”.
Jordan Forster is a trainee probation officer in Liverpool and told LBC he wasn’t put off applying by news about the stretched workforce.
“It was an area that I wanted to work in - rehabilitation, working with people one to one.
“And it was nice to hear when I was uni about improvements being made to the service.
“It’s probably one of the most important parts of the criminal justice system.
"We work in the courts, we work in the community, we work in the prisons. And with the Sentencing Bill coming into play, probation will be taking on a bigger role.
“It is scary but it's also great to see that we're getting more resources that actually help us do the things that we need to do.”
Alongside the recruitment of new trainees, the government has announced the expansion of electronic tagging - “the biggest in British history” - which thousands more people set to be subject to GPS and alcohol monitoring.
Stalking and domestic abuse offenders are also set to be subject to proximity-monitoring using technology, which will alert probation when they approach their victim.
But questions remain over the retention of probation staff.
Ian Lawrence, the general secretary of the probation union NAPO, the probation union, told LBC: “We support all moves to recruit new people into the profession, but what I need to know is what steps the government is going to take to retain those staff.
“The figure here - 1,300 - there's evidence to suggest that that's equivalent to the attrition rate over the course of 12 months. So, you can lose almost as many people as you recruit.”
Asked whether workload pressure is improving, Mr Lawrence said: “We're told [by ministers] it's getting better but I've yet to see empirical evidence to suggest that is the case.
“That's not tallying up with what our members report to us on a regular basis about the burnout, about the numbers of sick leave days that they have to take.
“It's still in a crisis situation in many parts of the service.”
The Ministry of Justice says it is investing up to £700 million in probation by 2029.