Branch Chairs express members mounting anger over Probation Pay
A meeting of Napo Probation Branch Chairs was held this week, where National Chair Ben Cockburn and General Secretary Ian Lawrence provided an update on the continuing absence of a pay offer from the employer.
As we advised previously, the Probation Unions met with the Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy in November and were told to expect a pay offer before the Christmas break, but this has failed to materialise.
Yet again, the excuse from the Ministers Office has been that the relevant government departments are still considering the merits of the ‘Flex’ case which is the application that HMPPS were obliged to make to seek additional funding over and above the government pay remit for 2025/2026. Napo are not alone in encountering a delay on this issue as a number of public sector trade unions are also awaiting a formal offer to their pay claims.
Disgraceful and Disrespectful
As members would expect, the Probation Union negotiators have been following up on a regular basis since the return from the Christmas break to express our total disgust at the situation we are in. The current inertia from Government and your employer is not of the making of the trade unions and it is symptomatic of the disrespect that has been shown to our members ever since the pay negotiations last summer failed to produce a pay offer. This is the reason why Napo balloted members for industrial action. Although on that occasion we did not reach the required threshold to launch action, Napo has been intensifying our campaign strategy and working with your National Executive Committee and Napo Branches to get us into the best possible position once we launch another ballot of members.
Next steps
We will of course continue to press at the highest levels to receive a recommendable pay offer. Decisions about our strategy, once we receive the offer and have exhausted further negotiations, will be taken by your elected Probation Negotiating Committee (PNC). The PNC are on standby on a weekly basis to consider developments and we will obviously keep members informed at the earliest opportunity . Both the National Chair and General Secretary are available to speak at any Branch meetings that are organised and this can be arranged via pwood@napo.org,uk
Words can hardly describe the anger and frustration felt by our members which we totally share. One thing is certain, that we will be balloting members again (initially on an indicative basis). There will be a simple question as to whether or not you are prepared to accept the pay offer. If the answer is no, then we will move again to a formal statutory postal ballot of members. Our sister unions UNISON and GMB will obviously make their own decisions about the pay offer but it seems certain that each union will ballot their members indicatively at around the same time as Napo.
Please check that Napo has your up-to -date contact details
While the summer pay ballot gave us an opportunity to amend a large number of our member’s contact details, it is vitally important that our data base contains up to date e-mails for both your personal and work addresses. This will allow us to reach you quickly when we launch our indicative ballot (via your personal e-mail) so that you can have your say on the final position that is reached on 2025/2026 pay.
You can easily check and update your own details on the Napo database by logging in here and selecting the Edit Profile option or by contacting membership@napo.org.uk with any updates that you have.