In October, just under two thousand prisoners, just under two thousand prisoners will be released early under the new progression model introduced in the Sentencing Act.
Whilst amendments have been made to the eligibility for early release, Napo is still very concerned about the impact on victims and also the impact on its members. The probation service is significantly under-staffed across all areas of delivery and this additional work has added extra pressure on staff tasked with ensuring that the release of prisoners is managed as safely as possible.
Ben Cockburn National Chair said: “There seems to be absolute denial in the leadership of HMPPS as to just how bad a state the probation service is in. We have massive staff shortages, unsustainable and dangerously high workloads and this week we will hear again that electronic monitoring is failing to deliver.
“On top of this we have uncompetitive pay, crisis workloads and a workforce preparing to ballot on industrial action. The Lord Chancellor and the Prime Minster must now commit to significant investment in the front-line services of probation so it can cope with the additional work our members are having to deal with.”
In his speech at conference, Lord Chancellor Alex Norris made reference to unpaid work being more visible and a tougher community sentence. However, unpaid work has only two thirds of the staff it requires to function effectively.
Ian Lawrence General Secretary said: “There simply aren’t the staff across the service to do the job that is being asked of them. It isn’t just about early releases, the probation service manages over 200,000 people on probation.
“If the government is serious about supporting victims better then it must take the probation crisis seriously. You cannot solve the prisons crisis unless probation is fully functioning and provides a real alternative to custody. Instead, more work is dumped on probation without providing our members with a decent salary.”
Napo is currently in a national dispute with HMPPS over workloads. It is likely to launch a formal ballot for industrial action in mid-October following a strong result from its indicative ballot over the summer. It’s also possible that this ballot will include a question on industrial action in the event that current pay negotiations fail to produce an acceptable pay offer.