'My job has made me cry and feel anxious - but I genuinely believe we make a difference': Life as a probation officer
Dreaming of a new career? Sam Gildersleeve talks to our Money team about the realities of being a probation officer.
If you've ever spent your morning commute daydreaming about starting afresh with your career, this feature is for you. Each Monday, our Money team speaks to someone from a different profession to discover what it's really like. This week we chat to senior probation officer Sam Gildersleeve...
The starting salary depends on your role... To become a probation officer, you need to complete the trainee probation officer programme, known as the Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP). The starting salary for a PQiP is £26,475 (or £30,724 with the London weighting of £4,249). Once qualified, your salary rises to £35,130. With experience, you can apply for promotion to a senior probation officer role.
The PQiP programme... combines classroom learning with hands-on experience in the role. You're paid while you train, and you receive protected study time. Depending on your qualifications, the programme can take 15, 21 or 27 months. Once qualified, you'll be registered as a probation officer and added to the Probation Professional Register. This recognises your competence in managing risk and supporting rehabilitation with the right knowledge, skills, and professionalism.
There are also many other roles... within the probation service, including probation services officers, victim liaison officers, programme facilitators, unpaid work supervisors, case administrators, receptionists, and staff working in approved premises and prisons.
I manage a team of 13 staff... including probation officers and probation support officers. I'm responsible for overseeing risk management and ensuring we work closely with partner agencies like children's services, the police, mental health teams, housing providers, and prisons to manage risk effectively. A big part of my role involves performance management and providing supervision to my team - helping them reflect on their caseloads and professional development. I really enjoy supporting my team to grow in confidence and ability.
Our team currently oversees... more than 400 people on probation.
I work 37 hours a week... Monday to Friday. I'm not personally on call, although some senior probation officers provide out-of-hours cover for approved premises. As a probation officer, you may work later in the evening to accommodate people on probation who are working during the day.
The camaraderie really depends on... the day - some days are busier than others. But we do socialise as a team, especially for birthdays or celebrations. We work in a challenging environment, but the support and humour within the team make a real difference.
I haven't made any solid plans to retire... I still feel too young to think seriously about retirement! I'd like to keep working as long as I can, maybe part-time eventually. We're part of the Local Government Pension Scheme, which is a great benefit. The employer contributes 26.5%, and I contribute 6.5%. It's a very generous scheme and gives peace of mind for the future.
In terms of perks... we get between 25 and 30 days paid annual leave a year, according to length of service, if you are a full-time employee. We're eligible for a Blue Light Card, which gives you discounts at loads of places. You can also win free tickets to events. We have access to wellbeing and counselling services, free physiotherapy (which really helped when I ran the London Marathon), health MOTs, eye care vouchers, and MoJ rewards like free drinks from Cafe Nero or Greggs. There are probably perks I haven't even discovered yet.
I haven't ever felt scared... but occasionally I feel anxious - which I think is healthy. You're often meeting people in challenging situations, so being cautious and prepared is important. I always treat people with respect, explain the purpose of appointments clearly, and listen. That often diffuses tension.
The scariest situation was when... a person on probation with complex mental health needs, homelessness, and substance misuse became very aggressive when I asked him to complete a drug test - a condition of his licence. He threw a bottle and became verbally threatening, and was asked to leave. He later waited outside the office for me. It was frightening, but I was fully supported by my manager, who arranged a safe journey home and provided a personal alarm. The incident was reported to police, and safety measures were put in place. I was reassured and able to carry on with my job.
Of course there are days when I don't want to go in... just like any job. But I do really enjoy my role. It's busy and at times intense, but I genuinely believe in the service and what we do. That belief keeps me motivated.
The most rewarding part of my job now is... seeing my team develop and succeed. But when I was a probation officer, it was supporting people to change.
I worked with a young man involved in drug dealing after being groomed by a gang. On release from prison, we built a personalised risk management plan together. He was housed safely and found a job, away from his old contacts. Over time, he grew in confidence and completed his sentence without being recalled for the first time. At his final appointment, he simply said: "Thanks for believing in me." That meant everything.
Most people don't really know... what a probation officer does. They're usually curious and interested, and often say: "I couldn't do that." I'm always happy to explain the role and share how much good the service does.
The biggest misconception is... that we're just there to befriend people on probation. People don't see the behind-the-scenes work to manage risk and protect the public. Probation is often invisible in the media - unlike the police, courts, or prisons. There's no TV drama or documentary that really captures what we do. Maybe there should be!
The job can be... unpredictable. Things crop up that can change your day. But the team is incredibly supportive. People always help each other out when needed, which makes a big difference.
The job has made me cry... though, it's rare and usually depends on the situation. While I have cried before, I don't see this as a weakness, and it was mostly due to frustration at feeling that perhaps I wish there was more that I could do to help an individual. We're all human, and that's part of caring about the work we do. There is a great support network within the probation service, mainly from colleagues that are always willing to support.
One moment that stands out is... when I was working with a young man involved in domestic abuse. He reflected on how his actions had wider impacts - the "ripple effect.". Later, he told me he'd felt angry during an argument but remembered our conversations and chose to walk away and kick a football instead. That insight and self-control showed real progress.
The reason people reoffend varies but... common reasons include a lack of stability, poor housing, unemployment, substance misuse, mental health issues, and limited support networks. It's rarely just one issue.
This role is for people who are... resilient, empathetic, and curious. You'll face complex, often challenging situations, and need to make decisions that affect lives and protect the public. No two days are the same. You'll work with people at their lowest points, and will need to build trust to help them change.
The probation service values... diversity. We want to reflect the communities we serve. If you bring life experience, emotional intelligence, and a willingness to learn, this could be the career for you. Visit our website to find out more - and who knows, maybe I'll meet you one day!
These SPOs are on a roll, from this and the previous post. Leading by example and publicising it too. This is much better than those that sit with the door closed firing off snotty emotionless emails. I see a probation practice book deal coming for Hylton & Gildersleeve, one we’ll probably want to read.
ReplyDeleteNo mention of the endless, boring, repetitive form filling, bureaucracy and target driven culture.
ReplyDeleteThe MoJ want to recruit people as kindred social workers, ( there’s a good old fashioned phrase) but then prevent them from doing that sort of work. They then become mystified when people complain and leave.
No working member of staff would be able to publish a piece about probation without our employer's sign-off. Our employer is notoriously defensive and controlling, so its really brilliant to read these two's work, because they chime with the values I hold as crucial to probation, but also becuase they were allowed to publish. That signals to me a desire at the top to get Probation back onto a more wholesome and effective footing.
ReplyDeleteThey dont have much of a clue about what that actually means on a more than superficial level, I reckon, but it is a chink of light, and possibly an opportunity
Of course practitioners are ruthlessly gagged from going off approved script in public and that is awful and unconstructive. I've experienced first hand just how jumpy and aggressive they can be in that regard. But the silver lining is that these writers are on approved script.
I'm absolutely up for making the argument for a Probation Service separated from Prison service, out of the civil service, locally embedded, quasi-independent, founded on its traditional values. Lord knows I bang on about that endlessly. That doesnt mean that this side of the debate has got all the answers and is completely right about everything. Or that HMPPS is getting absolutely everything wrong. We can be nuanced, which is generally more interesting than binary and tribal.
Having said which, during the TR resistance campaigning, I (along with most everybody in the profession) was completely right and Grayling and his muppets were completely wrong. I shouted "People will die" at a Police and Crime Commissioner on one occasion, reflecting later that maybe I had been a bit over-dramatic, but ...
Pearly Gates
To be fair PG, this one really went off script. I do not think this is the employers message at all!!
Deletehttps://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2025/07/outlier-england.html?m=1
Pearly Gates always makes perfect sense. I'm pretty hung up on 'identity ' at the moment, and believe that what ever changes have been foisted upon probation, it must at it's core always remain anchored to its traditional values.
DeleteIts ethos has to be its headline regardless of whatever rhetoric the narrative may contain.
"The study of individual and organizational identities has attracted considerable research in the field of management and organizational studies (Corlett et al. 2017). Much of this research has been influenced by social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner 1979, 1986), which suggests that the social groups to which we belong form a significant part of our self-concept. Research on the ways people draw on their membership of organizations in their constructions of self has generated the social-psychological concept of organizational identification, defined as ‘the perception of oneness with or belongingness to an organization’ (Mael and Ashforth, 1992: 104). For employees, the organizations in which they work offer an important source for identification."
https://academic.oup.com/bjc/advance-article/doi/10.1093/bjc/azaf007/8030260
'Getafix
Abstract
DeleteThe Probation Service for England & Wales offers an important case study for those who are interested in the impact(s) of organizational change on workers in criminal justice and, in particular, the identity work that they engage in as they move through frequent iterations of change. In this article, we draw on data from an ongoing longitudinal study of probation reform to explore identity work among a mixed sample of practitioner and management grade staff in one of 12 probation regions. Our analysis reveals the significance of both occupational and organizational sources of identification to workers of all grades, but also evidence of dis-identification with aspects of the current organization. It further reveals the importance of anchors through change in workers’ identities as they navigate paths through successive reforms. These anchors include values, places and structures that are part of probation’s legacy but which offer a sense of continuity and meaning to workers as they adapt within a turbulent field.
Introduction
DeleteThe systemization and creeping marketization of criminal justice that has occurred in many Western jurisdictions in the last 30 years has exposed workers to new challenges as the organizations in which they work have been subject to seemingly relentless ‘reforms’ in the name of enhancing efficiency and/or effectiveness. These reforms have included the colonization of services and their policies by central governments, experiments with outsourcing provision, the reconfiguration of local and regional boundaries and the merging of formerly separate organizations. The probation service in England & Wales is perhaps unique in having experienced all of the above in the context of a sequence of reform programmes that have included four major organizational restructures between 2001 and 2021 (HMIP 2021). In this article, we deploy social identity theory and the related concept of identity work as a starting point for an exploration of how probation workers at all levels within the organization have navigated change and, in particular, their own occupational and organizational identities in a rapidly evolving context.
Concluding Discussion
DeleteOur findings suggest that those with responsibility for leading major reform programmes in the criminal justice field should caution against easy assumptions about how workers will adapt to top-down changes about which they have had little say.--//-- In the probation setting, the transition to the Civil Service—a values-based organization—might have been assumed to be acceptable to probation workers who are known to have a strong occupational identity grounded in values. But as we have demonstrated, any such assumptions have been ill-founded. Although ‘probation values’ have often been ill-defined and contested over the years (e.g. Nellis 1995; Gelsthorpe 2007), our research suggests that the contemporary configuration of probation services has served to emphasize dearly held values associated with voice and local accountability that do not sit well with the nesting of probation within larger structures which are experienced as obstructive.
The findings presented in this article appear to lend support to the comments of the outgoing Chief Inspector of Probation in September 2023, who took the opportunity to ‘look back over what has been a tumultuous and difficult period for the Probation Service and to offer some reflections on the future as well’ (Russell 2023: 6). He continued:
Delete[...] it’s important that the voice and interests of the Probation Service continue to get the leadership attention they so desperately need. Many in the service hark back to the days (not that long ago), when probation was a genuinely local service – locally accountable rather than run from Whitehall, focused on local partnerships and able to act autonomously within them. Given our [inspection] results from the past year, and after speaking to probation leaders and managers around England and Wales, I have to say I have increasing sympathy with this view [...] While I recognise that another reorganisation of the service, and any shift in this direction would have to be with the explicit agreement of local managers and staff, I think the time has come for an independent review of whether probation should move back to a more local form of governance and control (Russell 2023: 8).
A ‘strategic review of probation governance’ also featured in the 2024 election manifesto of the Labour party.11 Whether such a review will be prioritized by the new Labour government remains to be seen, but our contemporaneous findings in respect of the identity work of probation staff, and in particular the anchors through change that sustain them, would suggest that such a review would be welcomed.
As usual, 'Getafix nails it :)
DeleteNot really Russel played the game in role often fudging. Harking back to localised delivery defeats the consistency in justice arguments which is why the panoply was stopped and amalgamated. It won't come back as justice has to be the same provision in each place. It's time we all understood what the future is to be.
DeleteGetafix but this is being said, we even heard it here from those within probation. The problem is nobody is listening. I have heard these points many times over, and yet we had Timpson relay a totally different message.
Deletehttps://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2025/07/outlier-england.html?m=1
“The future of probation lies in evidence based reform, practitioner development, and adequate resourcing. Practitioners and managers must be empowered to lead and challenge from within, cultivating a workforce of champions who articulate the service’s purpose with clarity and confidence. Probation must resist the urge to overpromise on crime control and risk management. Therefore, reframing public safety as a natural consequence of effective rehabilitation rather than an isolated goal.”
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/687faffdfdc190fb6b8468e5/SUB125930_-_Tim_Flesher_-_PSPRB_-_2026-27_remit_letter.pdf
ReplyDeleteDear Tim,
ReplyDeleteTHE PRISON SERVICE PAY REVIEW BODY (PSPRB) REMIT 2026/27
I am grateful to you and the other Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) members for your continued hard work and dedication to Prison Service Pay for our valued staff and for your commitment to accelerate the timetable.
The government values the vital contribution made by the almost 6 million public sector workers across the UK, who deliver the public services we all rely upon. This includes the excellent work of our Prison Service staff, often in challenging circumstances. The government accepted all recommendations from the PSPRB for the 2025/26 pay round. This represented an increase of at least 4% for all operational prison staff, delivering another real-terms pay rise on top of the one provided last summer. However, since it came in above the figures we set out as affordable within our evidence, the pay award required difficult decisions on spending and reprioritisation of budgets.
As the Spending Review confirmed, all pay must be funded from departmental budgets and there will be no additional funding available for pay settlements. My department’s evidence will set out the funds available to MoJ/HMPPS for 2026/27, following the Spending Review last month. It will
also set out the recruitment and retention context alongside earnings data. This will need to be balanced against other departmental priorities including improving prison capacity through an increase to prison places and deliver reforms recommended through the Independent Sentencing Review.
I am writing to commence formally the 2026/27 pay round and set out how the government intends to work with the PSPRB over the coming year. I am asking you to provide
recommendations in line with your terms of reference, with particular regard for this government’s objective of providing mission-led public services that are equipped to efficiently deliver the vital, high quality public services we all rely on, whilst ensuring value for money for taxpayers.
We know that public sector workers delivering our vital public services deserve timely pay awards. We announced 2025/26 pay awards two months earlier than last year, and remain committed to bringing 2026/27 pay announcements forwards further. That is why we are launching this pay round two months earlier than the previous round, and five months before the previous government commenced the 2024/25 round. I would be grateful if you could support an
Deleteearly pay announcement by submitting your report at the earliest point that allows you to give due consideration to the relevant evidence.
I recognise that changing the timeline from recent years will present challenges for you, but I am sure you also share the government’s belief in the importance of returning to a timelier annual pay process. To enable you to submit your report earlier, my department will aim to cooperate with all your deadlines and bring the evidence process forward.
In closing, I would like to thank you personally for your work over your tenure as Chair of the PSPRB and to wish you well for the future. I look forward to working with your successor and the PSPRB during the upcoming pay round.
Yours sincerely, James (Timpson)
I don’t think opening with “My job has made me cry and feel anxious” sets the right tone. Personally, it’s never made me cry, though like many, I do sometimes feel anxious. But I know a lot of strong, competent probation staff, and I’m not comfortable with narratives that portray us as fragile or diminish our resilience, regardless of gender.
ReplyDeleteI’ve seen practitioners, managers and SPOs break down under pressure, but usually that’s because the role isn’t the right fit for them. That said, the person in this article seems decent. Still, there’s a very robotic, polished tone to the article, feels like it was written, screened or approved by senior management.
This stands in stark contrast to the previous article by the essay competition winner on probation supervision. That one felt raw, honest, and grounded in real experience. I’d be curious to know, did senior management approve that one too?
“The scariest situation was when... It was frightening.” … “free drinks from Cafe Nero or Greggs.”
DeleteThis is a manager? Seriously!
Of course its a 'manager' - they've no idea what they're saying from one moment to the next, just spouting contradictory word salad for
Delete"I haven't ever felt scared... The scariest situation was when... Of course there are days when I don't want to go in..."
hmpps recruitment shyte.
This one? It felt raw, honest, and grounded in real experience.
ReplyDeleteProbation and Community Supervision: A 'Magic' Journey
https://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2025/07/new-recruits.html?m=1
Sadly, despite the many words & enthusiastic posts about magic & tears & befriending, no-one with any authority gives a crap.. the cobbler is fixated on engendering lovely relations with his old prison chums, mahmood is morphing into braverman, starmer is looking more & more like a proto-farage with a quiff, & reeves seems so far out of her depth... Meanwhile the badenoch is desperate to make the tories newsworthy; she's invited a rhohypnol poisoner into the cabinet in a bid to prevent jenrick from stealing her crown.
ReplyDeleteYou literally just had a manager with a call to action. No magic words there just straight talking. https://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2025/07/outlier-england.html?m=1
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3nxde54jvo
ReplyDeletemental health & prison
A prison watchdog has said it was "difficult" to see how the care and management of an inmate who died by suicide could have been different.
Really?
"... sentenced to eight years in prison in 2020 for the attempted rape of a 17-year-old... also sentenced to life in prison after wounding another inmate... had a history of poor mental health and personality disorders... seen daily by mental health nurses and was prescribed antipsychotic and antidepressant medicines... assaulted both staff and prisoners, used threatening and abusive language and frequently self-harmed... The day before his death, he had headbutted an officer in the face. Staff were told they would then only be able to unlock the inmate's door if four officers in PPE were present... He was observed by staff every hour that night who did not report any concerns... On the morning of his death, he had self-harmed... supervising officer decided the prisoner should continue to be checked on by staff every hour... he was declared dead a few hours later following a suicide attempt..."
How "difficult" was it to recognise that prison was NOT the right environment for the "care & management" of someone with a complex & chronic history of mental illness; someone who was "seen daily by mental health nurses and was prescribed antipsychotic and antidepressant medicines" ?
https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/ethics-integrity-commission-acoba-mcfadden-plans-ministerial-standards
ReplyDeleteThis will please MPs
"As part of the standards overhaul, the government will close the Advisory Committee for Business Appointments, which vets the jobs that ministers and senior officials take after leaving government to avoid conflicts of interest. Acoba’s functions will be split between the Civil Service Commission and the prime minister’s independent adviser on ministerial standards.
Acoba has long been criticised for being “toothless”. Along with its abolishment, the Cabinet Office has announced that the business appointments system, which aims to prevent former ministers and senior officials from improperly profiting from their time in government, will be strengthened.
Under the reforms, former ministers found to have seriously breached the rules after leaving office will be asked to repay any severance payments they have received.
Further changes have been announced to place restrictions on severance pay-offs.
Currently, ministers are entitled to a severance payment equivalent to three months’ salary when they leave office for any reason and regardless of how long they’ve been in the job.
Under the changes, ministers who leave office following a serious breach of the ministerial code, or having served for fewer than six months, will not get a severance payment. And ministers who return to office within three months of leaving will forgo their salary until the end of that three-month period."
Plus:
"The Civil Service Commission will also undertake regular audits of how individual government departments oversee the application of the rules for former civil servants."
+ Anyone heard what happened to rees (or whatever she's called) since she was dumped?
Amy Rees
Director General Chief Executive HMPPS 2022 to 2025
Related parties:
Giles Mason – Prison Group Director, Wales – husband
Charlotte Patterson-Rideout – Sodexo – friend
Claudia Strurt – Custody and Immigration Director, Serco – friend
"Dr Jo Farrar CB OBE became the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice in July 2025."
"Rees will continue in her role as interim perm sec until Farrar (currently chief executive at the public body NHS Blood and Transplant) takes up the position. Phil Copple and Michelle Jarman-Howe will continue as interim chief executive and interim director general of operations at HMPPS, respectively."
refs: dotgovdotuk pages
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministry-of-justice-register-of-board-members-interests/ministry-of-justice-register-of-board-members-interests
Charlotte Pattison-Rideout
DeleteDirector of Business Development - Justice UK&I at Sodexo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-23778279
An inmate at a women's prison was held in segregation for more than five years, an inspection report has revealed.
The discovery was made during an unannounced visit to HMP Bronzefield near Ashford, Surrey, in April.
Nick Hardwick, the chief inspector of prisons, said it amounted to "cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment".
Claudia Sturt, Prisons and Immigration Director, Serco; previous roles include:
2021 - 2023 Chief Executive of the Youth Justice Board
2016 - 2021 Director, Security, Order and Counter Terrorism at the National Offender Management Service, now HM Prison and Probation Service
2009-2016 Deputy Director, Custody responsible for South Central Region and Public Sector Immigration Removal Centres, National Offender Management Service
2002-2009 Governor, Winchester, Erlestoke, Dartmoor and Belmarsh prisons
https://www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news/claudia-sturt-quits-as-yjb-chief-executive/
CYP Now understands that the YJB’s senior management team were given just 24-hours’ notice about Sturt’s decision to resign, leaving the organisation “in shock”.
Giles Mason
DeletePrison Group Director
Public Sector Prisons in Wales
https://cloud-platform-e218f50a4812967ba1215eaecede923f.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/sites/19/2025/05/Berwyn-web-2025.pdf
During this inspection we identified 13 key concerns, of which six should be treated as priorities. Priority concerns are those that are most important to improving outcomes for prisoners. They require immediate attention by leaders and managers.
The Magic Roundabout (from 2022):
Delete"Amy Rees – previously the Director General of Probation, Wales and Youth for HMPPS - will succeed Dr Jo Farrar who will focus on her wider role as Second Permanent Secretary at the MOJ, including digital transformation of justice services.
Under the restructure, following an operating model review led by the MOJ Permanent Secretary Antonia Romeo, Phil Copple will become Director General of Operations for Prisons and Probation."
the other NJC trade unions to accept the employers’ offer of 3.2% (with backpay to 1 April
ReplyDeleteYot staff pay award
My thoughts are with the probation officer was was stabbed yesterday in the North West. Hope she makes a full recovery.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteFOI:
Dear Ministry of Justice,
Could you please provide the following information:
1) An annual breakdown of expenditure on support services for prison leavers on probation between 2005 and 2023. This could include everything from advice services, treatment/support for drug addiction, employment support, etc. If such data isn't available for the entire period between 2005 and 2023, please provide it for the years for which it is available.
2) An annual breakdown of expenditure on accommodation for prison leavers on probation between 2005 and 2023. Again, please provide this information for the years for which it is available, if it's not available for the entire period noted above.
Many thanks,
Yours faithfully,
Daniel Woodward
The request was refused by Ministry of Justice.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8k0g49n8po?fbclid=IwY2xjawLt-IRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHvqeenwFd53QZlKjFRmKAzXHeaAcD33RRoxKkoqBIZLmbi9J4O9yvW-tHtIB_aem_-WPubWS970FPdBb2lsTsGA
ReplyDeleteWe do not get paid enough to put our lives at risk.
All staff call cancelled tomorrow, nice to know they care.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a probation officer was stabbed at work.
DeleteLancashire Police said a woman in her 30s was treated for stab wounds in hospital following the attack at The Pavilions in Ashton, Preston, at 14:30 BST on Tuesday.
"A 35-year-old man of no fixed address was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder, possession of a firearm with intent to cause alarm or distress and causing grievous bodily harm with intent," the force said.
It added: "This is being treated as an isolated incident and there is no wider threat to the public."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: "Police are investigating an attack on a probation officer in Preston, and our thoughts are with them, their family and their colleagues."
The spokesman added: "We will not tolerate assaults on our hardworking staff and will always push for the strongest punishments against perpetrators."
But no extra security measures at offices apparently!!! They really don't give a crap!!!
ReplyDelete