I want you to hear this honestly. Reading pieces like this brings up a sadness and an anger that has become far too familiar. Many of us joined probation when it still had a soul. When the work was hard but meaningful. When relationships mattered. When professional judgement was respected. When the service still recognised itself.
What we are living through now feels like standing inside the ruins of something that once meant a great deal. The culture has shifted so far from what probation used to be that some days it barely resembles the service we committed our careers to. You talk about public protection, about risk, about operational needs, but you never seem to acknowledge the depth of what has been lost along the way.
We are watching probation become more hollow, more defensive, more enforcement-led, more afraid. And the burden of that shift always falls on the front line. We are the ones absorbing the fallout from collapsing services, rising crises, unrealistic expectations and decisions made far above us that bear no resemblance to the reality we work in. Each time the system fails, it is practitioners who are left to carry the consequences.
What makes it harder is the feeling that leadership either cannot see this or has chosen not to. You respond to tragedy with equipment. You respond to pressure with instructions. You respond to risk by telling us to be more resilient. But you do not respond to the truth. The service is unsafe because the structure around us has been stripped back to the point where staff themselves are the last line of protection.
That is not resilience. It is exhaustion disguised as professionalism.
I am angry because probation did not need to become this. And I am sad because the ethos that once defined us is slipping away in full view. The people who still believe in it are doing everything they can to keep it alive, but goodwill is not an infinite resource, and it should never have been the foundation the entire service rested on.
If leadership genuinely wants probation to recover, then listen to the people doing the work. We are telling you what is wrong every single day. Listen to the sadness in our voices when we say this is not the probation we joined. Listen to the anger when we say we are being asked to carry risks we cannot manage safely. Listen to the quiet honesty when we tell you that the service is losing its purpose, and that we feel we are losing ours with it.
Probation deserves more than equipment and slogans. The public deserves a service rooted in purpose, skill and support. And the staff holding this together deserve leadership that finally accepts what we already know. Something fundamental has to change.
And so let me say this plainly. Probation is not being held together by strategy, policy or leadership. It is being held together by exhausted practitioners who still care enough to keep turning up. We are the safety net, the scaffolding and the shock absorbers of a system that has forgotten its own purpose. If leadership continues to look away, if nothing meaningful changes, it will not be staff who have failed. It will be those who were trusted to protect this service and instead presided over its slow, avoidable decline. We deserve better. The people we supervise deserve better. And the truth is no longer quiet.
Anon
After reading Guest Blog 107: Probation - An Extension of the Prison? https://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2025/12/guest-blog-107.html?m=1
ReplyDeleteI had the same immediate reaction: how many times do we have to say the same thing before anyone pays attention?
Lord Ramsbotham said it best: “people are not things.” Yet the system keeps treating not only those on probation, but probation practitioners themselves, as if interchangeable parts in a failing machine, expected to absorb endless pressure with no regard for the human cost.
Probation cannot function when those doing the work are stretched, silenced, and sidelined. It cannot deliver safety or rehabilitation when leadership treats frontline expertise as optional noise. And it certainly cannot claim to value people while burning out the very professionals holding the system together.
We know what probation should be, we’ve said it enough times. They don’t. Our probation leaders refuse to step away from the narrow, risk-management, “public protection above all else”, “do what we say” mantra because it keeps their political masters satisfied.
Napo, Unison, the Probation Institute, the Probation Service, none of them truly hear us, and none of them amplify our voices or our calls for change.
These issues have been raised repeatedly. So the real question isn’t “Do they know?” They do know.
The question is: When will they finally act instead of pretending not to hear us?
I was admonished here in 2014 when I suggested not personally transferring to the new CRCs or NPS, but simply not to turn up and seek alternative employment which most practitioners would achieve even in a straitened economic situation. Having already been effectively compulsorily retired I was not able to take such action. The name of the organisation is a misnomer. A crucial part of probation orders was the consent of the client even when not expressed implicitly. I do not know the way back now but one can only patch up a broken artifice until it is incapable of functioning as intended, then it has to be scrapped. Well worded open letters state the problem but without action from either a secretary of state or the UK Parliament or possibly the Welsh Senedd, as my mother used to say "fine words butter no bread".
ReplyDeleteThe probation locomotive would have continued to roll on, staff or no staff.
DeleteNot turn in to peoples jobs a very daft idea .
DeleteIn our probation PDU and region they stage ‘listening events’, wheel out constant ‘all-staff calls’, and drown us in newsletters, but it’s performative and a facade. They only ever listen to themselves.
ReplyDeleteProbation is now reliant upon plaudits and platitudes to paper over the cracks, we’ve already had two serious office based assaults what exactly will it take before management really listen rather than spoon feed us weasel words?
ReplyDeleteWhy would they. They have to keep the steady ship . No more publicity needed noises off. Nothing to see here. Move on fussy over nothing really. Management what else do we need to cover just a reassurance up we got it sorted oh and a word to the wise Napo union are on side said they will wait outcomes of review and the report we'll keep quiet Napo said that's ok it'll blow over and we can help with any recommendations. Is there anything else Napo can do to help I'm your man Ian Lawrence.
DeleteReading this, I felt the weight of every line — and also a need to widen the frame. Because the cultural shift you describe hasn’t just hollowed out frontline practice; it has reshaped the entire organisation, managers included. The expectation that instructions will be followed without dissent — a blend of prison-service command culture and civil-service compliance — has seeped into every layer. And once that takes root, genuine dialogue becomes almost impossible.
ReplyDeleteI don’t believe most senior leaders are uncaring or cynical. Many of them entered probation with the same values we did. I think they genuinely feel they are doing the best they can within the constraints they’re given. The trouble is they no longer see a viable path to steer a different course. Whether it’s fear of repercussions, lack of psychological safety, misplaced loyalty to authority above them, or simply exhaustion of their own — they feel as trapped as we do, just in a different room of the same burning building.
But that doesn’t make the consequences any less damaging. When leadership absorbs the culture of obedience rather than advocacy, the service loses its voice. When dissent becomes career-limiting, purpose becomes optional. And when leaders feel unable to challenge the direction of travel, the rest of us are left absorbing the fallout of decisions nobody truly believes in.
That is how a service with a soul becomes a service with a script.
You’re right: something fundamental has to change. But that change won’t happen through equipment, slogans or ever-tighter instructions. It will only happen when leaders — at every level — rediscover the courage to disagree, to push back, to name what is happening instead of managing around it. Probation didn’t decline because its values were wrong; it declined because its values were slowly silenced.
And until those who still hold those values — whether on the frontline or in management — can speak together rather than in parallel, the service will continue to drift, defended but not directed.
We don’t need heroes. We need honesty. We need leadership that listens, and leadership that dares. And we need a culture where protecting the ethos of probation is seen not as dissent, but as the most loyal act of all
I agree. As a probation officer I am used to thinking in terms of culpability and the need for people to accept responsibility for their actions (or lack of action) but I don’t find that blame gets us very far. A lot of the comments on this blog tend to want to focus on blame. Whether that’s managers, unions, HQ, the Government or whatever. But pointing fingers won’t pull probation out of the nosedive it’s in. The real issue isn’t really who’s to blame - it’s that probation culture has drifted so far from rehabilitation that everyone feels boxed in, just in different corners.
DeleteIn my experience most leaders didn’t come into this work to parrot a script. They mostly came with the same hope for a constructive, fair, humane and effective service. But a system built on compliance, fear and crisis-management squeezes the voice out of all of us. And while blame might feel satisfying, it only widens the cracks at the very moment the prison population is exploding, and community supervision is buckling under the strain.
We need something bigger than “who’s at fault.” We need a shared, evidence-led commitment to rehabilitation as the centre of gravity. Because sidelining rehabilitation while doubling down on control in the community isn’t a strategy — it’s a panic reaction. You can’t stabilise a collapsing system by tightening the screws on the only part designed to reduce harm.
Probation must stand for something clearer and braver: that change is possible, and public safety is built on enabling it. That requires honesty up and down the organisation, not silence. It requires leaders who listen and staff who feel safe to speak. It requires consensus, not camps.
The Wall
DeleteSo, Chris is 45 years old, on ~£65k a year with civil-service terms & conditions, a decent pension lined up & looking to move up a tier. S/he joined probation in the mid-2000's, was fast-tracked into temp SPO when their manager popped his clogs, appointed SPO & kept moving up during the TR kerfuffle. S/he has therefore enabled TR as directed, expedited all hmpps recent commands & is regarded as suitable material for a significant promotion. S/he has suspended all past belief in the historical ethos to achieve personal career goals.
Its been a rough old journey for the past couple of decades, a lot has passed under the bridge, some relationships have suffered/ended & there are many commitments to fulfill, not least being the mortgage & the car loan & the bills.
How does s/he change their trajectory? They risk losing their career, their pension, any future references... but hey, they might discover a scintilla of loyalty. To what? To who?
*THIS* is but one example (a hybrid of several people I know) of the obstructions that have to be overcome; layers of people who are embedded in the current structure, who are wedded to the current culture, who burned their boats years back & now feel they have no means of escape beyond completing their pre-ordained journey to retirement via the hmpps script.
As they rose through the ranks they have been followed & underpinned by the new recruits, all schooled in the new reality, the way of hmpps.
The architects of the current structure have been planning & preparing the ground for this over decades; from 1980 onwards, if not before. Its been a political triumph to have finally unravelled those woolly jumpers, debagged those grubby do-gooders; to have grasped the probation nettle, uprooted it & burned it on the bonfire of inanities.
How proud they are that they've finally introduced a sense of decency & decorum, ambition & compliance; law & order, if you please.
A very experienced & highly regarded colleague from many moons past told me she had attended her university interview for social work-based training in a bit of a blur. Some kind of delay meant she had landed from her holidays shortly before the interview, so drove straight there in her jolly-holibobs kit (and explained this to the panel). She said there was a grim-faced "man from the ministry" in a very severe dark suit, starched shirt, mirror-shiny shoes sitting next the course tutor. At the end of what she felt was a good interview the man in the suit said words to the effect of "Thank you but if you can't be bothered to make the effort, we don't want your sort on this course. Goodbye."
She *was* offered a place, qualified with flying colours & went on to enjoy a highly regarded career.
(I expect Martin is still lurking around in Petty France in a suit pocketing a handsome civil service salary).
I agree that managers are caught in the same machinery as the rest of us — but it’s hard not to feel a twist of resentment when they’re still celebrated as ‘excellent leaders’ while we’re ankle-deep in the debris of decisions made higher up. It feels a bit like we’re all on the same sinking ship, only those on the bridge keep getting plaudits for the navigation. Until leadership can be a bit more honest about where we are heading and the costs of the journey, I'm reserving my sympathy for them.
DeleteAccording to a recent summary of 2024–25 statistics, most of the 19 inspected PDUs failed: 11 were “Inadequate” overall, 8 “Requires improvement.” Only 4 out of 19 got a “Good” mark for leadership.
DeleteSimply wanted to say thank-you for your authentic, wise and thoughtful words. 11.37 9th Dec Wishing you well as you continue to find your way and make sense of the Probation world around you. So very sad by the harm being done to those values and essence you speak of and of its impact on emotional well-being of staff. I too hope that you are able to continue to protect what you hold dear and the belief ‘The culture where protecting the ethos of Probation is seen not as dissent, but as the most loyal act of ALL I hope those words resonated with a few. IanGould5
DeleteThanks for responding Ian!
DeleteThey really do not care about anything but protecting themselves & their greedy, obscenely wealthy chums who they recommended, & who fleeced the system.
ReplyDeleteTry explaining this to those who are harassed, prosecuted & made destitute for failing to declare a few quid over the benefit threshold; or the carers who were overpaid by the benefits agency & then criminalised because *they* hadn't realised they were being overpaid by a few quid each week.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c075vjxyx3no
"Much of the £10.9bn in taxpayer money lost to fraud and error in Covid support schemes is now "beyond recovery", a report has said.
The near £11bn lost to fraud and error is close to what the government spends on the UK's justice system.... The report said weak accountability, bad quality data and poor contracting were among the main reasons for the losses.
A previous report from Mr Hayhoe had found that pandemic-era PPE contracts cost the British taxpayer £1.4bn on undelivered contracts and unusable gowns, masks and gloves."
Beyond recovery I bet Michelle mony is really pleased with her 25million.
Delete"The biggest expansion of prison building since the Victorian era."
ReplyDeleteWhy is that announced with such a sense of achievement? Why is it promoted as a measure of success? Why is that even considered a solution?
It clearly demonstrates they have no optimism in the current systems they employ to reduce reoffending. Increasing custodial capacity, to my mind, should really be seen as a measure of failure.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prison-building-boom-to-make-streets-safer
'Getafix
I totally agree. What gets me is the triumphalism. Announcing the biggest prison-building programme since the Victorians as if it’s some kind of national achievement. As you say it's not a sign of confidence — it’s an admission that the system can’t reduce reoffending, so it just keeps pouring concrete to contain the fallout.
DeleteAnd while billions go on new cells, the basics that actually make communities safer — rehabilitation, mental health support, stable housing, proper probation — are left running on fumes. If the public saw the real price tag of “tough talk”, I suspect they’d choose fewer prisons, better services, and more hospitals every time.
No the public are switched off to intelligent change. They like pain retribution just deserts nonsense nellis crap. Labour bullshit on prison build is a way demonstrating 1 jail works. 2 labour do not believe in secondary and tertiary intervention and diversion. 3 they don't expect crime to reduce 4 they are not preparing a multiple approach to rehabilitation in the community or jail cells. This is the most depressing labour position hardly surprising under the idiot lammy . So they took out free speech hurry words is jail time. Stopped heating grants watered down employment act brought back the appalling glamour hawk bland Rayner. Stuffed is with hmrc auto taxation on e bay sales or savings. Taxed cheap electric car off the road so diesel are back. Given islands away bundled up benefits to a an excess. Losing millionaires who don't use public services but pay 4 times over for them. A brain drain on youth leaving . National turmoil on illegal immigration. A U turn on Asian gang rapist sex offenders to name a few. I voted for this shower deeply regretting it now.
Delete1757 wasting money in prison is government hobby. Not only did they lose 10 billion in COVID loans deals and thefts they chucked billions at benefits for the wealthy not quite well mentioned. I digress in well known nick on the grass Dartmoor my friend had the contract to widen the doorways on cells. He threw in a quote something to ensure he could buy 6 new big homes for his family and plenty of grounds. Of course they got the contract and then was told to hurry up . That adjustment put another 50%on the estimate and he then doubled it as they changed some of the cutting specs. They were broken hearted when that jail closed but they never needed to work again either. What is wrong with this countries finances.
Deletehttps://insidetime.org/comment/probation-is-in-crisis/
ReplyDeleteThere’s a nice comment left there!!
Deletehttps://insidetime.org/comment/probation-is-in-crisis/
It’s ironic to hear this analysis from Napo, given that the union has been either complicit in, or ineffective at resisting, the long-running crisis in probation.
Let’s be honest: probation has been reshaped into a rigid, top-down bureaucracy fixated on enforcement, metrics, referrals and compliance. That culture didn’t appear overnight. The last decade has been critical, marked by relentless restructuring, collapsing morale and escalating risk. The suggestion that the next 12 months will be “critical” simply frames the latest chapter in a crisis that staff have already been living through for years.
Probation practitioners are not waiting to hit breaking point, they’re already there. Staff are already at their wits’ end, already walking out, and too often they are the victims of the very system they’re expected to hold together. That reality demands action, not more statements, not more reports, and not more warm words.
Despite years of damning findings from HM Inspectorate of Probation, pockets of good practice still exist, but they survive in spite of the system, not because of it. The public and political narrative about probation urgently needs to shift. We’re repeatedly told that our formerly world-leading probation service has become an international “outlier”. That should not simply be noted, it should be a wake-up call.
The responsibility for this crisis lies squarely with senior probation leadership, HMPPS and the Ministry of Justice. Tangible change is possible. For example, diverting even a fraction of the £700 million earmarked for tagging and unproven AI schemes into frontline staffing, training and safety would achieve far more for public protection and rehabilitation than another layer of surveillance hardware ever will.
Equally, unions must stop accepting the continued deprofessionalisation of probation. They should be demanding urgent caseload reduction, meaningful safety measures, and crucially, the separation of probation from HMPPS, not quietly accommodating the transformation of probation into a low-status enforcement arm dressed up as “public protection” and “risk management”.
So Tania, Napo & Co, preaching to the converted is no longer enough. Probation staff need action, not rhetoric. And this is what your members are actually saying, and what urgently needs to be heard.
Probation: An Extension of the Prison?
https://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2025/12/guest-blog-107.html?m=1
Yes we'll put it has already been stated many times on this blog yet despite this complete awareness Napo take no action not just because basset lacks rounded knowledge enough probation practice or she is just ineffectual. The fact is the Napo staff are all demonstrably doing nothing getting paid full time for staying home and keeping their lack of cohesion and jobs a real secret. That's going to need a complaint by a motion raising group and some official inquiry. The point is they are in such a position that Napo are compromised to the moj as they are frightened someone there will blow the whistle. It is Lawrence who sold off the hq and has parked Napo as an online non functioning union. He is riding it out for cash before they all get tumbled yet members allow this. So if we get a resistance we need to get a union that is honest upfront and capable or Lawrence will wash us down the tubes because he is just holding on for as much cash as we are daft enough to pay them. NEC motion please anyone.
DeleteThe Inside Time article 08/12/2025:-
DeleteProbation is in crisis
Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Probation Service is buckling. Under-funded. Under-staffed. Overworked. Our members are seeing workloads climb, risk grow and morale fall. The public are paying the price financially, and in terms of safety, while clients are paying the price through a failing service unable to deliver for their needs.
Since the unification of probation in June 2021, performance has worsened. The National Audit Office (NAO) found that HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) had underestimated the number of staff required by around a third — some 5,400 posts short. In March 2025 it was operating with only 79 per cent of its target probation officer complement, a shortfall of 1,479 officers. Let that settle in. The service has fewer staff than it needs both to keep the public safe and deliver rehabilitation.
Demand and funding gaps
Prison capacity and early release schemes are stacking the deck against probation. Earlier this year, the Independent Sentencing Review warned that if the Probation Service lacks capacity, the shift to more community-based sentences will collapse under its own weight. Funding has not kept pace. The promise of investment exists — but delivering it, and aligning it with workforce needs, remains incomplete. For instance, the Sentencing Bill factsheet shows a commitment of up to £700 million for probation/community measures.
The human cost
Staff are telling us they are working relentlessly, often without meaningful contact time with the people they supervise. Staffing shortfalls mean greater stress, less backup, rising sickness and attrition. A national inspection in April 2025 found a staff shortfall of 25 per cent for probation officers, workloads still “too high” and nearly half of staff reporting unmanageable workloads. Probation clients, either serving community sentences or on licence, face a service unable to meet their needs or offer any meaningful rehabilitation or support. A constant change of officers due to sickness, a lack of interventions they want and need to change their lives around, and little in the way of support in basic life requirements such as accommodation.
Next steps
The next 12 months will be critical. The sentencing reforms are coming. The prison population is under pressure. The probation workload will stretch further unless we act. We must measure success not by targets that are met, but by outcomes: fewer victims, fewer people reoffending, fewer staff walking out because they can’t cope.
Tania Bassett is a National Official at the National Association of Probation Officers