With 207 comments on the last post we need to take a breath. This contribution seems as good a way to start ready for the New Year:-
It's astonishing that some 20,000 staff (give or take the lickspittles & collaborators who've had special treatment) have accepted such shit pay arrangements for so long. Is it 3 pay rises in 16 years? And none meeting any cost of living increases. "It’s a way of controlling costs while still claiming a pay rise has been delivered."
Its also a very effective way of controlling staff per the 'old school' adage of "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen". Hmm, what does that remind you of?
It has been said by many here over the past decade or so that probation staff are the victims of a massive power imbalance, i.e. an abusive relationship that they can't, won't or are otherwise disabled from disengaging with that relationship through (predominantly) financial & emotional abuse, aka shit pay & bullying.
Are you the same people who deliver programmes intended to effect change in perpetrators of abuse in relationships and reduce risk of harm to others?
Domestic Violence Programmes
Building Better Relationships (BBR) - A programme for perpetrators of violence and abuse... BBR aims to increase understanding of motivating factors in domestic violence, reduce individual risk factors linked to violence and develop pro-social relationship skills
Community Domestic Violence Programme (CDVP) - A programme aimed at reducing the risk of domestic violence and abusive behaviour ... by helping perpetrators change their attitudes and behaviour and to reduce the risk of all violent and abusive behaviour in the family.
Healthy Relationship Programme (HRP) - A prison based programme for men who have committed violent behaviour in an intimate relationship. The aim is to end violence and abuse against participants' intimate partners. Participants will learn about their abusive behaviours and be taught alternative skills and behaviours to help them develop healthy, non-abusive relationships.
Cognitive Skills Booster (CSB) - Designed to reinforce learning from other general offending programmes (ETS, Think First and Reasoning & Rehabilitation) through skills rehearsal and relapse prevention.
Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS) - Addresses thinking and behaviour associated with offending through a sequenced series of structured exercises designed to teach inter-personal problem solving skills.
Make the connections - empty promises, jumping through ever smaller hoops, withholding pay, lies, making examples of staff, catastrophising in order to punish... while the privileged few in control pocket bonuses & very healthy packages, and are never held to account for their failings as 'leaders'.
Its no accident that the mysterious invisible chief probation officer has temporarily appeared in written form in advance of an imminent decision that will be nothing short of further & increasing levels of abuse, i.e. you'll get fuck all AND you'll be blamed for it.
Wakey! Wakey! Get Organised!
Comment moderation is back i'm afraid as I'm going to attempt to prevent a certain individual from sabotaging the discussion.
ReplyDeleteI may not get the chance later today, so I hope Jim and all other contributors have a safe New Year and a very happy 2026.
DeleteStay safe all xxx
Let’s be honest, all this discussion will ultimately go nowhere. Those at the top show little genuine concern for the terms and conditions of those below them, or for what probation could or should be. Their overriding priority is the maintenance of position and status, whether Head of PDU, Head of Operations, Regional Probation Director or Chief Probation Officer.
ReplyDeleteAny pay rise, if and when it arrives, will be minimal, delivered alongside the imposition of sentencing review recommendations and whatever further changes are forced through in 2026. This will happen exactly as intended, largely because probation has effectively no meaningful union resistance at all. The imbalance of power is entrenched, and those making the decisions know it.
The outcome is already decided. Everything else is noise.
Over the summer, Napo feature a series of now long-forgotten articles on “professionalism in probation”. Yet what has Napo, or probation as a system, actually done to deliver even the slightest of the recommendations or rose-tints set out in them? That question becomes even more pressing when set against a year’s worth of HMIP recommendations telling us the same thing in different words: poorly paid, badly resourced and unsupported staff cannot deliver the level of service expected of them.
This is not a mystery, nor is it new. If an effective probation service is genuinely the aim, then effective training, fair pay and decent terms and conditions are not optional extras. They are prerequisites. Without them, all talk of professionalism, quality and public protection is little more than rhetoric.
Reflections on the meanings of professionalism in probation practice
https://napomagazine.org.uk/reflections-on-the-meanings-of-professionalism-in-probation-practice/
The Concept of Professionalism in Probation – A View from the Frontline
https://napomagazine.org.uk/the-concept-of-professionalism-in-probation-a-view-from-the-frontline/
A strong passion – professional identity in Probation
https://napomagazine.org.uk/a-strong-passion-professional-identity-in-probation/
I don't want you to be right but this is a clear excellent assesment.
DeleteHappy New Year, all. May you be safe and healthy in 2026.
ReplyDeleteDuring festive socialising, chatted with friends who work in Education and Health Services. Same conversation: high levels of sickness absence predomininantly stress related, evaporating wages, and huge numbers of experienced workers looking to exit early or cut hours dramatically. Increasing exasperation at the lack of opportunity to do the Actual Work, with insane chasing of bureacratic targets that do not measure the value or point of the Actual Work. TR legacy, is particular to Probation, but the profession is not alone amongst public services. So in response to the call to arms "Wakey Wakey, get organised!
Much of what is needed is common to all these public services, so it would be good to see the Unions properly joining forces on: pay, sickness management, H&S. y
Then there is the issue specific to Probation: how its identity, function and purpose has been thoroughly trashed, and all subsumed into the Prison Service.
If we are going to make resolutions to wake up and organise, what to do and how to do it are the questions. We know what the problems are, how to actually affect positive change is the poser.
What often gets missed in these calls to “wake up” or “get organised” is how power actually operates inside probation. Staff aren’t passive or unthinking. They know exactly what happens when work slips because of unmanageable caseloads or staff shortages: names get flagged, performance dashboards light up, capability processes begin, and if something goes wrong the individual closest to the work carries the risk. Overtime isn’t goodwill, it’s self-protection. Saying “no” isn’t a neutral act when promotion, progression and even continued employment depend on being seen as compliant and resilient, not realistic. That’s why this feels like an abusive dynamic: escalating demands, withheld pay, moral pressure to absorb the harm, and consequences when boundaries are enforced. The system relies on fear and individual exposure to keep going, while those who design the conditions remain insulated from blame. This isn’t a workforce refusing to organise, it’s a workforce that understands exactly who gets punished when the system fails, and exactly who never does.
ReplyDeleteGot book tokens for xmas?
Deletehttps://www.sunitasah.com/defy
"WHY IS IT SO HARD TO SPEAK UP EVEN WHEN YOU KNOW SOMETHING’S WRONG?
How many times have you wanted to object, disagree, or opt out of something—but ended up swallowing your words, shaking your head, and just going along? Analyzing cases from corporate corruption to sexual abuse to everyday acquiescence at work, the doctor’s office, and in our personal lives, award-winning organizational psychologist Dr. Sunita Sah delves deep into why the pressure to comply is a corrosive and often invisible force in our society."
Alternatively:
DeleteAdvise, Assist and Befriend: A History of the Probation and After-Care Service is a concise historical overview written by F.V. (Frederick Victor) Jarvis and published in 1972.
Key Details
Publisher: National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO).
Format: A softcover booklet consisting of approximately 71–73 pages.
Author Profile: F.V. Jarvis was a prominent figure in the field, also known for authoring the widely used Probation Officers' Manual.
Content and Themes
The book traces the development of probation services in Britain from their 19th-century origins to the early 1970s.
Origins: It details the religious and humanitarian roots of the service, specifically the work of the Church of England Temperance Society and its "Police Court Missionaries" starting in 1876.
Legislative Evolution: It covers major legal milestones, such as the Probation of Offenders Act 1907, which formally established the statutory role of probation officers to "advise, assist, and befriend".
After-Care Development: The book explains the expansion of the service into "after-care" for discharged prisoners and those on parole, a role that was significantly broadened by the Criminal Justice Acts of 1948 and 1967.
Mission Statement: The title reflects the traditional, welfare-oriented ethos of the service. Recent academic research notes that this "advise, assist, befriend" mission has largely been phased out of official documents in favor of more managerial practices in the 21st century.
https://www.amazon.in/Advise-Assist-Befriend-Probation-After-care/dp/0901617067
If those making decisions on pay and workload are paying attention, hear this from someone accountable for risk and people every day. This is not landing as reassurance or leadership. It is landing as indifference wrapped in process. Staff are not confused, impatient or ungrateful. They are exhausted, angry and leaving. Recasting progression as pay, hiding behind business cases and deferring responsibility to ministers sends one clear message: experience, judgement and responsibility are expendable. This is not workforce strategy or public protection. It is managed attrition.
ReplyDeleteWhen the service finally breaks under the weight of departures and unmanaged risk, nobody will be able to say they were not warned.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year and all the very best to our amazing Probation staff for 2026, There are many that do care and are rooting for you and sharing your voices, I do hope that there will be those able to listen and hear intently and Be The Difference you deserve. iangould5
ReplyDeleteThere is no leadership in the PS they have the manuals on display in their offices gathering dust. The presentations from various people up the tree in the run up to Chrimbo was not motivating or encouraging. There is no one that stands out and fights the corner of the operational staff band 4 and below just a group of forelock tugging managerialists. To lead you need to have the knowledge and experience, to know which battle to fight and which ones to leave until later. A leader looks after their team protects it, supports it and strengthens it, a lot of that is now done by the experienced twenty year plus probation officers who know how to deal with the pressures of the role, the challenges of those that we supervise and direct as well as nurturing of the pquips and NQO’s whilst everyone above is on a teams call talking the good talk. The sentencing and OMiC reviews will just bring more pressure and resignations. I used to work for a high performing trust that and the area that subsumed it now flounders in the ‘needs improvement’ bracket the favoured quote of HMIP. Record everything, save the emails, put the discussed in supervision entries on in detail to prevent the back tracking you never know when it will be your time with the faceless HR team and the managerialists.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and the shift from reflective practice to defensive practice is one of the most damaging changes. It’s especially pronounced where people move into management without sufficient operational experience, selected through competency based interviews that reward fluency in frameworks rather than depth of understanding. When performance is reduced to tick boxes and dashboards, reflection becomes risky rather than valued, and professional judgement is something to be justified rather than exercised.
DeleteIn that environment, staff quickly learn that growth and honesty are liabilities. It’s safer to record defensively, follow process rigidly and avoid nuance than to think critically or take informed decisions. Confidence erodes not because people lack skill, but because the system no longer rewards it. Over time, that strips out learning, curiosity and development, and replaces them with compliance. That isn’t a failure of individuals. It’s the predictable outcome of how the service now defines success.
They say record everything but if you ever have a grievance they will say you have no evidence that a manager said xyz despite you recording dates/times etc on a written record but they will be very happy to take your manager's account of the conversation as sacrosanct without them needing to provide a single shred of written evidence of the conversation. It's all BS!!
ReplyDeleteYes, and that’s exactly the point. “Record everything” is offered as reassurance, but in reality it often functions as theatre. Staff are encouraged to document meticulously, only to be told later that contemporaneous notes aren’t evidence, memories are unreliable, or that it’s simply one person’s word against another. Meanwhile, a manager’s version of events is routinely treated as authoritative without any equivalent requirement for written corroboration.
DeleteThat asymmetry tells people everything they need to know about where credibility sits. It isn’t with accuracy or transparency, it’s with hierarchy. Over time, staff learn that formal processes don’t protect them, they protect the organisation. That’s why grievances feel futile and why trust drains away. When systems consistently privilege power over evidence, the message is clear: procedure exists to manage challenge, not to resolve it fairly.
15:31 describes a situation that is experienced across the country, we have a service full of leaders who cannot lead,do not inspire and head for the hills when the going gets tough. The process for recruitment to SPO and beyond is deeply flawed and based on ‘ we like you because you will do what is required from the top’, the corruption is off the scale but all everyone can do is to comment on how great the leaders are!,
ReplyDelete"It’s especially pronounced where people move into management without sufficient operational experience, selected through competency based interviews that reward fluency in frameworks rather than depth of understanding."
ReplyDeleteI completly agree. However, I'm inclined to think about the shrinking pool of those with 'operational experience ' to draw from, particularly in the year the government has promised a thousand new recruits!
I'm also of the belief that many people joining the service today are doing so without any intention of hanging around for too many years if personal opertunity doesn't present itself reasonably quickly. Many are seeking only opertunity not a career.
Todays new recruit is tomorrow's manager. How long does it take, and what conditions are required to give those new recruits the "sufficient operational experience " to make suitable managers?
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hojo.12607
'Getafix
No Choice But to Leave’: Understanding Voluntary Resignations Amongst Probation Staff in England and Wales
DeleteABSTRACT
Probation staff attrition in England and Wales has been a cause for concern, yet there is limited research exploring why probation staff choose to leave. Utilising Walker, Annison and Beckett's ‘workplace harm’, and Robinson's ‘post-traumatic organisation’, this research addresses this gap through a survey (n = 47) and interviews (n = 4) with staff who have left the service. Themes identified were (1) identity and values, (2) emotional impact of the job and (3) organisational climate. The possibility of a return to the service is also explored, as well as implications for the organisation and retention of staff.
From the conclusion:-
Findings from this study add to the existing literature and provide further evidence of ‘workplace harm’ and the situation of probation as a ‘post-traumatic organisation’. The findings also provide important insights into the impact of successive organisational change and the emotional toll it takes on practitioners. What is clear is that the changes as a result of TR are life-changing for the probation service; whilst the reforms occurred over a decade ago, its impact has been so damaging that despite unification the service has completely changed; through its structure, and leadership, with ongoing organisational changes as attempts to reconcile with what it once was.
"No Choice But to Leave”: When Self-Preservation Becomes the Only Option.
DeleteI didn’t leave probation because I stopped caring.
In fact, the hardest part of leaving was how much I still cared — about the work, the people on my caseload, and the colleagues I was leaving behind. But by the end, I genuinely felt I had no choice. Self-preservation wasn’t a preference; it was a last resort.
The research article “No Choice But to Leave” captures something I recognise deeply. It describes probation staff who remain loyal to the vocational ideal of the service long after the organisation itself has become unliveable. That was certainly true for me.
Staying Longer Than Was Healthy
Like many others, I didn’t walk away at the first sign of difficulty. I stayed. I adapted. I absorbed more work, more pressure, more emotional strain. I tried to remain positive and constructive, even as workloads grew heavier and the space to do meaningful probation work shrank.
I raised concerns. I offered solutions. I kept telling myself that things would improve, or that my experience and commitment could somehow make a difference. Over time, though, the cost became impossible to ignore. Exhaustion stopped being temporary and became my baseline.
The research talks about constrained voice — that sense of speaking up without being heard. That resonates. It’s not that opportunities to speak don’t exist on paper; it’s that repeated attempts to engage are met with managerial language, structural inertia, or quiet deflection. Eventually, you stop believing your voice matters.
(contd)
Contd
DeleteWhen Values No Longer Fit the System
One of the most painful aspects was the growing mismatch between what probation claims to be and how it often operates in practice. The vocational ideal — supporting people to change, exercising professional judgement, building relationships — increasingly clashed with a target-driven, bureaucratic reality.
The legacy of Transforming Rehabilitation still hangs heavily over the service. Market-style thinking, excessive performance management, and administrative overload have reshaped probation in ways that erode professional identity. It becomes harder to recognise yourself in the role you’re doing.
This creates an internal conflict: you’re still committed to the people you work with, but less and less able to do right by them.
Guilt, Loyalty, and Letting Go
Leaving brought relief, but it also brought guilt. I think that’s important to say out loud.
I felt guilty about the colleagues I left behind — people I respected, people who were also struggling, people who would now carry even more weight because someone else had gone. That guilt is powerful, and it keeps many people in post far longer than they should stay.
But I’ve come to understand something else too: I am not responsible for the conditions that drove me out. Those conditions were not of my making, and I exhausted myself trying to work within them, challenge them, and remain constructive until the very end.
The research describes this as complicated loyalty — loyalty not to the organisation, but to the profession and to colleagues. It’s a loyalty that sustains commitment, but also masks systemic harm. At some point, staying becomes a form of self-neglect rather than solidarity.
Exit as Survival, Not Failure
When people talk about probation staff leaving, it’s often framed as a resilience problem or a retention issue. But “No Choice But to Leave” makes clear what many already know: exit is often a rational response to sustained harm.
By the time I left, I wasn’t choosing between staying and going. I was choosing between continuing at significant cost to my health, or stepping away to protect myself. In that sense, it didn’t feel like a failure. It felt like survival.
What This Should Make Us Ask
If experienced, committed practitioners are reaching the point where self-preservation is their only option, then the problem is not individual weakness. It is organisational.
People aren’t leaving because they don’t care. They’re leaving because caring has become too costly — and because staying any longer would mean losing themselves in the process.
That should concern everyone. I think I have paid a high price for choosing probation as a career. Too high really, if I consider the impact on my family. I am still struggling with dealing with the impact of what I had to deal with. I regret now that I didn't leave earlier than I did. I know I am not alone
I think this is exactly the right question to be asking, and it exposes a structural contradiction the service still hasn’t faced. We talk about “insufficient operational experience” in managers, but at the same time the system is actively shrinking the very conditions that allow that experience to be built. High churn, unmanageable workloads, constant restructuring and weak pay mean fewer people stay long enough to develop depth, confidence and professional judgement. That isn’t a generational failing, it’s an organisational one.
DeleteFrom my own perspective, having spent over 25 years as a PO, the issue isn’t that experience doesn’t exist, it’s that it’s no longer recognised or properly drawn out. Competency- and behaviour-based interviews reduce complex practice to a single, pre-packaged example delivered in the right language. They reward fluency in frameworks, not sustained relational work, ethical judgement or the ability to hold risk over time. You can be excellent with people, reflective, safe and effective, and still fail because your example didn’t “hit the indicators”.
If today’s new recruits are tomorrow’s managers, then the question isn’t just how long should they serve, but what kind of service are they being shaped by while they’re learning? If their formative years are spent firefighting, chasing metrics, working defensively and learning that voice carries risk, then we shouldn’t be surprised when management reproduces those same patterns. The research Jim cites and the account from those who felt they had “no choice but to leave” make clear what happens when commitment is met with constrained voice and organisational harm: people either exit, or adapt in ways that prioritise survival over growth.
So the problem isn’t simply a thinning pool of experience. It’s that the system no longer creates, values or protects the conditions in which experience can mature into leadership. Until that changes, we’ll keep fast-tracking people through roles without ever giving them the time, safety or support needed to become the kind of managers the service actually needs.
Thank you for your courageous share which has come shortly after NAPO has published a New Year tweet thread on X. I often refer to this blog and have just described your witness as impactful, poignant and powerful. Wishing you the very best. iangould5
Delete"the issue isn’t that experience doesn’t exist, it’s that it’s no longer recognised or properly drawn out. Competency- and behaviour-based interviews reduce complex practice to a single, pre-packaged example delivered in the right language. They reward fluency in frameworks"
DeleteExactly the flaws that the 'old' social-work linked training addressed, i.e. a self-aggrandising, academically gifted candidate with the ability to project themselves using key words & phrases is *not necessarily* the right candidate for a probation officer role. Similarly the notion of 'chumocracy' & 'hail fellow well met' was not rewarded.
By way of contrast a demonstration of skills & competency in self-awareness, reflection & a compassionate approach would be recognised & nurtured.
Post qualification the experience & skills continued to be nurtured, shared & developed.
TR was elementary school sums: (old timers + experience) = higher costs... so cutting the staffing bill to enrich the shareholders was a no-brainer for the accountants. Those who were determined to hang around had to play ball & shut the fuck up.
And here we are: 15 long years later with a staffing crisis, a dearth of experience, and rats at the helm.
and the escapes also continue... HMP Leyhill:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8gy39rezzo
A convicted murderer is one of two inmates on the run from police after absconding from prison on New Year's Day... A third man who is suspected of absconding at the same time was arrested in Bristol on Saturday.
Armstrong, 35, was 18 when he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 19 years for murder.
Washbourne, 40, has previous convictions for violence against a person and false imprisonment.
It’s an open prison
ReplyDeletefrom 9 Dec 2025; apologies if this is a repeat, can't recall seeing it, delete if it doesn't add anything to the cause:
ReplyDeletehttps://hmiprobation.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/document/annual-report-2025-serious-further-offences/
"This is our fourth annual report of our serious further offence (SFO) inspection work since we commenced our independent oversight of reviews carried out by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).
This year’s findings highlight a consistent and concerning trend that the quality of SFO reviews produced by probation regions is not meeting the required standard.
We have quality assured 90 SFO reviews this year, with 53 per cent of these rated as ‘Requires improvement’. In contrast, just 46 per cent were rated as ‘Good’, and one per cent as ‘Outstanding’. Disappointingly, these findings show no improvement from the previous year. "
"It is of concern that there has been a sustained increase in the number of notifications of an arrest and charge for an SFO over the last two years. In the period 2023/2024 the figure increased from 478 to 770, and in 2024/2025 it increased further by 13 per cent to 872"
The SFO review process:
⇩ A person subject, or recently subject, to probation is charged with a SFO.
⇩ Following the first court appearance the probation court team will complete the SFO notification, which is authorised by the probation region and submitted to the HMPPS central SFO team.
⇩ Probation regional SFO teams complete the SFO review.
⇩ The SFO review is assured and countersigned by the nominated staff members from the probation region and submitted to the HMPPS central SFO team for quality assurance.
"The regional probation director delegates countersigning of the review to a senior manager who is independent of the line management of the case."
Remember, the emphasis of hmip is on the review process *NOT* on individual case manager practice, which makes this statement extremely important, even though hmpps & their regional lackeys are deaf to it:
"In our experience families were rarely looking to apportion individual blame and instead keen to be assured that steps were being taken to learn lessons."
There's been no improvement of the review process nor has hmpps reacted or responded effectively to hmip's recommendations over the last 4 years and yet...
... ALL of the hmpps staff involved have been variously promoted, granted bonuses, retired with honours or continue in post without any stain upon their character.