New Probation Pay offer to go before members
After overwhelming rejection of a 4% offer, probation unions have secured a revised 6% pay proposal alongside commitments on workload reform and future pay negotiations. Napo members will now decide whether to accept the deal or consider next steps.
Following the outcome of the indicative ballots organised by Napo UNISON and GMB on the 2025-2026 pay offer, the Unions were invited to meet with Lord Timpson and HMPPS CEO James McEwen on Monday 9th March.
Since then, extensive negotiations with senior officials have taken place and have resulted in an improved but conditional offer of a 6% increase to pay and allowances, the continuation of talks on the future of the Probation Service and a joint review of future arrangements for pay, in particular the Competency Based Framework (CBF). Your Probation Negotiating Committee have been meeting regularly to receive reports from your Negotiators.
The latter stages of this process has been facilitated by the involvement of the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Timpson and the TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak.
Position of the Probation trade unions
The Joint Statement sets out the factual position that has been arrived at via these negotiations. We have been advised by our sister unions UNISON and GMB that they will be recommending acceptance of the offer.
Napo will now be presenting the offer to our members following confirmation from the parties that this is the best position that can be achieved through negotiation following HMPPS’s rejection of a counteroffer from Napo for an 8% increase, as requested by your Probation Negotiating Committee (PNC), on the basis that no further money was available from the Government.
The pay offer is accompanied by conditions, specifically; a commitment to workload reform and commitment to a negotiated pay review process
It is now for Napo members to decide on the merits of the offer. We will present a factual account of how we have arrived at this position and allow our members the opportunity to vote for it.
Commentary
The improved headline offer of 6% has come because of the tremendous response from our members who roundly rejected the previous 4% offer by a huge 89% majority in a ballot result that was unprecedented in Napo’s recent history. As stated above, Napo did our best to seek further improvements but this approach was rejected on the basis of the current economic situation and the fact that the new offer is among the very highest within the civil service in this pay year which, unlike a current offer in another government department does not come with a requirement to agree material changes to contractual terms and conditions.
This is the best offer available through negotiation. If members decide that the offer is unacceptable then, as has been made clear throughout the pay campaign, it would require a sustained campaign of industrial action to try and convince the government to return to negotiations where any outcome would be uncertain. In making their decision on the likelihood of such a campaign succeeding, members will want to take into account the Government’s decision to reject our counter-offer, the limited impact of other such campaigns elsewhere in the public sector, as well as their own financial situation.
If members vote to accept the offer of 6%, the employer has indicated that the pay uplift would be paid in May 2026 and backdated to April 2025.
Members are invited to read the various documentation attached in advance of balloting arrangements and consultative meetings for Napo members. Details of which will follow at the earliest opportunity.
Since then, extensive negotiations with senior officials have taken place and have resulted in an improved but conditional offer of a 6% increase to pay and allowances, the continuation of talks on the future of the Probation Service and a joint review of future arrangements for pay, in particular the Competency Based Framework (CBF). Your Probation Negotiating Committee have been meeting regularly to receive reports from your Negotiators.
The latter stages of this process has been facilitated by the involvement of the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Timpson and the TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak.
Position of the Probation trade unions
The Joint Statement sets out the factual position that has been arrived at via these negotiations. We have been advised by our sister unions UNISON and GMB that they will be recommending acceptance of the offer.
Napo will now be presenting the offer to our members following confirmation from the parties that this is the best position that can be achieved through negotiation following HMPPS’s rejection of a counteroffer from Napo for an 8% increase, as requested by your Probation Negotiating Committee (PNC), on the basis that no further money was available from the Government.
The pay offer is accompanied by conditions, specifically; a commitment to workload reform and commitment to a negotiated pay review process
It is now for Napo members to decide on the merits of the offer. We will present a factual account of how we have arrived at this position and allow our members the opportunity to vote for it.
Commentary
The improved headline offer of 6% has come because of the tremendous response from our members who roundly rejected the previous 4% offer by a huge 89% majority in a ballot result that was unprecedented in Napo’s recent history. As stated above, Napo did our best to seek further improvements but this approach was rejected on the basis of the current economic situation and the fact that the new offer is among the very highest within the civil service in this pay year which, unlike a current offer in another government department does not come with a requirement to agree material changes to contractual terms and conditions.
This is the best offer available through negotiation. If members decide that the offer is unacceptable then, as has been made clear throughout the pay campaign, it would require a sustained campaign of industrial action to try and convince the government to return to negotiations where any outcome would be uncertain. In making their decision on the likelihood of such a campaign succeeding, members will want to take into account the Government’s decision to reject our counter-offer, the limited impact of other such campaigns elsewhere in the public sector, as well as their own financial situation.
If members vote to accept the offer of 6%, the employer has indicated that the pay uplift would be paid in May 2026 and backdated to April 2025.
Members are invited to read the various documentation attached in advance of balloting arrangements and consultative meetings for Napo members. Details of which will follow at the earliest opportunity.
The final decision to accept this offer rests with Napo members.
--oo00oo--
Editors note - the blog remains on Care and Maintenance but this is a significant event and if the comment thread gets too long things will get unmanageable.
Best that can be achieved. No other sector done as well blah. This is it the problem is for 2% we are going to shafted on workloads reform and pay rewards review structure. Without proposals detailed it's a no for our protection. Lawrence has parked us into deeper water yet again while if you read it between the lines he says your negotiation team but slips in they are in contact with the negotiators. What that means is hoodwinked members are reported to but have no input. We are sink as predicted by JB blog users.
ReplyDeleteThe “conditions” attached to the 6% are now clear.
ReplyDeleteThey require agreement to continue the modernisation programme — including supervision packages, online check-ins, Justice Transcribe, service centres, revised case transfer processes, and implementation of Sentencing Act changes.
Alongside this, there will be a full review of the pay progression framework (CBF) and how it interacts with future pay awards.
In effect, the offer links pay to both ongoing structural reform and future changes to how progression and pay are organised.
For those unsure: ‘Modernisation’ = Further de-professionalism of the service and all the eggs are going in the basket marked ‘tagging’……which we all know leads to increase in the number of recalls
DeleteRequires highlighting:
ReplyDelete"extensive negotiations with senior officials have taken place and have resulted in an improved but CONDITIONAL offer of a 6% increase to pay and allowances, the continuation of talks on the future of the Probation Service and a joint review of future arrangements for pay, in particular the Competency Based Framework (CBF)."
"The latter stages of this process has been facilitated by the involvement of the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Timpson and the TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak... Napo did our best to seek further improvements but this approach was rejected on the basis of the current economic situation... This is the best offer available through negotiation... "
You're fckd folks... not only did napo fail you big time, but they contracted out the job to Paul Nowak cos lawro aint got the skills or the clout; & now hmpps conditions are piled on top of yet another shit offer while the illegal war we've become involuntarily embroiled in is being used as a full stop to their argument.
Y'all have impossible caseloads as it is, no control over your ongoing workloads or training and, likely as not, no future; there's one other very important line in that release:
"the continuation of talks on the future of the Probation Service"
Well done lawro, well done napo, well done everyone - you've all done very well. See y'all at the wake.
Novak is a crawler he's no negotiator how we end up with him is a mystery he's not got a place here unless he is smoothing over massive public sector attacks. Our problem remains clearly Lawrence is a thorn no one can manage out.
DeleteSo let’s spell this out properly. We’re being told that 6% is “the best that can be achieved”, that this is a strong outcome of negotiation, that we should accept it, be realistic, be pragmatic.
ReplyDeleteBut who exactly is being asked to be pragmatic here? Because it’s not those at the top. While members are told to lower expectations, tighten belts and accept another real-terms pay cut, the leadership class carries on untouched. The General Secretary of Napo is earning around £100k a year and they’re awarding themselves pay rises. Senior probation leaders telling us “we don’t do this for the money” are sitting on salaries north of £70k. It’s very easy to normalise 6% when you’re insulated from what that actually means.
For everyone else, this isn’t a negotiation success, it’s another year of falling behind. Years of below-inflation pay haven’t been fixed. They’ve been quietly accepted. And now repackaged as the best possible outcome. And let’s not ignore the timing. We are only weeks away from a new tax year. So what happens then? Does this drag on again? Another delay, another erosion, another round of being told to wait while the gap widens further?
Because that’s what this is, not a one-off disappointment, but a pattern. Members were told 4% was an insult. Fair enough. But 6% is still nowhere near what was claimed, nowhere near what’s needed, and nowhere near what reflects the reality staff are living in.
So calling this progress isn’t just questionable, it’s insulting in itself. At some point, this stops being about “what’s achievable” and starts being about what’s being accepted. And right now, it looks like far too little is being challenged, and far too much is being quietly signed off.
Meanwhile the caseload, workload expectations and cost of living soars, but were meant to be happy because of justice transcribe, stupid security pilots and a hundred quid extra every month.
And didn’t the Chief PO and that other guy already tell us all on a call that the 4% was really in practice over 6.3%%. So this 6% CONDITIONAL offer is less !!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.napo.org.uk/sites/default/files/JTU%2002-2025%20Probation%20Pay%20Claim%202025%20-%20Best%20and%20Final%20Offer%20March%202026%20v1.1%20(embargo%20removed).pdf
DeleteThe letter from the invisible chief includes:
"You will appreciate how significant this increase is for staff (especially in a one year pay offer) and the fact that it goes beyond what most other public sector workforces have received this year.
***That is why this offer includes conditions that must be agreed to.***
The first condition is that you commit to continuing to work together on the modernisation of the probation service through Our Future Probation Service programme (OFPS). This includes:
• Supervision packages;
• Online check-in;
• Justice Transcribe;
• Service centres;
• Revising case transfer policy;
• Implementing Sentencing Act reforms.
Looking to the future strategy of pay and recognising hat probation pay as it is currently constructed presents limitations in terms of our ability to deliver timely and meaningful awards for staff."
Explicit & implicit threats which you will pay dearly for in salary limitations, mental health & total control of your work by hmpps.
With brokerage accounts beng open to everyone these days, you can grow your own payrise with little effort. Just invest a proportion of your salary each month into the stock exchange. By then end of the year you would have made a wadge that will help fund the cost of living rises.
DeleteIf 6% falls woefully below what you need to manage your life, then I suggest that 12% would not have done much more for you. That figure was never going to fly. Perhaps it is time to find another higher paid job than trying to make your Donkey bank account win the Grand National.
Accept the offer - please and let's not waste any more time - and use the difference wisely by investing the back pay wadge. Don't upgrade the car or eat out more often instead and then complain in a year or two that your pay isn't keeping up. Judging by some of the vehicles I see in our car park, it is clear to me that front line staff are not wise with their money.
Classic lawfare in use right there
ReplyDeleteThere should already be proposals and negotiations for any pay increase for the coming year, 2026/27 but no doubt this will take another year and in the meantime living standards deteriorate further..
ReplyDeleteI think KTE said in one of the gaslighting calls we had that they can't even begin negotiations until the pay recommendation stuff for the civil service is released in May. So it's gonna take a while :(
DeleteIncreases on additional % offers always come with strings . What's obvious is that Napo make no mention of anything like this. They don't growl about lost compound interest on pay that needs making up. They say I mean Lawrence nothing about lost pensions value.
DeleteInstead Lawrence grabs 16k pay rises over 5 years. Look at that as a percentage . Then try and figure who interests he is running here. If we accept the deal we vote for termination the same as the transfer agreement that he conned staff forced us to accept by late failures to get legal action. If Lawrence can survive this is because he out classed and manoeuvred manipulates and manages every member better than any trickster. Good luck to him he's got away with it for so long we all accept it.
The anger about pay, leadership and who has or hasn’t represented staff properly is understandable.
ReplyDeleteBut focusing only on that risks missing what’s actually being decided here.
This isn’t just about whether 6% is enough, or who negotiated it well or badly.
It’s about what comes with it.
Because this offer is tied to a direction of travel — how probation is delivered, how supervision is done, how work is structured, and how progression is defined going forward.
So the real question is what version of probation are we being asked to accept alongside that 6%?
Because once that direction is agreed, it doesn’t get revisited — it just becomes the job. The pay is immediate, but the model we accept now is what we’ll still be working inside long after the 6% has faded into the baseline and the work itself is no longer recognisable
I don’t really know what to say other than to acknowledge what you have said. I can not begin to remotely understand the huge weight behind the decision that the membership will need to take. I can only add my contining care/regards . Iangould5
DeleteThis is not huge Ian .
DeleteWhat is surprising is none of the members appreciate what's gone on here. Ian Lawrence no question is not capable and so he assists management than challenge for us to win. Most of the Napo top table have adopted this route.
It has been a ploy for members to get tricked into a worse deal than anything we had in the bag.
Contractually the employers are required to negotiate a flat deal on pay annually yet Napo took no legal claim when they dumped us on our terms he took no issue to NEC not anyone else. Why I suspect because it suited him to do nothing.
The conversation between Napo Ian Lawrence and the employers is not healthy for probation because he has helped them by in action. He would most certainly have had forward knowledge of the reform strings well in advance of the 4% offer and most likely agreed with employers a predictable rejection would then slip by on a revised offer then apply the strings aswell.
Personally I would been upfront with members declared the strings at the outset and fought the employer as this is a late pay settlement not a revision of our jobs our work our roles in the cjs . By colluding on increasing a deal value but added strings has destroyed a genuine pay round and next time they will as the please as pay is based on new hurdles and workloads. Lawrence should have simply rejected the pay offer with strings outright . Put to members further action ballot and to accept the offer with or without strings including strike action so we can make a real stand. By the way the other unions can do wtf they like Napo is the lead player here make Lawrence do the job the liar snide we are stuck with.
I think we know what's coming...massively inflated caseloads once sentencing guidelines kick in. WMT will have reductions for Transcribe, virtual appointments, we can see where the £700m is going, Serco and tag em all, let me loose, no Investment in housing, mental health or substance misuse. Think caseloads of 60/80 but a glorified admin service, Vhigh RoSH and MAPPA aside of course, can't have the bad publicity of that when it goes wrong. Strap in people, we do it for the salary and pension these days, the days of caring are long gone.
ReplyDeleteAccept 6% with the T&Cs attached. Stick with the 4% and watch in anger as those new T&Cs are implemented anyway.
ReplyDeleteSadly have to agree, it'll be forced on at some point. I've been in the service over 20 years and if memory serves there's been 2 possibly 3 times strike action has taken place, non of which gained anything except loss of earnings, the union has never been strong enough unfortunately and people just don't care enough about Probation or what we do. As Lammy said, we are hidden hero's, and because of that he is quite happy to forget about us. If i was a trainee now I'd f*ck off as soon as possible once qualified.
DeleteBefore your time Judy McKnight took strike forward on pensions and won . Judy prevented a civil service take over way back. Judy then took strike action to areas based on a workloads agreement the employers renegade on. Again Judy won. Judy McKnight the single most successful Napo leader with integrity and guilt clever and sincere. When she spoke the employers knew she was serious and never mislead membership. Judy was cool as Napo leader and bloody brilliant at pr team management loyalty and camaraderie.
DeleteIt is not Rosie specs either leadership was on show in those days and Judy knew how to manage every situation properly no fiddles no cover ups. If we had Judy McKnight today we would still be probation as was . Oh and that transfer agreement from Ian Lawrence would never have made it past a draft because Napo members would have taken the fight with Judy not surrender from Ian Lawrence.
6% for doing a non intellectually demanding or professional job not bad breach hearts ♥️
ReplyDeleteNot wanting to wee on your chips old chap, but we ran the 'breach factory' for less money just 12 months ago. One can only imagine how angry you'll be now we're getting paid more.
DeleteDon't respond to those irritations I'm glad to see some sensible discussion though. I hope members reject this strings attached deal counter it with consideration to the 6 % without strings as it should be or no go to members Napo should have managed that properly at least but no.
DeleteSo, you're all some 20% down in real terms over the last decade or so. Your union went for 12%, hmpps countered with 4%, the union sent someone from tuc who offered 8% - & you've ended up with 6% + all the conditions hmpps have been grooming you for over the past few years (increased workloads, competency-linked pay, etc).
DeleteI think @19:14 is on the money - vote yes, bank the arrears & hand in your notice. En Masse. What are the consequences?
Almost no-one gets meaningful supervision anymore; prisoners are all being released homeless or tagged back to their victims' addresses... See how hmpps cope when their bluff is called & you all walk away. They've been blagging you & pissing on everybody else's chips for years with their "seven hundred million" this and their "thirteen hundred new" that and "hidden heroes" and £tens of thousands on tv ads.
Take a stand. Stop being victims.
6%
Deletemoves band 3 entry point to £28,064
moves band 4 entry point to £37,238
moves top of band 4 to £44,520
moves band 5 entry point to £46,746
Usual impact of % increase system is that the top tiers get the greatest increases, hence the gmb vote to accept immediately. Meantime, the inequality gap just gets wider. Why not cap the pay increases at band 6? Leaves a whole lot more scope for uplifting frontline staff remuneration.
band 3 entry = + £1,589
band 4 entry = + £2,108
band 5 entry = + £2,646
band a entry = + £3,337
band d entry = + £4,883
Because most of the time on here pos keep voting pay down for other grades which is stupidity in itself but on your point it should be staggered lift enhancing a better deal at the lower end .
Deleteeven better idea, agreed.
Deletebetter yet, apply 6% then invert the lifts, i.e. band d rise goes to band 3, band c to band 4, band b to band 5... band 1 to band d... gmb wouldn't be so quick to agree then.
Deleteband 3 entry = (£26,475 + £4,883) = £31,358
band 4 entry = (£35,130 + £3,337) = £38,467
band d entry = (£81,380 + £1,589) = £82,969
who'd quibble with that?
Or just apply £4,883 to bands 2-5. We’d all agreed to £4,883 and nothing for probation senior managers (band 6 and above) who tell us they “don’t do it for the money”.
DeleteThey use GMB to distort the voting and in consultation. The GMB reps are stupid believe me and they historically add fuck all than damage out position . Unison are also weak having got Ben priestly who slippers and milk has never seen him raise any pulses. Then we have Lawrence the clown who only seeks to collaborate. No wonder probation has been shafted to death .
DeleteTake the 6%, get the years back pay, and get the fuck out. They'll find some 22 year old scrotes to do their bidding, probably via a job ad on tiktok. We know what drives the wankers who lead this organisation. KTE can never be trusted or respected after the lies and gaslighting of that all staff call - and the myth-buster horse shit that followed. That other bloke with the weird schoolboy voice whatever his name is plainly doesn't have any of our interests at heart - interested only in prison capacity and promotion. Look at the senior management team in your region - do you really think they have the intelligence or integrity to pull any of this back.
ReplyDeleteTransparency Data
ReplyDeleteReleases in Error, England and Wales
Releases in Error from 1 April 2025 to 31 October 2025
Strangely there's been no more transparency since...
https://prisonreformtrust.org.uk/adviceguide/the-sentencing-act/ (useful data here)
Delete___________________________________
https://sentencingcouncil.org.uk/updates/amendments-to-be-made-to-sentencing-guidelines-on-20-March-as-a-result-of-the-sentencing-act-2026
"The Sentencing Council has made a number of consequential amendments to three sentencing guidelines and one drop down as a result of provisions in the Sentencing Act 2026 which are coming into effect on 22 March 2026.
* Imposition of community and custodial sentences guideline
* Custodial sentences drop down that appears across offence specific guidelines
* General Guideline: overarching principles
* Sentencing children and young people
The Act introduces a presumption that custodial sentences of 12 months or less be suspended. This presumption comes into force on 22 March and applies where an offender is convicted on or after that date.
The Act also increases the period for which sentencing can be deferred to up to 12 months for offenders convicted on or after 22 March 2026. Previously, sentencing could be deferred up to six months."
___________________________
Another reason you might want to get your notices handed in as soon after the arrears are paid as possible:
https://prisonersadvice.org.uk/wordpress/2026/02/02/further-early-releases-planned-following-passing-of-sentencing-act/
Thousands of people in prison may now be released early this Autumn after the Sentencing Act 2026 passed into law on the 22nd January. The Act introduces wide-ranging reforms to the way sentences are served in England and Wales, whereby eligible prisoners serving standard determinate sentences (SDS) will be released after serving 33% of their sentence, rather than forty or fifty percent.
People serving SDS sentences of longer than four years for violent or sexual offences, who would currently be released at the 66 per cent point, will see their earliest release date brought forward to the 50% point.
No date has been fixed for the new system to take effect, but the Ministry of Justice said it would be “rolled out in the Autumn”.
I'm a lowly PSO, been employed since the trust days at a very young age. Probation has been my whole career. I intend to undertake PQIP, get my degree and get gone. The 6% offer really is a joke.
ReplyDeleteLowly paid but not lowly thought of at all (by this PO at least!)
DeleteGood plan!
DeleteWhere you going the pqip ? It Mickey Mouse
ReplyDeleteWtf does this mean stupid
DeleteI think what they are alluding to is that the PQIP qualification is not worth the 15 months it will take the OP to achieve.
DeleteIt will not open doors or be transferable to any other profession.
For the OP who has been in the role since trust days they will find the training poor, the academic studies irrelevant and be rewarded with only high risk cases.