Probation staff vote to strike amid fury over pay and workloads - The Independent

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Probation workers are set to go on strike following a ballot over deteriorating workloads and pay.

Members of the Napo trade union backed industrial action alongside full walkouts, with preparations underway to schedule strike dates at a future point.

The dispute follows what Napo described as an "inadequate" pay offer of 5 per cent, alongside a failure by employers to deliver measures addressing unsustainable workloads.

The union highlighted that staffing pressures have intensified following the Government's introduction of an early prisoner release initiative designed to alleviate overcrowding in jails.

Napo general secretary Ian Lawrence said: "The high turnout by our members, and the result vindicates the campaign to achieve a pay rise to make up lost ground in comparative pay with other staff employed within HMPPS (Prison and Probation Service).

"The vote also reflects serious anger at the state of probation workloads, which were already in crisis before the latest version of the prisoner early release scheme.

"Our members have tried desperately to do what the previous government, as well as this one, have demanded but have done so against a background of inadequate staffing and a lack of resources within our communities to provide rehabilitation as an alternative to re-offending."

According to the union, probation salaries have "stagnated" since 2010, leaving reception personnel on earnings barely above the minimum wage, making them the lowest paid workers across the civil service.

"Workloads are in a chronic state, with Napo members undertaking thousands of hours of unpaid overtime just to stay on top of the demands placed upon them," said the union.

In the ballot regarding pay, 85 per cent of voting Napo members supported action short of a strike, while 74 per cent backed full strike action. In the ballot concerning workloads, 87 per cent voted for action short of a strike and 75 per cent favoured strikes.