Probation officers vote to strike over outsourcing

18 Oct 13
Probation officers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in protest at government plans to outsource much of the service in England and Wales to private and voluntary providers

By Vivienne Russell | 18 October 2013

Probation officers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in protest at government plans to outsource much of the service in England and Wales to private and voluntary providers.

Following a ballot, 84.4% of members of the National Association of Probation Officers voted to strike on a 46% turnout. This is only the third time in the union’s 101-year history that members will have taken national strike action.

Commenting on the result, Napo general secretary Ian Lawrence said: ‘We now have a mandate for industrial action that we shall be pursuing with vigour, but as always Napo will be seeking to avoid this if possible by way of further negotiations with ministers. 

‘However, our members have sent a clear message to the government that they will not tolerate the shameless privatisation of the probation service and the serious consequences this will have on communities, offenders, victims and staff.’

He added that the outsourcing probation services to contractors would increase re-offending and a lack of continuity in risk management.

‘We want to raise public awareness of what these proposals will mean to the communities and put a halt to [Justice Secretary Chris] Grayling’s plans until there has been a full review of his plans and a proper parliamentary debate.’

A date for strike action has yet to be fixed.

Justice minister Jeremy Wright said: ‘This is a strike in favour of the status quo, which is high reoffending rates and no support for 50,000 short-sentenced offenders each year who are currently released without any supervision and go on to commit so much crime in our communities. 

‘More than 600,000 offences were committed last year by those who had broken the law before, despite spending £4bn a year on prisons and probation. The public deserves better and we are committed to introducing our important reforms, which were widely consulted on.’

Wright added that contingency arrangements were in place to deal with the consequences of any action.

‘We will continue to support staff and engage with unions as our reforms move forward,’ he said.

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