Union anger as yet another probation provider goes into administration

Whilst this news was not completely unexpected it creates more uncertainty for our members across England who work for the Purple Future CRCs owned by Interserve. Just weeks after three CRCs owned by Working Links had to be rescued by another private provide, we now see that Interserve, the second biggest probation provider has also gone into administration.

Napo General Secretary Ian Lawrence said: “How much more evidence does this government need to recognise that their failed probation experiment is no longer sustainable? Our members working in CRCs have suffered job cuts, unreasonable workloads, stress and poor working environments because of the failure by probation providers to effectively understand the work that they do. I am calling on David Gauke to act decisively now and to halt the plans by the MoJ to retender probation contracts. We need a publically owned and reunified probation service that works on a local level for the benefits of communities and service users.”

The immediate fate of the Interserve CRCs is not yet known but Napo has received Ministerial assurances that jobs and wages will be secured irrespective of the outcomes and the union will be immediately working with the government and members to get the best possible outcome for the public, staff and service users. Ian went on to say: “It is clear there is no market for probation and no place for large corporations stripping one of the biggest assets to our justice system.