Napo the Trade Union for Probation staff is deeply concerned that
the London National Probation Service has been assessed as
“wholly unsatisfactory” by the Chief Inspector for Probation Dame
Glenys Stacey. Despite the hard working and dedicated staff in
probation who have worked tirelessly to try to manage in in an
intolerable environment, the report is one of many that has
assessed London National Probation Service as failing to meet the
required standard. In particular this report focuses on the
failure to support victims of sexual and violent crime.
Ian Lawrence General Secretary said: “ this report is really
worrying given the level of violent crime in London. Only last
year was it under the spotlight following the Worboys case, and
to see that little has changed should be a wakeup call to the
Minister.”
The report comes just a week after the Secretary of State for
Justice announced that the majority of probation work will
brought back under public ownership in the National Probation
Service. Ian Lawrence said: “what this shows us is that even in
the public sector of probation there are deep flaws. We know from
our members that workloads are dangerously high and this is
evidenced in the report by a lack of face to face contact with
clients.”
Napo has been campaigning for a public owned probation service
since 2015 and was strongly opposed to the probation model that
split the workforce and the caseloads. The massive staff
shortages in the NPS, up to 20% in London alone, has seen staff
struggling to cope with supervising the most dangerous people in
the community. This is echoed in the report that states that
there are 150 staff vacancies within London and Napo asserts that
this is unsustainable, a danger to public protection and leads to
staff burn out and sickness.
Whilst the NPS has fared better in previous HMIP reports, Napo
states that this is purely because the private sector has done so
badly that it looks good in comparison. The whole probation model
is deeply flawed and a full review of the probation service
delivery must take place if the service is to regain its
international award winning status.
