Feb 04

UNISON calls for probation service to be removed from civil service control

  • 4 February 2026

UNISON has renewed its calls for the probation service to be removed form civil service control after a new report from the Public Accounts Committee warns that the probation service in England and Wales is being placed under “significant strain, seriously impeding its ability to protect the public and reduce reoffending rates.”

UNISON national officer for probation Ben Priestly said,”we are campaigning for probation to be removed from civil service control and re-localised under local democratic control with local management again.

“Successive independent reports in the last 12 months by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, the National Audit Office and now the Public Accounts Committee lay bare the failings of the probation service under civil service control.

“It was the Tories who first centralised control of probation under the Ministry of Justice in 2014.

“Like all the other Tory probation reforms, centralisation has been an abject failure. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has had 12 years to get to grips with running probation and instead of improving over this time, probation has just got worse.”

Probation was reunified in 2021 after the collapse of Tory privatisation.

The Public Accounts Committee found that:

  • Since 2021 the Probation Service has failed to meet most of its performance targets
  • Neither the MoJ nor His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) know how probation performance affects performance such as rates of reoffending
  • Longstanding staff shortages have left probation staff with excessive and unmanageable workloads
  • The MoJ and HMPPS rescue plan ‘Our Future Probation Service’ risks destabilising the workforce and may not free up capacity to improve performance
  • Resourcing for rehabilitative services is in doubt.

Ben added: “Labour promised to review the governance of probation in its 2024 manifesto. UNISON calls on the government to make good on this promise without further delay.”

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