A large majority of members have voted to reject the 4% pay offer from His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and indicated a willingness to vote for industrial action.
Final voting figures:
- 58.7% of UNISON members voted in the ballot
- 89.4% voted to reject the pay offer
- 10.6% voted to accept the pay offer.
UNISON’s probation committee met yesterday (Monday) and agreed to ask HMPPS to return to urgent pay talks to improve the pay offer and to register a formal trade dispute.
National Association of Probation Officers members also voted by a similar majority to reject the pay offer.
If an improved pay offer is not forthcoming, UNISON will move to a formal industrial action ballot.
National officer for probation Ben Priestly said: “UNISON members have made it very clear to HMPPS that they are worth more than 4%.
“It is no surprise that members have voted so strongly to reject the pay offer. The facts of probation pay over recent years are a disgrace and members have simply had enough.”
Probation pay facts
• Since 2010 the value of probation pay has fallen by 41% in real terms – the result of staff getting only a 1% pay rise between 2010 and 2021.
• Between 2010 and 2024 Probation staff pay rose by only 11%. During the same period, prison officer pay rose by 44%. HMPPS allowed the pay of predominantly male prison officers to rise four times more than that of predominantly female probation staff.
• The top salary of a police constable is £50,256. The top salary of a probation officer is £43,680 with the 4% pay offer added. That’s a shortfall of £6,576. This demonstrates just how far probation pay has fallen behind comparable jobs.
• Even with a 4% pay rise, the lowest paid probation staff will be overtaken by the government’s national minimum wage in April this year.
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