Responding to a National Audit Office report released today (Friday) on pressures in the probation service, UNISON national officer for probation Ben Priestley said:
“Probation staff have known for years the service is on its knees.
“It’s through no fault of the workforce, who’re doing all they can to protect the public and help people turn their lives around. It’s the result of a system that’s been stripped of local leadership and starved of investment.
“Government plans to expand community sentences will put even more pressure on probation workers, who already have unmanageable workloads.
“Ministers must honour their commitment to review the running of probation. That means taking the system out of the civil service and returning it to locally accountable bodies.
“Otherwise, the public will be put at greater risk and staff will continue to suffer.”
Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union, with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.
Media contacts:
Mark Conrad M: 07809 623703 E: m.conrad@unison.co.uk
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk
The article Ministers must honour commitments to review probation, says UNISON first appeared on the UNISON National site.
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