Probation staff vote to strike

Offenders are offered advice by probation officers

Probation staff in England and Wales have voted to strike because of their workload.

The union for court staff, Napo, said the supervision of offenders was in danger of collapse after 10 years of increasing demands on its members.

Two thirds of Napo's 6,000 members voted to walk out on 29 January, while 86% supported a subsequent work to rule.

Eithne Wallis, director of the National Probation Service, said she was "disappointed" about the decision to strike.

Group work

Napo said its members' workloads had increased by 50% over the past decade, but staffing levels had only risen by 10%.

"We're saying to the government, stop giving us more and more work to do or supervision of offenders will collapse," said assistant general secretary Harry Fletcher.

Frustration levels amongst staff are extremely high

Napo

Napo said Home Office initiatives like group work courses for offenders and drug treatment orders had made probation staff busier than ever.

On Monday, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, backed plans to sentence first time burglars to probation rather than jail - heightening the argument over workloads.

Mr Fletcher said: "Fine. But tell us what we should stop doing to do that."

The probation officers want the government to prioritise their work.

Dispute settled

Members in four out of the 42 probation areas - Northampton, West Mercia, Merseyside and West Yorkshire - have already settled their disagreements over working conditions with their local probation boards.

The changes the service is undergoing at this time are to better protect the public and cut criminal behaviour

Eithne Wallis - National Probation Service director

Napo would like the Home Office to step in and tell the rest of the boards to settle in a similar way.

They have pledged to keep talking to management in the run up to 29 January in a bid to avert the strike.

A walkout would disrupt court proceedings and probably result in a day of adjournments.

Figures disputed

"The action is taken with great reluctance but frustration levels amongst staff are extremely high," Mr Fletcher added.

Ms Wallis said she did not underestimate the pressure staff were under, but that it was due to modernising the service.

"The changes the service is undergoing at this time are to better protect the public and cut criminal behaviour," she said.

Ms Wallis disputed Napo's figures on the number of staff, claiming that those with direct responsibility for supervising offenders had increased by 22% between 1999 and 2001.

"This outstrips the rise in workload," she said.

Ms Wallis said the strike could not be allowed to deflect the Probation Service from protecting the public and cutting criminal behaviour.

She said that talks would continue with the unions.