Probation officer blows whistle on low morale
A FURIOUS whistleblower says changes to the crisis-hit probation service will make the public less safe as well as “insulting” victims of crime.
The Echo can reveal that offenders under suspended sentences and community orders will no longer need to see probation officers during the last third of their orders – the latest cutback to a service that for years has been stretched almost to the point of breaking.
Justice secretary Alex Chalk announced this week that some prisoners could be released up to two months early due to jail overcrowding in England and Wales but this will mean a heavier burden on the probation officers monitoring them in the community.
In an attempt to reduce pressure on the chronically understaffed service a new policy was announced on Monday in an internal video meeting.
Staff were told the UK Government had signed off on offenders in England and Wales no longer needing to see probation officers during the last third of their suspended sentences or community orders, which are up to three years long.
An experienced probation officer in South Wales told us: “This will outrage courts and victims of crime, especially domestic violence victims.
“They will feel even more let down by the system. People are placed on orders of certain lengths for a reason.”
He pointed out domestic violence offenders are meant to have two years of programme work.
The new approach, he fears, will mean issues around drugs, mental health, and housing advocacy are not fully addressed.
The government says the change will not affect “the most serious offenders” but the whistleblower told us that offenders labelled “medium risk”, who are already supervised less, account for most of the serious offences committed while under an order.
The whistleblower works in a South Wales team that is little more than half the size it was in 2007.
“The pressure on staff is unbearable some days,” he said.
“Morale is horrendous at the moment. I don’t know a single person here who works the 37.5 hours a week they’re meant to. Staff take their work home with them, they work on evenings and weekends. Until about 2012 you couldn’t work with a sex offender until you had two years’ experience. Now newly-qualified trainees are given sex offender cases.”
The increased pressure has been accompanied by worse pay, leading to “woeful” recruitment and retention problems.
Recently our source learned that more than a third of staff in his team were looking for new jobs.
He said: “In the past 15 years of wage freezes and below-inflation pay settlements staff have seen their pay devalued by over 25% in real terms.
“I didn’t have a pay rise for over 10 years. If someone can work in Aldi for £38,000 a year they are not going to train for a year to work with the most dangerous people in society for £32,000.”
While under an order, high-risk offenders tend to be seen by probation officers weekly, medium-risk offenders fortnightly, and low-risk offenders monthly.
If they are involved in a “reportable incident” – very often domestic violence – the probation service would call the offender and decide whether the next face-to-face meeting should be brought forward.
The whistleblower says it is unclear what will now happen in those circumstances when offenders are in the last third of their order.
When courts impose community orders and suspended sentences they often include a certain number of rehabilitation sessions. How will the new policy affect those sentences?
“I think it’s likely to mean those sessions are front-ended to the first twothirds of the order, putting even more pressure on staff,” said the whistleblower, adding that they already “regularly” find themselves terminating orders without all of the rehab sessions being completed.
Offenders often miss appointments but if more than half of sessions have been carried out the order can be ended. The whistleblower fears the final-third policy will only add to the number of incomplete programmes.
According to figures from last year the probation service was 1,700 officers short of its target of 6,160. In 2014 many senior staff left after the then-justice secretary Chris Grayling’s disastrous part-privatisation of the service. It was renationalised seven years later following a series of damning reports by parliamentary committees and watchdogs.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We recognise the pressures facing our hardworking probation staff which is why we are making changes to make sure they can continue to deliver high-quality supervision in the community. These measures, alongside our £155m investment in the Probation Service each year, will reduce caseloads and mean staff can maximise supervision of the most serious offenders.”