Received from: NAPO
On 13 June, the secretary of state for justice announced that all probation services will revert to public ownership and control, bringing an early end to the 20 community rehabilitation company contracts in June 2021. This change of direction represents a significant victory over a privatisation policy that has been an unmitigated disaster for staff, clients, victims and the taxpayer.
Now that the first part of the campaign to save probation has been achieved, Congress believes that there is a need for substantial investment in the probation service in order that the damage of the last six years can start to be repaired and the service can once again excel at reducing reoffending and protecting the public.
Congress instructs the General Council to work in partnership with the probation unions and the official opposition to press government ministers to take the necessary steps to recover what was once a world-class probation service with the following objectives:
i. fully unified service provision, delivered within the public sector and never for profit
ii. removal of probation from the civil service and release from the prison-dominated culture which means that probation is the forgotten ‘P’ in HMPPS
iii. a service built on evidence-based practice
iv. a service rooted in the local community and partnering with local specialist providers.
Congress instructs the General Council to include a progress report to the 2021 Congress.
Napo