Received from: NAPO
Congress notes the appalling crisis afflicting all parts of the criminal justice system and the failure of the previous government to adequately address these issues over the last 14 years.
Uppermost among these, has been the capacity crisis in prisons and the shambolic management of the ECSL early release of prisoners scheme.
Despite the tremendous efforts of prison and probation workers, the ensuing chaos has highlighted the fact that the Probation Service is still in the grip of an acute staffing and workload crisis, exacerbated by inadequate pay that fails to retain and motivate staff, with high levels of attrition and unsustainable sickness absences.
Congress calls on the government to provide an emergency financial package for the Probation service to include sufficient funding to allow the immediate reopening of pay negotiations to try and make an impact on the operational decline by treating staff with the dignity and respect that they deserve. This has been made worse by the introduction of the ‘One HMPPS’ programme which does nothing to help prison and probation staff.
The General Council is also instructed to establish contact with the prime minister and lord chancellor to press the policy (as agreed at TUC 2023) for the establishment of a Royal Commission into the criminal justice system. Meanwhile, Congress calls for urgent action by government to reduce the reliance on short-term prison sentences which do nothing to impact on the societal impacts of reoffending.
Napo