Probation: Vacancies

(asked on 14th December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Her Majesty’s Inspector of Probation’s 2019/2020 Annual Report: inspections of probation services, published in December 2020, what plans he has to reduce probation officer vacancy rates in (a) London, (b) the South East and (c) the East of England.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 22nd December 2020

The National Probation Service (NPS) is committed to increasing recruitment to fill Probation Officer vacancies, particularly in areas with significant local employment market challenges.

We have committed to recruiting 1,000 trainee Probation Officers in 2020/21 and we are developing a three-year strategy to address recruitment issues and improve retention in probation.

There has already been an increase of 5.7% in Probation Officer numbers between September 2019 and September 2020, and we expect this to increase further as we continue to significantly uplift recruitment.

We are focussing on regions with high operational vacancies to target local recruitment advertising, raise the profile of the important work probation officers carry out, and enhance our wellbeing offer to staff.

We recognise that pay and reward is also key as part of the overall package for staff and attracting prospective staff. The 2020/21 Pay Award proposal for the NPS will improve entry level pay for staff in all Pay Bands across the NPS, making the service more competitive with other workforces. The NPS is also working collaboratively with Trade Unions to continue pay modernisation over the coming years to ensure that our pay structure is coherent, sustainable and rewarding of our staff.

Reticulating Splines