Staffing crisis threatens London’s probation service

A large-scale recruitment campaign for probation staff is urgently needed in London, to ensure the supervision of high-risk offenders released into the community continues successfully.

Eighteen months on from the creation of the London Probation Service, a London Assembly Police and Crime Committee report warns that staff shortages are having a detrimental impact on services.

As of August 2022, the London Probation Service confirmed it had 755 vacancies right across the organisation.

These vacancies are coming at a cost, with £367,628 spent on agency staff in April 2022 – more than double the spending on agency staff by any other probation region.

The Police and Crime Committee launched an investigation to see how reforms to probation services were impacting London.

The Committee’s findings are published today, highlighting:

• The London Probation Service is facing a crisis in staffing at all levels that threatens the future viability of the reunified service. Challenges to recruitment and retention are stark and will require creative solutions to address.
• Pressures on capacity mean probation staff are struggling to provide full and considered advice to courts, which limits magistrates’ abilities to make appropriate and effective sentencing decisions.
• Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people face significant and specific challenges on probation, and the Committee is not confident that the London Probation Service is doing enough to ensure equitable treatment and outcomes for people in this cohort.

The report makes 13 recommendations in several key areas, including:

• The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) should meet with the London Probation Service before the end of March 2023 to discuss how it can support a large-scale recruitment campaign for probation staff in London.
• The Mayor should work with the Regional Probation Director for London and regional representatives of Napo to deliver a proposal to Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) for the payment of either: a) market forces supplements to all people working in roles within the London Probation Service that are subject to high vacancy levels or low retention rates; or b) an uplift in London weighting for all roles within the London Probation Service.
• The London Probation Service should work with prisons, MOPAC, local NHS providers and London Councils to establish improved referral pathways for prison leavers into community mental health services.

Chairman of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, Susan Hall AM, said:

“With a caseload of over 38,000 people, we recognise that probation staff in London have an overwhelmingly demanding and complex job.

“The number of vacancies in this area is alarming. We heard that staff shortages pose a threat to the success of the London Probation Service, with a staggering cost of filling gaps with agency staff in the meantime.

“We urge the Mayor to work with the London Probation Service and HM Prisons and Probation to deliver a much more ambitious recruitment and retention strategy.

“A properly resourced and well-run probation service is one of the most effective tools we have to reduce crime and we hope our recommendations are implemented to unleash the full potential of the recent reforms.”