Probation officers in England and Wales vote for strike action over pay and workloads

Probation officers across England and Wales have voted for industrial action, including strikes, over pay and excessive workloads. The result, announced on Friday, deals a blow to the government's plans to release thousands of prisoners early to tackle prison overcrowding.

Members of the union Napo backed overtime restrictions and other forms of action short of a strike, which is likely to start on 23 November. Plans are being made for strike action to follow at a later stage.

The union said it launched its ballot because of an inadequate 5% pay offer from ministers and a failure to cut workloads. The union had sought a 12% increase.

On pay, Napo members voted by 85% in favour of action short of strike action and 74% in favour of strike action. In a separate ballot on workloads, 87% voted in favour of action short of a strike and 75% in favour of strikes.

Probation officers have come under increasing pressure since the launch of the latest early release scheme in October, which is meant to ease overcrowding in prisons. They are responsible for monitoring offenders' behaviour, overseeing their rehabilitation, monitoring their electronic tags and recalling them to prison for any offence or licence breach.

By the end of the year, about 2,500 offenders will be released under the scheme, some of whom are sex offenders, domestic abusers and stalkers.

Napo general secretary Ian Lawrence said the high turnout and the result vindicated the campaign to achieve a pay rise to make up lost ground compared with other staff employed within HM Prison and Probation Service. He added that the vote reflected serious anger at the state of probation workloads, which were already in crisis before the latest version of the prisoner early release scheme.

Napo said probation wages have stagnated since 2010, with reception staff on a salary just above the minimum wage, the lowest in the civil service.

The Institute for Government said slow progress on recruitment means probation practitioners are still overstretched and ill-equipped to absorb additional demand. It said there has been a serious staff shortage in probation for several years, with the number of probation officers consistently 25 to 30% below target staffing. As of March 2026, nine probation delivery units, 8% of the total, had a vacancy rate of 40% or more.

The Ministry of Justice is recruiting an additional 1,300 trainee probation officers for the 2026-27 financial year as part of a £700 million investment package extending through 2028-29.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said probation staff do a vital job protecting the public, which is why a strong offer has been put on the table giving every worker a further 5% pay rise, following the biggest probation pay increase in over a decade alongside record investment. The spokesperson added that while the ministry was disappointed some had voted against the deal, it would not change its first responsibility of protecting the public, and robust contingency plans are in place to ensure offenders remain subject to the same rigorous supervision.