FTR48: A Reckless Gamble with Public Safety – And One More Reason to Vote ‘Yes’

Napo’s members need to vote in the current ballot on industrial action on pay and workloads, saying ‘Yes’ to both options on industrial action. If members needed any further reason to do this then think about the FTR48 scheme – the huge expansion of fixed term recalls – that will see the imminent release of thousands of prisoners under the Government’s latest decision to sacrifice public safety for Prison beds.

Napo has previously commented on the planned expansion of the eligibility for Fixed Term Recall after it was initially announced – Latest increase in Probation workload to address Prison overcrowding provokes outrage – NAPO Magazine.

FTR48 Means Huge Workload Increases

The Government has changed the law only because it needs to take desperate measures to reduce Prison overcrowding. Members considering their vote on the ballot on industrial action should contrast this with the abject failure of HMPPS to take any meaningful action on excessive Probation workloads. They should also consider how quickly the Government found billions to pay private companies to build and run new prisons but have been unable to find the much smaller sum required to meet the claims of Napo and other unions to pay Probation staff a decent wage.

When this comes into force from the first week of September the ‘FTR48’ scheme will see several thousand currently recalled prisoners start to be released over the following weeks. In addition, people being recalled from that point who would previously have been subject to a standard recall will now fall into this scheme. The thousands of hours of additional work this will transfer to Probation staff in the community has already begun to take effect – the latest example of an unprecedented, and apparently never-ending, increase in work we’ve been subject to from the various schemes introduced to try to reduce Prison overcrowding. Staff in the community are being forced to compress pre-release work that should be done over months into just a few weeks, all during a time of increased staff leave.

FTR48 – A Reckless and Dangerous Gamble

Napo continues to oppose the FTR48 scheme as a reckless and dangerous gamble with public safety. In the interests of trying to free up hundreds of Prison spaces the Government has chosen not to exclude people who are assessed as posing a high risk to others or those serving sentences for committing sexual, domestic abuse and stalking offences. All of those included in this scheme have, to have been recalled in the first place, been subject to an assessment by Probation workers that concluded the risk these individuals posed to others was such that they could not be managed in the community. Where previously they would have been subject to a Standard Recall, involving a much more robust risk assessment and management process in the months after recall involving Probation workers and the Parole Board, now they will be automatically re-released, regardless of any existing risk assessment.

For these reasons it remains Napo’s position the FTR48 scheme will increase Serious Further Offences committed by, and the numbers of recalls of, people subject to Probation supervision who would previously have remained in custody. The Government, and HMPPS, had other options available to it to reduce the numbers of people being recalled to custody. It could have implemented changes to the threshold for recall – for example bringing this in line with that in place for others released on licence, such as indeterminate sentenced prisoners – or undertaken a more wide-ranging change to the culture of fear and individual practitioner blame it promotes. It chose FTR48 instead.

Next Steps

We urge Napo members to vote in the current ballot on industrial action on pay and workloads, and to say ‘Yes’ to both options on industrial action. This is the only realistic remaining option to members to demonstrate the strength of feeling, and our commitment to force our employer to change course, on achieving a decent pay rise and safe workloads for all. Unfortunately, FTR48 isn’t the only reason for members to vote for industrial action in the current ballot, it’s just the latest example of the failure of the Government and HMPPS to think about when casting your vote.