Hidden work can’t stay hidden any longer

Across the probation service, members are telling us the same thing: workload is not just about the cases counted on a spreadsheet. It is about the hidden work that lands on every desk when the system around us fails.

Accommodation shortages are a stark example.

In summer 2026, Napo undertook a national survey to understand members’ experiences of securing accommodation and Approved Premises bed spaces.

A total of 271 members responded, representing every probation region across England and Wales and a wide range of operational roles. (view survey results here)

Members describe days swallowed up by repeated referrals, chasing providers, revising release plans, arranging emergency placements, updating risk assessments and managing crises caused by homelessness or unsuitable accommodation. One member put it bluntly: “We are better described as accommodation brokers than probation practitioners.”

This work is urgent, stressful and resource intensive. But is often not properly counted, recognised or resourced. It disrupts planned supervision, pushes rehabilitative work aside and leaves staff firefighting instead of doing the work they came into the service to do. As one respondent said: “Everything else gets put on hold while we try to find accommodation.”

This is not a niche issue. It is not confined to one grade, one team or one region. Workload pressure is hitting every grade and every role in the service: Probation Officers, PSOs, AP staff, SPOs, VLOs, admin grades and specialist colleagues. Members are doing more with less, carrying risks created by decisions they did not make and systems they cannot fix alone.

That makes this a staff safety issue. Members reported stress, burnout, lone working concerns, verbal aggression and anxiety about managing high-risk situations without the tools needed to do the job safely. One member wrote: “I worry about being attacked by someone who is angry at being homeless.” Another said they had considered going off sick because of the stress of trying to secure accommodation.

It is also a public protection issue. When people are released homeless or placed in unsuitable accommodation, risk management becomes harder, victims and communities are less protected, and people are set up to fail. Members told us of high-risk individuals being released homeless, withdrawn AP beds just before release, and licence conditions undermined because there was nowhere safe or suitable to go. One response summed it up: “People are being released homeless or to unsuitable accommodation, putting victims and the public at risk.”

Napo has said it before and we are saying it again: workloads are generating huge problems across probation. This is not sustainable. Staff cannot keep absorbing systemic failure as unpaid, unrecognised labour. Workload measurements that ignore hidden work are not measuring the job members actually do.

That is why the consultative ballot on workloads matters. It is your chance to send a clear message: enough is enough. We need members to vote, to speak up, and to take a stand on workloads because this is about your health, your safety, your professionalism and the public protection role probation is supposed to deliver.

Final Report – No Bed No Safety July 26

Survey Analysis – all data July 26

Vote in the consultative ballot. Tell the employer that hidden work must be counted, unsafe workloads must be challenged, and members will not be left carrying the risk in silence.