Our election scrutineers CIVICA have now provided the result of the indicative ballot that has been taking place between 4th to the 27th February 2026.
With a hugely impressive turnout of 83.46% of voting members, 88.97% voted to reject the above offer with 11.03% voting to accept.
The Probation Negotiating Committee is meeting this afternoon to determine our next steps, including moving as quickly as possible to ballot on industrial action.
We will also be formally writing to the employer to notify them of the result, which we believe sends a strong signal about the anger and disappointment among our members in response to the current pay offer, and the manner it has been presented to the workforce by HMPPS. In our view the employer and Government must now urgently produce a significantly improved pay offer that properly demonstrates the value of Probation staff to the criminal justice system and our communities.
The outcome of the ballots being held by UNISON and GMB/SCOOP will be known next week.
We will issue more news to members, including on the outcome of Napo’s Probation Negotiating Committee meeting later today, as soon as possible next week.
Finally, we want to thank all responsible for delivering this ballot result, both Napo members and staff. The importance of this result should not be underestimated, and it would not have been possible without our collective efforts.
34 responses
An impressive turnout and surely will send a strong signal to those in the Ivory Tower! If a ballot for strike action is next, fingers crossed those who voted “no” will join colleagues on the picket lines to show solidarity and hopefully send an even stronger message to Senior Management that we will not be taken granted of any longer.
I am all up for Striking if needed BUT should industrial action be taken than the point of this is to cause maximise disruption. My only concern is that staff will re-arrange workloads etc and meetings and in essence this will fall to SPO’s and non union staff to cover and continue to paper over the cracks. If Striking goes ahead, I only ask Unions ensure the expectations are that staff are not expected to cover their work on strike days – else my fear having seen this 20 years ago is that it will just end up being another highly wished for leave day. good luck and I hope there is movement in pay particular for the lowest grades of staff
Lets hope that this strong feeling carries through to industrial action if needed. I saw today that I could earn £52 starting wage as a graduate manager for Aldi with a company car and increasing to a max of 98k in 8yrs! 25yrs as an officer and stuck at 42k…..
Just hope members have the gumption to follow through should industrial action be called for and not back down for fear of losing a couple of days pay because the benefits will outweigh the sacrifice.
Well done everyone that voted NO and hopefully the decision makers realise now and take notice they have been taking advantage and have been and still are so disrespectful to hard working people for too long now, time now to stand up against this behaviour and strike action is taken because these people are to arrogant to admit what they have been doing is WRONG.
Well done everyone and especially the NAPO representatives! I shall certainly vote for strike action.
This will send a clear and powerful message that enough is enough. We have been exploited for far too long, with the service relying on unpaid overtime and staff pushed to the point of overwhelming pressure and burnout. I will absolutely be voting in favour of strike action.
I am not sure what I am more angry and insulted about, the poor pay offer or the senior management disingenuous communications. It’s incredibly insulting to assume that we can be convinced that increments agreed under the last pay deal should be considered in this deal as part of the offer. Or that our case admin / reception colleagues are adequately financially recompensed for the work they do when they are on just above minimum wage.
The amount of work probation staff have done over the last few years to support the sustainability of the CJS, chronic high workloads, the impact of TR on staff emotionally and financially and the absolute shambles of how HMPPS manage change needs to be reflected upon by senior leaders and change is needed now. I hope members take the time to vote in any ballot and make your views clear whether that is to take industrial action or not. Nothing will change if we don’t give the TUs a mandate to act now.
Thank you for acknowledging that some staff are positioned very close to minimum wage. This level of remuneration is clearly disproportionate to the responsibilities associated with roles within the probation service, particularly when roles outside this sector that involve significantly less stress and responsibility are often remunerated at a higher level.
So proud of our membership that we are becoming more united and standing up for ourselves, each other and for the service that’s collapsing around us due to the continued lack of investment and respect. Let’s keep the momentum going, this is a great start!!
Why have they disregarded those who have their wages topped up with UC? Why do they keep stating there’s nothing they can do? The pay deal makes me worse off and loose around £500 a month. Yet my workload has doubled whilst on part time hours… Make it make sense as to why I’m putting myself under stress for less?
I am thrilled with this outcome and that staff have not been manipulated through gaslighting to accept such a low and insulting pay offer. I echo the above comments. I am not sure whether I feel angrier about the behaviour of our government or our employer. I feel passionately about working for this service but the behaviour of our employer is yet another reason to consider moving on.
Thank goodness for that!! After the previous low turn out i was a little concerned, but this has restored my faith. The pay offer is an insult after everything we have been through and continue to endure in this poor excuse of a service. We have to say enough, no more poor relative of HMPPS, no more ruling by dashboard and impossible targets and no more being used as a dumping ground for the CJS. The whole service needs to change.
An amazing result. Our NAPO Reps and Committee have done an amazing job getting us to this point. And so have the membership. Its time to stop this rot and insult to our profession and professionalism, and get all staff at a salary level (and onwards)that reflects the challenging and amazing job that we all do. Know our worth!! Let’s keep this momentum, lets keep this focus, and build upon this superb platform of the power of saying no!!
I have to say I was worried about the turnout but my faith in my fellow workers has been completely restored. High levels of stress and burnout is not the way we should be treated confounded with a desultory pay offer have pushed us beyond the limit. Management attempts to coerce staff into accepting the offer was not only undemocratic but insulting. Onwards to victory.
A day to celebrate! A day of unity!
To the 11% who voted to accept- I absolutely respect your decision.
However. My concern lies with 17% of membership who couldn’t take 30 seconds to open an email and push “accept:reject”.
They are the people we need to capture and understand why this is not important to them.
Our employers are floundering on the ropes now in the knowledge that aren’t going to be pushed around any more!
Let’s hope that this time people actually decide to take industrial action. I could not believe it when people were choosing not to strike because work would build up. That’s the whole point of industrial action to make the employer see the impact of them not being there. It’s about time we take action and sacrifice a few days pay for a better pay offer. Any industrial action would massively impact the government’s ability to achieve what they set out to do. It’s also astonishing that for 5 years of uni work I’m on 39k a year it’s a joke
At some point you have to say enough is enough. I am so pleased with how many people have voted; well done. Lets keep up the momentum.
Option for change!!? Time to bring the unions back to the labour government’s attention. Huge respect to our NAPO Reps and Committee for staying on course to get us here! It’s time for the NAPO membership to be the motivated action force. There is no more room for co-operate staff calls clogging up my busy calendar, nor dashboards and performance figures that depersonalise the workforce alongside our service users. Time to go all the way and get us out of the Civil Service slavery we have endured for too long. Bring autonomy back to my local region. Bring strength back to the senior leadership team that employed me. There is no further stamina left in this workforce to keep cycling the political merry go-round.
Well done, our sacrifices and hard need to be recognised.
More than willing to strike if a second and fair pay offer is not now made. Absolute insult of a pay offer. I’m surprised how some offices are still open, particularly in south central where there are so many staff off sick from burn out. It’s about time things change
Vast majority of staff have not had a vote as the vote was only open to union members. Totally undemocratic. Forcing staff to join one of the trade unions in order to have their voice heard is a cast back to the 70s.
there wouldn’t be a vote if it wasn’t for the Unions – the employer would just do what they like. That’s why we have Unions, as with the best will in the world we would not/could not organise ourselves as a workforce against the employer
The powers that be DO NOT CARE. After 20 years service this job has practically killed me and the only answer is to try and get out.
Pleased it’s unanimously rejected. Particularly as now MP’s getting a 5% increase. Their pay has already increased 31.7% since 2010 and now a further 5%.
Comparing probations pay in that same time span against others in the justice system is shameful.
I am happy with the result, and also happy to strike – however we all know what will happen, Senior Management will pressure the non-strikers to cover the workload of those that are striking to try and minimise disruption – when the aim of the strike is to cause maximum disruption. Workloads will be re-shuffled, appointments rescheduled, duty officers used, other staff members pressured to complete work to meet targets which may be otherwise missed… I am worried that a strike may not actually have the intended impact.
I’m Band 2 and feel backed into a corner, I just need my money tbh which is why I voted to accept. I don’t regret that, but I am very pleased with the huge turnout and the huge percentage who voted to reject. Striking will put me into financial difficulty , even one day. I feel a work to rule would be the best way forward, no-one work over their contracted hours, for a prolonged period of time, no more overtime, set hours etc. The most galling thing is them trying to combine it with CBF. All through this I’ve realised I may as well not have spent time doing this as my increments have only taken me to barely over minimum wage which I would have had anyway.
Time to support Edridge Fund and demonstrate the Union (which is the community of members) will do their uppermost to help those in financial difficulty. I’m happy to donate and fund raise for Edridge, supporting my colleagues to both express their ‘true vote on strike action’ and pay the bills. I have left a frontline job I loved to be in management – just to pay the bills. Lets provide confidence to vote and pay the bills too!!! Opportunities for ‘fair and just’ pay are rare. This is the pathway for permanent and respected change for the better.
I am taking the devil’s advocate argument. I get why people rejected the offer but I wonder if they are taking everything into consideration, regarding pay. The Civil Service, including HMPPS, has one of the most generous pension schemes available – a Defined Benefit scheme – unmatched in the private sector who are stuck with ungenerous Defined Contribution schemes. That needs to be factored into pay. They can also access many discount schemes, which makes money go further. Plus they have jobs for life invariably once they reach the legal two year threshold. In the private sector, people watch their backs daily and are facing redundancies all the time – even if their salaries seem more generous. All of that needs to be factored into the overall package we get. If that doesn’t convince, there are always other jobs you can apply for in the Prision Service, Police where you can earn much more. For those in admin support roles, there are countless other jobs paying more than Probation does if money is an issue. The choice is really yours. What isn’t a choice are those forced to cover for strikers and those who lose a few days pay taking industrial action – which can mean the difference between paying the rent and being in arrears and possibly evicted. One might argue that if you can afford to strike without pay, is your pay really that bad? I am also concerned that without the offer on the table already, any new negotiations may not result in a better negotiated settlement just a longer wait for the one we could secure right now and, for some, hardship at a time when the cost of living is biting harder still. I get the arguments for striking too, but I am unpersuaded that they are more compelling than the arguments to accept what is already on the table.
Most of us aren’t rejecting the offer because we don’t appreciate the pension or the job security, we’re rejecting it because those things don’t pay today’s bills, rent, childcare, travel costs, or the basics that keep us going. Saying “there are other jobs out there” doesn’t really help, the organisation should want to retain experienced staff, not normalise turnover.
My mental health is in tatters because of work and and this poor pay offer adds insult to injury! It is insulting… We help build out POP’s up whilst the service tears us all down.
The fact is that I could work in Aldi or in a call centre and earn more per hour than my job as an officer, and without the stress and risk associated with our job.
I will gladly been on the picket line no matter how long it takes, not because I can afford it but because I can’t afford not to…
so where are we at? there doesn’t appear to be any update since the 27th of February and it is now the 17th of March. We are now OVER a year and no mention of the 26-27 pay issues, comical at best. Why did we not seek a two year pay deal to incorporate the fact we should now be negotiating this year let alone still fighting for last year!
What is the current update????
I’m a bit concerned with a lack of update or plan after the deal was rejected, considering how long negotiations took last time, if I have to wait another 6 months for them to negotiate a better pay raise meanwhile price of petrol and train tickets have gone up considerably while my pay is still the same, many people will be struggling. This is why a 2 or 3 year deal is needed so we are not at the mercy of the union or goverment in that current year
I think it’s important to consider the risks with a multi-year pay deal. The last time we accepted the 3-year pay deal (which seemed okay at the time, especially after years of no pay rises), we could not foresee the cost of living crisis and the extent to which inflation in the following years would impact our financial stability. Napo tried to bring the employer back to the negotiating table to re-open pay talks given the unexpected rise of essentials (e.g. fuel, food essentials, mortgage and rent rates) but HMPPS rejected this arguing that we had accepted the 3-year pay deal so there was no room for further discussions until it ended in 2025.
Considering the geopolitical instability at the moment, it would be a big mistake to enter into a multi-year deal as we have no way of knowing for certain what inflation will look like in 6 months time, let alone 2-3 years from now. If a particularly attractive offer was made, I am not saying that it shouldn’t be discussed and voted on by the membership. But we need to be cautious because we could lock ourselves into a deal that a few months down the line is completely inadequate and pushes some of our members into poverty.
With regards to being at the mercy of the union, I just wanted to note that the Probation Negotiating Committee (PNC) is made up of members just like you and I. We (the membership) are Napo, not just the paid officials, and any of us can be put forward to be in those meetings where some decisions and recommendations are made.