Veteran Napo Cymru member and staunch probation campaigner, Su McConnel, delivered a searing indictment of the state of the probation service when she gave evidence to MPs on the welsh Affairs Committee this week.
Speaking with clarity and conviction, Su captured what many working in the system have long felt: probation is in deep crisis and policymakers must act before it collapses completely.
Overflowing, overlooked, and under pressure
Su was clear from the outset that probation is not just at capacity; it’s beyond it. With caseloads ballooning, staff struggling to cope, and public safety at risk, she argued that the system is dangerously close to breaking.
“This panel is primarily focused on prisons. Prisons are very nearly full to capacity. Probation is already overflowing,” she said pointing out: “We have got a situation where 60 cases is the norm.”
Despite repeated promises, staffing remains inadequate, and the promised support has yet to materialise.
“We are always told that the troops are coming over the hill, but they never seem to quite land and stay.”
Recruitment is tough but retention is worse
When asked why the workforce is struggling, Su pointed to a toxic mix of low pay, high stress, and disillusionment.
“It is not just recruitment; it is retention. It is people staying.” Su explained: “We are burning through new staff,” and that “I have never seen so many people signed off with stress as I have done this year.”
Demoralised by a shift in culture
The profession that many joined out of a desire to make a difference is becoming unrecognisable.
Rather than the previous motto of “advise, assist, befriend” Su said: “Actually, ‘Surveil ‘em, nail ‘em and jail ‘em’ does feel to a lot of new probation staff like what they are being asked to do, because there is no scope or room for the reasons they joined.”
“We have shifted so far from a model of supporting people to change to a model of enforcement that new practitioners are very quickly losing their belief that they can do anything positive,” she concluded.
The human toll
The emotional impact on staff was another key theme of Su’s evidence. “I know colleagues who are in their first year of practice and who are crying on a daily basis because they feel that they are not doing the job that they came into the profession to do.”
It’s a false economy
Su repeatedly challenged the government’s short-term thinking, from underfunded reforms to politically driven headlines that ignore the realities on the ground by saying: “Probation is largely invisible to the public, until we fail.”
She called for proper investment — in people, not just systems — and demanded that MPs listen to the voices of those on the frontline.
The magic wand? A real review and independence
When asked what she would do if given a magic wand, Su was clear: “I would want a commitment to a root and branch review of probation, with a view to separating it from the Prison Service — as much as we respect our colleagues — to be a stand-alone organisation in its own right.”
The message to ministers is clear
Su McConnel’s appearance before the Committee didn’t just highlight problems, it offered a path forward. Her call for investment, professional trust, and workforce support resonated far beyond the hearing room.
She didn’t ask for miracles. Just for leadership to listen.
This article is based on Su McConnel’s oral evidence to the House of Commons Justice Committee on 14 May 2025. Watch here
2 responses
Thank you Su, you do amazing work.
Sadly more staff will burn out in programmes too with the ‘new programme’ wherein all ‘band 3’ staff will be delivering to high and very high risk service users convicted of sexual and DV offences… another situation that will cause trauma and burnout in terribly ill equipped and low paid staff..
Totally agree I left the programmes team when Band 3 was imposed. Management was warned for months beforehand that the staff who took up the new posts would struggle and the interventions would be too generic for the people on them.