NAPO, the trade union for probation and family court staff, is currently engaged in the fight of its life as it campaigns vigorously against Justice Minister Chris Grayling’s madcap plans to privatise the Probation Service. On June 1 Grayling closed down the 35 probation trusts of England and Wales despite all them being assessed as performing at a good or excellent level. 

He has replaced them with a National Probation Service which will deal solely with the high-risk-of-harm service users and court duties and 21 community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) to manage low-to-medium-risk service users. 

It is these CRCs that he intends to sell off to the lowest bidders by the end of this year.

Napo argues that the whole “transforming rehabilitation” agenda has been politically led and is running to an election timetable and not the public interest. 

There was no infrastructure in place when the new organisations came into play three months ago, which has led to complete IT failures, leaving the service in chaos. 

Staff morale has plummeted with a recent survey suggesting that 52 per cent of staff are looking for another job while 98 per cent have no confidence in Grayling as Lord Chancellor. 

Aside from the chaos that has left staff stressed and overworked, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) appears to be in complete denial about the impact of the reforms on staff, service users and service delivery. 

Napo believes this is a real risk to the public, with dangerous offenders not being supervised properly due to high case loads or, in some instances, not being allocated due to staff shortages. 

Napo general secretary Ian Lawrence says: “Our members are dedicated public servants, professionally trained to work within their specialist field, but they simply cannot do their job properly in these circumstances. 

“They are really worried that serious further offences will occur as a result of these rushed changes. Grayling’s reforms are flawed and dangerous.”

As well as the model of reform itself being flawed, Napo is deeply concerned that the competition process currently under way is also failing. 

The MoJ has refused to release details of who the bidders are for the probation service, stating it is not in the public interest to do so. 

Napo is concerned that some areas will have very few bidders, which will result in large corporations having a monopoly on a service that they then fail to deliver to a high enough standard. 

It seems the MoJ is not too concerned about the private sector’s previous misdemeanours with contracts. Just look at the tagging fiasco last year with G4S and Serco. Such companies are likely to make similar if not more disastrous mistakes.

Lawrence says: “This time it could be much worse, not only for public safety, if probation is not delivered to a high enough standard but also to the taxpayer. 

“The MoJ is trying to negotiate 21 10-year contracts in a very short space of time. We believe the cost of these will rise significantly and taxpayers will be picking up the bill for a very long time. 

“We will continue to urge the Labour Party to review any contracts that may have been awarded next year should they get into power.”

Napo recently held a lobby of Parliament urgently calling for an independent inquiry into the transforming rehabilitation programme which has, to date, not been costed, piloted or tested. 

The chair of the major projects authority recently publicly expressed his concern about the programme, describing it as “ambitious.” 

Napo has made further submissions to the justice select committee, which is due to sit on September 9.

Napo’s motion this year to TUC calls on congress to support its campaign to maintain a public probation service and for the Labour Party to revoke any contracts awarded by next spring should they gain power. 

Tania Bassett is national press officer at Napo.