A mixed picture
Last Thursday’s (16 May 2024) latest HM Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly gave us the number of staff in post on 31st March this year. With both the prison and probation services facing chronic understaffing problems, these quarterly figures have become increasingly important, not least for current staff who want to know whether the cavalry is coming over the hill to reinforce them – or not.
The prison service
On 31st March this year there were 23,614 FTE band 3-5 prison officers in post; an increase of 1,396 FTE (6.3%) since 31 March 2023 and of 416 FTE (1.8%) prison officers compared to 31 December 2023. There were also 5,542 FTE band 2 operational support staff in post, again an increase, this time of 252 FTE (4.8%) since 31 March 2023 and of 119 FTE (2.2%) operational support staff since 31 December 2023.
Over the past year, 7,251 people joined the public sector prison service, an increase of 4.7% over the previous year. During the same time period, 4,723 left the prison service (a decrease of 9.2%). This is still a high leaving rate of 11.3% (just over one in 9 staff) but a welcome reduction in the previous year’s leaving rate of 12.5%.
Another positive indicator was that prison officers lost an average of 11 working days because of sickness in the year to this March, compared to an average of 13.4 days the year before.
In conclusion, while the prison service still faces serious staffing issues, not least with the ever-increasing prison population, this is a better set of statistics than the previous year. More people joined the service, fewer people left and people had an average of two days’ fewer off sick.
The probation service
Unfortunately, things don’t look so good on the probation side of things. Key grades in the Probation Service include band 3 probation services officers, band 4 probation officers (collectively known as probation practitioners), as well as band 5 senior probation officers. Staff who are training to be a probation officer work as a probation services officer during their training, so a proportion of the probation services officers in post will be working towards the professional probation officer qualification.
As at 31 March 2024, there were 5,857 FTE band 3 probation services officers in post, a decrease of 1,052 FTE (15.2%) over the past year and a decrease of 446 FTE (7.1%) over the quarter. In 2023/24 compared to 2022/23 we saw a lower number of trainee probation officers starting courses (543 in 2023/24 compared to 1,514 in 2022/23), which has contributed towards this net decrease. A contributing factor to the net decrease in probation services officers is the qualification of trainee probation officers, with many qualifiers taking up posts at the band 4 qualified probation officer grade.
There were 5,139 FTE band 4 probation officers, representing an increase of 718 FTE (16.2%) over the past year and an increase of 386 FTE (8.1%) compared to the previous quarter; and 1,493 FTE band 5 senior probation officers, showing an increase of 61 (4.2%) over the previous year and no substantial change since the last quarter. You can see these statistics summarised in the chart above, reproduced from the official bulletin.
In the past year, 1,074 probation services officers were appointed, some of whom will be training to become qualified probation officers. This is a decrease of 1,311 (55.0%) compared to the year ending 31 March 2023 and a decrease of 851 (44.2%) compared to the number appointed in the year ending 31 December 2023.
Within the Probation Service, there were 5,113 FTE Probation Officers in post, a shortfall of 1,680 FTE against the required staffing level of 6,794 FTE.
3,212 people joined the probation service in the year ending March 2024, a fall of 1,131 or 27.7% on the previous year. 2,360 individual left probation over the same time period, an increase of 262 or 12.5% on the year before. Sickness rates were down slightly on the previous year, falling from an average of 12.8 days lost to 12.5. Worrying more than three out of five days lost because of sickness (60.7%) were due to mental ill health, compared to 55.3% the previous year.
Recent media attention has been focused on the prison capacity crisis and it shouldn’t be forgotten that more people in prison and more people released early both make for a bigger workload for both prison and probation staff. It remains a national priority to fully staff both services.
