Key facts
- Napo members voted 85% for action short of a strike and 74% for strikes on pay.
- On workloads, 87% backed action short of a strike and 75% backed strikes.
- Napo sought a 12% pay rise; ministers offered 5%.
- About 2,500 offenders will be released by the end of the year under the early release scheme.
- The Ministry of Justice is recruiting 1,300 trainee probation officers for 2026-27 under a £700m package.
- The Institute for Government said probation officer numbers are 25-30% below target staffing.
Probation officers across England and Wales voted to take industrial action over pay and workloads, the Napo union said on November 13, 2026. Members backed overtime restrictions and other forms of action short of a strike, which is likely to start on November 23. Plans are being made for strike action at a later stage.
The union said it balloted members because of an inadequate 5% pay offer from ministers and a failure to cut workloads. On pay, 85% voted for action short of a strike and 74% for strike action. On workloads, 87% backed action short of a strike and 75% backed strikes. Napo had sought a 12% increase.
Napo general secretary Ian Lawrence said the turnout and result vindicated the campaign for a pay rise to make up lost ground with other HM Prison and Probation Service staff, and reflected anger at probation workloads that were already in crisis before the latest early release scheme.
Probation officers have faced pressure since the latest early release scheme launched in October to ease prison overcrowding. They monitor offenders' behaviour, oversee rehabilitation, monitor electronic tags and recall offenders to prison for offences or licence breaches. About 2,500 offenders, some of them sex offenders, domestic abusers and stalkers, will be released by the end of the year.
The Ministry of Justice is recruiting an additional 1,300 trainee probation officers for the 2026-27 financial year as part of a £700m investment package extending through 2028-29. The Institute for Government said slow recruitment means practitioners remain overstretched, with officer numbers consistently 25-30% below target staffing. As of March 2026, nine probation delivery units, 8% of the total, had a vacancy rate of 40% or more.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said probation staff do a vital job protecting the public and that the government has put a strong offer on the table, giving every worker a further 5% pay rise following the biggest probation pay increase in over a decade alongside record investment. The spokesperson said the government was disappointed some had voted against the deal but that it would not change its first responsibility of protecting the public, and that robust contingency plans were in place to ensure offenders are still subject to the same rigorous supervision.