BGCM MOTIONS 2019

GFTU BGCM 2019 MOTION 6

NAPO (1)

The Trade Union, Professional Association and campaigning organisation for Probation and Family Court staff

Let’s fix the broken Probation service.

This BGCM notes with concern the current operational state of the Probation service following it’s part privatisation in 2015 and the introduction of 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies and the creation of the National Probation Service. Since then, a series of parliamentary reports and highly critical assessments by HMI Probation have laid bare this most disastrous policy, which has failed in a number of areas including: support for Prisoners re-entering the community, the monitoring of Domestic Violence perpetrators, and the introduction of operating models and substandard supervision regimes which expert practitioners have assessed as representing a direct threat to public safety. Despite this catalogue of failure, and £250 million in further bailouts by the taxpayer, the 21 CRC Contracts are being terminated early. nevertheless, the Government has announced its intention to remarketise the service into 10 new Contract Package Areas by 2020 and will be inviting current CRC owners to tender for new delivery contracts. This BGCM instructs the Executive Committee to do all that it can to support the campaign of total opposition to this plan by the probation unions, who are also committed to seeing the return of the service into public ownership.

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