Commenting on the decision to return medium and low-risk probation cases to public control, UNISON South West Regional Secretary Joanne Kaye said:
“Returning probation work to public ownership is a long-overdue step in the right direction. It has already proved a disaster in the South West with the collapse of Working Links, the company that held the contract, prompting concerns for community safety and staff jobs.
“But UNISON is convinced probation services are best delivered locally, rather than from the one-size-fits-all centralised model which is the National Probation Service.
“The sooner probation is put back into local control to restore the confidence of staff, service users and the public, the better. The ruin caused by Chris Grayling’s botched reforms shows the service is just not safe in the hands of the Ministry of Justice.
“We will continue to lobby Government to renationalise offender unpaid work and interventions programmes that are currently due to be re-tendered at the end of 2020.”
How much money has Chris Grayling wasted?
A page created by UNISON to show exactly how much public money Transport and ex-Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, has wasted.
