Vote to strike in probation and to reject 3.23% in Cafcass
Adam Harmsworth, Napo national vice chair, personal capacity
The AGM of Napo (the union of probation officers and workers in family courts) begins on 15 October with our union in a strong position to fight back against low pay and high workloads in probation. A national ballot of members in probation opens on 19 October.
Membership has soared – as the ballot starts, it is around 7,000.
We have more and more activists coming through, and the very successful indicative ballot on industrial action was followed by over 800 members attending an online pre-ballot meeting.
Probation workers have shown they want real change.
We should never have been in this position. But successive governments, including Keir Starmer’s and now Andy Burnham’s Labour, have refused to give probation the support it urgently needs.
For years, Napo has explained the crisis in the service. If the Labour government were on our side, they would have listened when we explained that sentence management was revealed to be short of 10,000 staff, or when we raised the alarm over early release of prisoners. The Rademaker Report showed a horrendous culture of bullying.
They haven’t listened! In August, the Napo National Executive Committee declared no confidence in HMPPS (the prison and probation service). Then the indicative ballot showed 90.76% backing for industrial action.
The ‘best and final’ offer of a 5% pay increase with conditions is insulting – but it is proof that fighting back will win more for our members, as just the threat of action forced them to concede a little more than they first intended. To win more, to restore pay in probation and fight the workloads crisis, Napo must strike back.
Cafcass
It is equally important we oppose the pay offer from Cafcass (family courts) of 3.23%, the most available under the civil service pay remit.
Napo members in Cafcass have suffered rising workloads, with many staff working well over their hours every single week. This combined with uncompetitive pay has led to rising turnover and increasing recruitment difficulties. A 3.23% pay rise will only make the situation worse for Cafcass workers. The Family Court Section Executive is recommending rejection, and the Section must now be prepared to build an industrial campaign for much better pay and against the restrictive Pay Remit.
The task facing all members during and immediately after this AGM is to vote against poor pay, vote to strike, show this union’s strength, and put this ‘Labour’ government on notice that we will not accept things getting worse any more.
Napo is not alone in balloting this autumn and should seek to coordinate campaigning and striking with others – especially PCS in the civil service.
The TUC Congress in September passed a resolution from PCS calling for a national demonstration on a Saturday in the autumn, to protest against austerity and in support of pro-worker policies. Napo must push for this decision to be implemented.
At Napo’s 2025 AGM, 37% voted for a motion for Napo to begin discussions with sister unions on building a new political voice for the working class. Since then, Starmer was booted out by his own MPs due to his unpopularity and Andy Burnham has said nothing to indicate he will move away from the same programme. It is vital that unions discuss how we build an independent workers’ political voice that fights on pro-worker policies to take on the bosses’ austerity offensive put forward by the main parties.
