More than 100 new West Midlands probation officers taken on after funding boost
More than 1,000 new probation officers have been taken on in a bid to cut crime – the highest annual number in the service's history.
The 1,007 new trainees include 129 based in the West Midlands and comes ahead of probation services fully returning to public sector control later this month.
A £310 million funding boost over the last two years will see a further 1,500 recruits taken on by March 2022, the service says.
It comes after a tumultuous period for the troubled service, which has seen claims of staff being saddled with unmanageable caseloads.
According to ministers the increased staffing will mean that officers supervise fewer criminals and be better able to use their time to help stop offenders from committing more crime.
Prisons and Probation Minister Alex Chalk, said: “Probation officers are unsung crime fighters, sending offenders back to prison if they breach their licence conditions, and helping others turn their lives around so that they don’t commit more crime.
“These new recruits are a key part of our plan to make the country safer, alongside 20,000 more police officers, tougher sentences and the building of 18,000 new prison places.”
The supervision of low and medium risk offenders is to come back under public sector control later this month, bringing the curtain down on the privatisation of parts of the service brought in by Chris Grayling in 2014.
Research published in March 2020 by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation revealed that less than half of staff believed they had manageable caseloads.
Last month it was announced that almost £200m will be given to charities and organisations across the country to deliver services to help offenders turn their backs on crime.
