Probation officers vote for strike action after warning early releases will add to excessive workloads - as it happened

August 11, 2026·23 min read·Updated 23 hours ago

Andy Burnham on a visit to The Hub cafe in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, today. — Prison officers at HMP Wandsworth. The prisoner early release scheme starts in the autumn, adding to workloads of probation staff Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesThe Guardian

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2d ago

Probation officers vote overwhelmingly for strike action, after warning early releases will add to excessive workloads

Probation officers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of potential strike action over excessive workloads – a problem they expect to get worse when the next prisoner early release scheme starts in the autumn.

Napo, the probation union, said there was a 91% vote in favour in the ballot.

Ben Cockburn, the Napo national chair, said:

This ballot wasn’t about members being too busy. It was professionals warning they cannot protect the public properly when there are not enough people to do the work.
Probation staff make decisions every day with life-changing consequences for the people we work with, victims and the public. If excessive workloads prevent those decisions being made properly, the consequences can be devastating.
The government cannot keep treating probation as the place where the consequences of failures elsewhere in the criminal justice system are dumped. If you overload probation, you increase risk. It really is that simple.

The strike ballot was not directly related to the early release scheme. The union is demanding various measures to reduce workload, summarised as seven key demands. But it has called for more offenders to be exempt from the early release scheme, saying that is necessary to “ensure public protection is achievable”.

In a news release last week, Napo said:

It is not clear if the prime minister or the lord chancellor have a clue about how ill-equipped the probation service is take on this additional work. For example, there are huge numbers of vacancies in victim liaison roles, so we are not sure how the extra victim contact scheme work will be done.
Plans to release thousands of domestic abuse perpetrators and stalkers early from prison does not boost victim protection. It means that more people, largely women, will be killed or harmed.
There’s no additional funding to retain probation staff, especially experienced ones, despite endemic staffing problems in many key roles across England and Wales.
Whilst it is welcome that the prime minister has intervened to review the policy, more now needs to be done to ensure the probation service can safely manage people in the community.

Commenting on the strike ballot, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said:

Our probation staff do a vital job, working tirelessly to cut crime and keep the public safe. That is why we secured the biggest probation pay increase in over a decade in April and are working to cut down workloads by recruiting 1,300 probation officers this year and investing in technology that can drive down admin workloads.
While this ballot is only indicative, we are disappointed with the outcome and will continue to engage with Napo and other recognised trade unions.

Key events

Afternoon summary

Andy Burnham has said he is increasingly confident he can adapt the early release scheme for prisoners to exclude the killers of PC Andrew Harper and other serious offenders, saying he understood and shared the public’s concern about their potential release.

Probation officers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of potential strike action over excessive workloads – a problem they expect to get worse when the next prisoner early release scheme starts in the autumn. (See 3.57pm.)

Burnham has suggested that more asylum seekers may need to be housed in more affluent areas in future. In an interview with GB News, asked about government plans to house migrants in a disused military base near Piddington, a village in Oxfordshire, and objections from residents, Burnham replied:

I will listen to what people are saying and respond to the concerns that they are putting forward. I don’t know the issue yet in detail, but in some ways, as I understand it, it is about creating secure space …
I do have to say, we cannot have a situation where it’s only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers. I do believe all parts of the country need to work, to play their part.

Burnham has said the government will change tactics to deal with people smugglers using “mega-dinghies” to send people across the Channel. Asked about 230 people arriving on one of these, Burnham told GB News:

I know people will have been worried to see that image yesterday.
It shows that the gangs are changing their tactics, but so will we – we will now change our tactics and we will be relentless in chasing them down.
I said that when I visited Dover just over a week ago and I meant it.

For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.

How No 10 views Oswestry and Keynsham as models for high street improvement

Andy Burnham’s high streets announcement today (see 1.37pm) focused on vape and betting shops, but it also included proposals to get councils to improve the appearance of high streets. It has emerged that Oswestry in Shropshire and Keynsham near Bristol are two of the models.

In its news release, the government says:

The government will also work with councils to improve the appearance of high streets and help restore pride in local town centres. In too many places, poor-quality shopfronts, garish neon signs, and oversized logos have prompted complaints from local people and contributed to high streets feeling less welcoming, at a time when the rise of online shopping has already put increasing pressure on town centres.
To help turn this around, the government will set clearer expectations for the design and appearance of high street shopfronts. Working with the Planning Advisory Service, it will identify the best examples of attractive, thriving town centres from across the country and provide councils with practical guidance on improving the look and feel of local high streets.
Over the next six months, councils will be supported to improve local high streets, drawing on successful examples such as Cross Street in Oswestry and Keynsham High Street.

There is a report on shop front improvements on Keynsham High Street here. And here is a Historic England report on the revival of Cross Street in Oswestry.

Before and after examples of a shop front improvement in Cross Street, Oswestry Photograph: Historic England

38% of voters think Burnham's government will be better than Starmer's, and only 6% think it will be worse, poll suggests

Polling is pretty good for Andy Burnham at the moment (see 11.23am), and Lord Ashcroft has released a new polling report that confirms that voters are reasonably positive about the new government.

It suggests 38% of people think Burnham’s government will be different from Keir Starmer’s “in a good way” and only 6% think the opposite.

Polling on Burnham’s government Photograph: Lord Ashcroft

Fraser Nelson, the Times columnist and former Spectator editor, has a good post on his Substack blog about Zia Yusuf’s rant about Ben Wallace (see 3.22pm), and about the danger his extremism poses to Nigel Farage and Reform UK generally.

Nelson suggests he agrees with Tim Montgomerie, the ConservativeHome founder who defected to Reform UK and who is now a high-profile voice on the more Tory-friendly wing of the party. Montgomerie posted this about Yusuf last night.

This isn’t acceptable from Zia.
I don’t agree with @BenWallace70 on this issue but Zia’s language and attitude towards any opponent is inappropriate and counter-productive. Opponents are opponents... they aren’t enemies... or “moron”s.
One of the biggest question marks over @Nigel_Farage‘s leadership is whether he brings Zia under control. ZY is a man of huge talents but too much of his social media output is intemperate and reinforces Reform’s number one problem: our negative tactical voting challenge.

And here’s an extract from Nelson’s article.

The tactical voting is the issue: Reform has moved so far to the authoritarian end of the spectrum (it’s not a move to the right) that there are people on the right, left and centre now united in their main political desire: to vote for whoever, locally, will stop Reform. They’d rather see Andy Burnham in No 10 than someone like Yusuf in the Home Office.
Montgomerie’s post says what a lot of Reform supporters think: that Yusuf, for all his eloquence and talents, now looks out of control. And is starting to damage a party that needs to build alliances if it stands any chance of power. Some Tories even joke that Yusuf (a former Tory member) is a sleeper agent. So why doesn’t Farage take action?
Some argue that Yusuf was one of Farage’s original sugar-daddy donors, getting in there before the crypto kings and that he has a hold over Farage that puts him beyond discipline. I think it’s something else: Yusuf is very popular with the party’s membership. His framing - ‘we speak for the people, they’re all traitors’ - fits with how Reform’s most dedicated members see themselves. Lord Ashcroft is the only pollster to have gauged opinion on who members would most like to see succeed Farage, and found Yusuf clearly above Richard Tice and (a far less popular choice) Jenrick. Perhaps Yusuf is preparing for exactly this contest.

Probation officers vote overwhelmingly for strike action, after warning early releases will add to excessive workloads

Napo, the probation union, said there was a 91% vote in favour in the ballot.

Ben Cockburn, the Napo national chair, said:

This ballot wasn’t about members being too busy. It was professionals warning they cannot protect the public properly when there are not enough people to do the work.
Probation staff make decisions every day with life-changing consequences for the people we work with, victims and the public. If excessive workloads prevent those decisions being made properly, the consequences can be devastating.
The government cannot keep treating probation as the place where the consequences of failures elsewhere in the criminal justice system are dumped. If you overload probation, you increase risk. It really is that simple.

In a news release last week, Napo said:

It is not clear if the prime minister or the lord chancellor have a clue about how ill-equipped the probation service is take on this additional work. For example, there are huge numbers of vacancies in victim liaison roles, so we are not sure how the extra victim contact scheme work will be done.
Plans to release thousands of domestic abuse perpetrators and stalkers early from prison does not boost victim protection. It means that more people, largely women, will be killed or harmed.
There’s no additional funding to retain probation staff, especially experienced ones, despite endemic staffing problems in many key roles across England and Wales.
Whilst it is welcome that the prime minister has intervened to review the policy, more now needs to be done to ensure the probation service can safely manage people in the community.

Commenting on the strike ballot, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said:

Our probation staff do a vital job, working tirelessly to cut crime and keep the public safe. That is why we secured the biggest probation pay increase in over a decade in April and are working to cut down workloads by recruiting 1,300 probation officers this year and investing in technology that can drive down admin workloads.
While this ballot is only indicative, we are disappointed with the outcome and will continue to engage with Napo and other recognised trade unions.

In relation to the post at 1.23pm, a reader (dfic1999) asks:

Where’s the evidence that Reform members and representatives have been drinking when they tweet ‘stupid stuff’? It seems more likely that they actually believe what they post and are totally sober when they do it.

Josiah Mortimer addresses this in his Byline Times story where he quotes another passage from the advice for Reform UK activists. It says:

If you see stupid political posts that people go back to, maybe a year down the line or blow up on social media, it’s usually on Friday. It’s usually in the evening. If you’re in any doubt, just don’t post it. It’s not hard. Just press delete and leave it.

Farage reprimands Reform UK's home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf over 'treachery' rants about Ben Wallace

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has publicly reprimanded his home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, for calling Ben Wallace a traitor.

Yusuf spent much of yesterday afternoon attacking Wallace, the former Tory defence secretary, on X, accusing him of “treachery” and suggesting he should be prosecuted for treason.

He was responding after Wallace posted his own messages criticising the plans Yusuf announced yesterday to deport foreign offenders.

While Farage is happy to criticise former Tory ministers for their record in government, Wallace, a former soldier, was widely respected as defence secretary, and Yusuf’s online rants were particularly extreme and inflammatory.

Asked about what Yusuf said, Farage told the Sun’s political editor, Jack Elsom, in an interview that calling Wallace a traitor was “too strong a word” and he would give Yusuf “a ticking off”.

Asked if he would tell Yusuf to delete the “traitor” tweet, Farage said:

I’ll speak to him today. But, yeah, it’s over the top.

The row started yesterday morning when Wallace posted a message about the Reform UK plans saying:

If memory serves me right the top foreign nationalities in UK prisons are Irish, Polish, Romanian, Albanian and Baltics. Total number of foreign offenders always hovered around 10-11k. Reform have to answer a.) how they will force those countries to take these offenders. For decades they have refused to. b.) if they wont and then deport them but they are released how will that sit with their victims? and the Irish offenders will find it easy to return.

In his first response, Yusuf said:

Incredible that this moron was Defence Secretary.
Our policy today is in direct response to your government’s failures.
If their home countries won’t take back, their citizens that are languishing in our jails, we are renting spaces in countries like El Salvador to put them.
They will serve their full jail terms there, and will be banned from ever coming back to Britain.
They may well include some of the thousands of Afghans you imported, including those who had not been vetted properly and including Taliban fighters (!).
You know, the ones you took a super injunction out to keep secret from the British people?
That’s why I call you a traitor to Britain. You fit the dictionary definition @BenWallace70

Wallace replied saying:

oh look a lesson from a man who never put a uniform on..just worked at bank. A man who is literally making policy and facts up. A man who cant even get his own party to pick him as an MP ( tell us why please?). When Reform stop taking £5m bungs and start being honest with people then people might take you seriously. No one is saying dont send prisoners back when you can but dont lie to the public you can do it with a magic wand. You guys are getting desperate. After all you recruited Suella!

Last night Yusuf replied:

Notably you did not rebut a single allegation I made against you @BenWallace70
. 1) you imported thousands of Afghans to Britain without proper vetting, at a cost of billions to the British taxpayer.
2) some were literal Taliban fighters, others were kicked out of the Afghan army for sexual misconduct. You flew them to Britain in secret.
3) you took out a superinjunction to keep the British people in the dark.
PS: you want to talk about banks? You have made vast sums by hawking yourself out to private banks - where you then viciously attack NATO allies.
Your actions constitute treachery, and many serving in the military use that word to describe you.
Our Boriswave Inquiry will shine a bright disinfecting light on all of the above, and I will not hesitate to declassify the things you did to betray the British people.
That’s why you’re lashing out. Tick tock

And Yusuf then posted a poll asking if Wallace should be prosecuted for treason.

Suella Braverman, the former Tory home secretary who is now Reform UK’s education spokesperson, has also criticised Wallace on X – but without calling him a traitor.

Yusuf’s outburst is particularly awkward for Farage because, following the murder of Ann Widdecombe, Farage has been speaking a lot about the way extreme language puts politicians at risk of violence. Yusuf himself also held a whole press conference on this topic only three weeks ago. On that occasion, he defended calling opponents “traitors” (a term he uses a lot), claiming it was justified if an MP was proposing something not in the interests of voters.

But “traitor” is also the sort of term regularly deployed by people who use or threaten violence.

Wallace told the Sun Yusuf should apologise. He said:

Traitor is a very loaded word. Traditionally, treason and traitor comes with a death sentence, historically.

Alex Norris, the justice minister, has confirmed that the government is looking at three measures that could free up more space in prisons, thus allowing more manslaughter offenders (like the killers of PC Andrew Harper) to be exempted from the early release scheme.

Danny Shaw, the home affairs commentator and former BBC correspondent who briefly worked as a Labour adviser, reckons there are problems with all three of these options. In a post on social media, he says:

At last, @andyburnham realises a Prime Minister CAN make space in prisons, to keep offenders serving fixed jail terms for manslaughter locked up. There are about 470 in total, 220 of whom are serving sentences of 10+ years, as two of Pc Harper’s killers are (figures from @Telegraph). Let’s look at his options:
1. Foreign national prisoners: 10,134, BUT only 6,431 are sentenced & eligible for removal. Receiving countries must agree to take them - many do not. If they’re freed too early victims may feel the perpetrator has escaped justice. Govts have promised for 20 years to remove more foreign prisoners, but the proportion in prisons hasn’t changed, still 12%. Not a quick fix.
2. IPP prisoners: 856 have never been freed, 80% of whom have served 10+ years more than their minimum term or tariff. Why? Because Parole Board has decided they can’t be safely managed in the community. That’s the conundrum Burnham faces: if he releases IPP offenders who pose a risk that won’t help restore confidence or protect the public. A further 1,415 IPP prisoners are in jail - having been sent back for reoffending/breaching release conditions. It’s possible some of these could be let out on a tag/curfew - but risk assessments would be needed.
3. Women prisoners: 3,378. Freeing some of those jailed/remanded for non-violent crimes (about 2,100) would create room. But more community spaces are needed to house them with support in place, & if one or two of the 12 women’s jails are re-rolled as men’s prisons the problem is some female prisoners will end up too far away from families and their local area. A potential solution, but not immediately.

But Shaw also says other options are available.

Other options:
* Release some of the 2,700 prisoners serving sentences of under 12 months, on tag/curfew. These short sentences have been scrapped under 2026 Sentencing Act unless there are exceptional circumstances.
* Release on tag/curfew some of the 500 prisoners jailed for fraud and 1,350 jailed for ‘summary’ offences, ie the least serious crimes.
* Release on court bail with strict conditions prisoners accused of non-violent offences who are on remand in jail (there are 15,380 remand prisoners, in total).

Gambling industry accuses No 10 of wrongly implying betting shops taking over high streets

In its overnight news release, the government said its council planning measures (see 1.37pm) would help high streets “hollowed out by the unchecked spread of vape stores, betting shops, and rogue businesses”.

But the Betting and Gaming Council says the number of betting shops is going down, not up. And it rejects the implication that betting shops are similar to rogue businesses.

In a response to the government, it said:

We support tough action against criminal operators and agree local people should have a proper say over their high streets. But the suggestion that betting shops are spreading unchecked is simply wrong.
Betting shop numbers have fallen by over a third since 2019. Around 3,000 shops have closed and over 15,000 jobs have already been lost.
It is wrong to lump highly regulated, licensed betting shops together with rogue or criminal businesses. Betting shops still support 37,500 jobs, bring vital footfall to neighbouring businesses and, for many customers, are valued community hubs.
The real threat to Britain’s hard-pressed high streets is more empty units and fewer local jobs, not businesses rooted in the communities they serve.

The Financial Times today has a good chart illustrating these figures.

Change in numbers for high street premises Photograph: FT/Financial Times

Council leaders welcome plans to curb spread of vape and betting shops

The Local Government Association has welcomed the changes to council planning rules for England announced by Andy Burnham today to curb the spread of vape and betting shops.

Eamonn O’Brien, chair of the LGA, said:

It is positive that councils and communities will get a greater say on what shops and services are found on their high streets through these changes to the use class order which will require vape shops to acquire planning permission.
The LGA has consistently raised that some permitted development rights, which allow uses to change without planning permission, can hollow out high streets and reduce community and democratic oversight of planning decisions.

This is how the government explained the changes in its overnight press release.

As part of the PM’s plans to save Britain’s high streets, the government intends to revoke the Gambling Act’s outdated “aim to permit” rule, which currently restricts the ability of councils to refuse new betting shops and 24-hour slot machine shops even where there are strong local concerns.
The change would give communities and councils a stronger say over whether new betting shops are right for their area, helping stop them spreading unchecked across struggling high streets.
The government will also require planning permission for vape shops to finally give local people and councils a say over whether they open and to stop them opening near schools. The definition of a vape shop will also be tightened to stop businesses getting around the new rules by claiming to be a general convenience store or retailer.
Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs), which are adult-only venues offering up to 24-hour access to gambling machines such as slot and fruit machines, will also require planning permission under proposals due to come into effect at the start of next year.

Reform UK activists told 'don't drink and tweet' because members doing 'stupid stuff' one of biggest threats to party

Reform UK activists are being urged to think carefully before they post on social media because one of the biggest threats to the party comes from members doing “stupid” stuff.

In a report for Byline Times, Josiah Mortimer has written up the advice given to Reform activists in training videos. And some of it relates to social media.

One presentation says:

The fact is, the biggest threat to Reform is people in it and itself. It’s not the Tories, it’s not Labour, the establishment is going to throw everything at us. The biggest chance of things going wrong is stuff like infighting, stuff like people just saying and doing stupid stuff. That’s our biggest risk.

And activists are also told:

Treat every social media post like a press release, if this was sat on the desk of an anti Reform journalist, what are they going to do with it? Don’t drink and tweet. If there is any doubt, just don’t post it.

Reform UK has had a particular problem with members posting offensive material on social media. But, in truth, this has been an issue for all political parties. The former Tory PM David Cameron was one of the first prominent figures to recognise this, and ‘don’t drink and tweet’ is probably good advice for anyone in public life.

Reform UK has been approached for comment.

Reform UK council accused of fake 'outrage' over LGBT+ library books after FoI request disproves complaints claim

Peter Walker

Peter Walker is a senior Guardian political correspondent.

The claim by a Reform UK council leader that there had been “a number” of complaints about LGBT books being promoted in libraries has been called into question after a local Labour MP found out there had not been any such complaints.

George Finch, the 19-year-old who has led Warwickshire county council since July 2025, announced a review of LGBT books and displays related to Pride events in the county’s libraries in June, saying that some of these included “contested gender ideology” and posed a “safeguarding risk” to children.

Finch said at the time that he would develop a new policy on the issue because of “a number” of complaints from local people about the content of children’s books.

However, Rachel Taylor, the Labour MP for North Warwickshire and Bedworth, said that a freedom of information request submitted by her office found that since March 2024 there had been no complaints to the council about inappropriate books for children in Warwickshire libraries.

Over the same period, there had been one separate complaint about a Pride-related display in a library, which was not upheld.

Taylor said:

This desperate attempt to manufacture outrage is almost laughable, but Reform UK’s attacks on LGBT+ people are no laughing matter.
Whether it’s Nigel Farage saying he doesn’t support same-sex marriage or Cllr Finch trying to ban LGBT+ books from display in our libraries, Reform have shown they are completely out of touch with modern Britain.

Finch’s office was contacted for comment.

Here are some more pictures from Andy Burnham’s visit to Ilkeston in Derbyshire today.

Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner walking past shops in the town centre of Ilkeston, Derbyshire. Photograph: Toby Shepheard/AFP/Getty Images

Burnham and Rayner outside a vape shop in Ilkeston. Photograph: Toby Shepheard/AFP/Getty Images

Burnham and Rayner posing for a picture with a member of the public.
Photograph: WPA/Getty Images

Burnham and Rayner speaking to a member of the public. Photograph: Toby Shepheard/Reuters

Burnham and Rayner speaking to local business owners and guests in The Hub cafe in Ilkeston. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images

Andy Burnham speaking to the Labour MP for Erewash, Adam Thompson. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images

Burnham and Rayner in the The Hub cafe. Photograph: Toby Shepheard/Reuters

Tories urge Burnham to 'get a grip' on prisoner releases, saying handling of issue has been 'shambolic'

Andy Burnham says he would like to get as much “political consensus” about prisoner releases as possible. (See 12.11pm.) Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, has responded to Burnham’s long statement about this topic this morning (see 9.58am), and he does not sound minded to drop this as a party political issue.

Timothy says:

One week ago, the PM said he could not exclude anybody else from Labour’s early release scheme because:
“it’s not possible without the prison system reaching capacity and collapsing.”
We said more could be done, and he denied it, but today he has once again changed position and accepted our argument.
Instead of changing policy day-by-day he needs to present a proper plan and emergency legislation.
He needs to let parliament vote on who is and who is not excluded from this shambolic early release scheme.
Nothing matters more than the safety of our people. Andy Burnham needs to get a grip.

Burnham says he will strive for 'public and political consensus' on prisoner releases

In his pooled TV interview, Andy Burnham also said he hoped that other parties would work with the government on devising a better prison early release scheme. He said:

I will talk to the other political parties about it because I believe it’s extremely important to build as much public and political consensus as we can around this difficult crisis within our prisons.

Andy Burnham speaking during a TV interview in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. Photograph: Toby Shepheard/Reuters

Reporting from The Guardian contributed to this story.

Probation officers vote for strike action after warning early releases will add to excessive workloads - as it happened

Probation officers vote overwhelmingly for strike action, after warning early releases will add to excessive workloads

Afternoon summary

How No 10 views Oswestry and Keynsham as models for high street improvement

38% of voters think Burnham's government will be better than Starmer's, and only 6% think it will be worse, poll suggests

Probation officers vote overwhelmingly for strike action, after warning early releases will add to excessive workloads

Farage reprimands Reform UK's home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf over 'treachery' rants about Ben Wallace

Gambling industry accuses No 10 of wrongly implying betting shops taking over high streets

Council leaders welcome plans to curb spread of vape and betting shops

Reform UK activists told 'don't drink and tweet' because members doing 'stupid stuff' one of biggest threats to party

Reform UK council accused of fake 'outrage' over LGBT+ library books after FoI request disproves complaints claim

Tories urge Burnham to 'get a grip' on prisoner releases, saying handling of issue has been 'shambolic'

Burnham says he will strive for 'public and political consensus' on prisoner releases

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