Probation Pay Update

HMPPS has now provided the final offer to Trade Unions for the Probation Service Pay Award for 2021/2022.

The Probation Service pay award applies to former National Probation Service (NPS) staff with effect from 1 April 2021, with the intent to pay the award and necessary backdating in December’s salaries. Full details of the award are:

• Pay progression to the next pay point for eligible staff who are below their pay band maximum as at 31 March 2021 and were in grade before 1 October 2020.
• a £250 consolidated uplift of all pay points under £24,000 (on full-time equivalent basis), effective 1 April 2021.

Read more about the 2021/2022 Pay Award on the Intranet here.

The re-band and backdating applies to Approved Premises (AP) Residential Workers with effect from 12th July 2021, with the intent to pay the award and necessary backdating in December’s salaries. Full details of the award are:

• AP Residential Worker staff below their pay band maximum on Pay Band 2 as at 11 July 2020 will be re-banded to the minimum step of Pay Band 3 effective 12 July 2020.
• AP Residential Worker staff at the top of Pay Band 2 as at 11 July will receive an exceptional uplift to the second step on Pay Band 3 (that being the step above the minimum of the pay band).
• AP Residential Worker staff that are re-banded as part of this process are eligible for the pay award for 2021/202

The steps for each pay band can be accessed on the HMPPS Intranet here.

The Probation Service is also pleased to have secured approval from Cabinet Office and HM Treasury for a time limited offer of overtime at 1.25x plain time for Band 4 and Band 5 work in courts to support the HMCTS recovery agenda – focused on Saturday overtime work and tackling the backlog of pre-sentence reports. This offer will be available to eligible staff until 31 March 2022. We are currently working with colleagues across the business and will provide further information and guidance in the coming weeks on the process underpinning this offer.

In addition, discussions are continuing between HMPPS and Trade Unions around further pay structure reform and progressing the aspirations of the 2018 Modernisation Agreement. HMPPS remains strongly committed to agreeing an ambitious multi-year pay deal effective from 1 April 2022.

This year’s award adheres to the public sector pay pause for 2021/2022 announced in 2020 by the Chancellor. The pay pause was introduced to protect public sector jobs and investment in public services following unprecedented government spending on the response to Covid-19, however this pause in no way reflects upon the critical work probation staff have done, and continue to do, throughout the pandemic. We recognise and thank the Trade Unions for their constructive engagement and acknowledge the professional representations that they put forward on this matter on behalf of their respective memberships.