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| Probation officers vote to strike over privatisation | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Probation officers in England and Wales have voted to strike over government privatisation plans. | |
| Private firms and charities are currently bidding for contracts worth £450m to supervise 225,000 low and medium-risk offenders each year. | Private firms and charities are currently bidding for contracts worth £450m to supervise 225,000 low and medium-risk offenders each year. |
| The National Association of Probation Officers (Napo) said there had been an 46% turn-out, with more than 80% voting yes for action. No date has been given. | |
| Napo has said the changes would "put communities at risk". | Napo has said the changes would "put communities at risk". |
| Under the government's proposals, most of the Probation Service's current work will be done under new payment-by-results contracts, to be awarded in 20 English regions. The whole of Wales will be one region. | |
| The contracts would mean that low and medium risk offenders will be supervised by a mix of private firms, charities and voluntary groups. | |
| 'Open to talks' | |
| A new public sector body, the National Probation Service, will be created to deal with the rehabilitation of 31,000 high-risk offenders each year. | |
| Speaking after the ballot in Llandudno, Napo general secretary Ian Lawrence said: "We now have a mandate for industrial action that we shall be pursuing with vigour, but as always Napo will be seeking to avoid this if possible by way of further negotiations with ministers." | |
| He said "decimating the award-winning public sector Probation Service and selling it off to the likes of G4S and Serco will result in increased re-offending rates, a lack of continuity in risk management, and will see the privateers making huge profits at the expense of victims, offenders and taxpayers." |