Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of newly qualified probation officers stay in the Probation Service for more than 48 months.

Using the data available, we can look to specifying dates members of staff in “Probation Service Officer” grades are promoted to “Probation Officer” grades as a proxy. We can tell that 82% of those who were promoted between 1 June 2014, which was the creation of the National Probation Service, and 30 June 2019, 82% remained within the Probation Service for at least 48 months.

Notes

1. Data source is the Single Operating Platform (SOP) database system.

2. Promotions relate to staff moving to a more senior grade through an internal process.

3. Each individual is only counted once.

4. If an individual had more than one promotion date, either as a temporary move followed by a permanent move then the date of the first movement is taken.

5. Information is as at 30 June 2023. Data for Staff movements after 30 June 2019 are not included as they will have been in post for less than 48 months.

6. If a member of staff leaves Probation Service but still stays in HMPPS e.g. moves to HMPPS HQ team, then they are still regarded as having left Probation Service for the purposes of this analysis.

7. Even if an individual remains in Probation Service, they may not necessarily stay as a Probation Officer and may be promoted or move internally to a non-Probation Officer role.

8. The National Probation Service (NPS), was created on 1 June 2014 and staff in the Probation Trusts joined HMPPS as civil servants. Data for staff prior to this date is not available.

9. The figures above do not reflect actual levels of staff in post as staff can arrive externally or via transfers from private sector providers such as Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs).