Dozens of protesters walked out from work yesterday to campaign against changes which could see the probation service privatised.

Workers in Swindon, Salisbury, Trowbridge and Chippenham joined the hundreds of members of the National Association of Probation Officers  to go out on strike from noon today until noon tomorrow.

Placards reading RIP probation service were waved in front of beeping cars throughout Tuesday on Victoria Road outside Swindon’s main office.

Bidding has now started for private companies and organisations to take over probation services in England and Wales as part of an annual £450 million package of rehabilitation contracts.

Albertine Davies, of Eldene, who has worked in Swindon as a probation officer for 11 years said along with her fellow union members she felt strongly that planned changes would put lives at risk.

“It is a matter of life or death,” said Albertine, who is aged 34. “We supervise the most dangerous people in our community. Corners will be taken if people are trying to boost their profit margins for their share holders which will mean more crime, more victims and ultimately some of these will die.”

She is calling on Wiltshire’s trust to join Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire trusts which wrote to Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary ,to voice fears about the plans and appealed to the minister to delay the proposals.

Under plans from March 31, the 35 local probation trusts will be closed down.
They will be replaced by a single centrally-run public sector service that will account for 30 per cent of cases and deal with the most serious offenders.
The remaining 70 per cent of the service will be moved into 21 community rehabilitation companies, also government-owned and centrally run.

Probation service officer Michelle James, aged 33, said she felt wholeheartedly that the decision to split the service in two would create problems.

“There is no contingency plan in place if this goes wrong,” said Michelle. “No tests have been carried out to see if this will work.”

Labour parliamentary candidate for south Swindon Anne Snelgrove was also at the strike, she said: “I am extremely concerned about the effect it will have on what is a very good probation service. There will be a lack of co-ordination which will be inevitable if the service is split in two. I want to make sure that the people of Swindon continue to enjoy low crime in their area.”

Justice Minister Jeremy Wright said: "It is disappointing Napo has chosen to strike when we are making positive progress, in meaningful discussions with them and other relevant trade unions as we transfer to the new arrangements.

"This is a strike in favour of the status quo, which is high reoffending rates and no support for 50,000 short sentenced offenders each year who are currently released without any supervision and go on to commit so much crime in our communities.

"We have well established contingency plans to deal with any potential action. We will continue to support staff and engage with unions as our important reforms move forwards.”

Wiltshire Probation Trust declined to comment on the walkout.