HM Prison and Probation Service Reviews

Training is awful. If you struggle or become sick they will try to kick you off the programme rather than offer you support. It has nothing to do with the workload being completely unrealistic nor the fact most of what you study is irrelevant to the actual job. You'll be told when you ask questions or point out how piecemeal it is that everyone feels confused at first. If you're working lots of extra hours to try and get things done, you'll be told that's normal as some extra hours are expected and your capabilities questioned. The chaos of your traineeship is a taste of what is to come. It gets worse. If you get kicked off the programme for being sick, you'll end up fighting to get back on it and stuck in a dead end role in the meantime. Good luck getting the training you need- you'll work with people you're not trained to which will put you and the public at risk, especially if something goes wrong. Nobody cares! This will also involve a caseload of more individuals than you can really remember, let alone safely or effectively manage. Some people I've seen have over 60 or 70 people. Some have waaay more than that. Generally, staff morale is low. Unsafe working conditions, terrible pay, long hours for no reward, community staff blamed for failings of others and expected to clear up their messes (court and custody have their own problems, the staff there are just doing their best, like in the community). People are burning out and going off sick constantly as they can't cope. I have experienced more than one colleague being suicidal, one who sadly attempted. Management did nothing, in fact they fired the poor individual that was hospitalised. It was heartbreaking. The powers above don't change anything in a positive manner; they increase arbitrary targets rather than get rid of one's that do nothing for public protection; they send out of touch emails to say they care; they increase caseloads; they provide poor quality training which you're given no time to do alongside your unsafe caseload. When you actually do your job e.g. help to rehabilitate someone and have to have help from other agencies, you're often asked what you're doing or why you're bothering when that person isn't a super high risk person. Finally, bullying and discrimination are rife. When you report it nothing gets done, or you're gaslit, or it just gets worse until you're forced out. The service doesn't treat disabled colleagues well- they see you as a nuisance. If you're neurodivergent they will assume that means stupid and try to manipulate you. They have a blatant disregard for their own HR policies regarding equality, leave, reasonable adjustments and grievances that also extends to the Equality Act, Health and Safety Act and ACAS guidelines. If the culture weren't so toxic, this would be a wonderful job. If you speak to the old-timers they will tell you how lovely it once was before the funding cuts and failed privatisation killed that off. If you're willing to help change things and fight for those with no voice,, then join, help us in the trenches- just be prepared to fight and cry and be exhausted beyond all means on a salary that's not going to go far in keeping a roof over your head If you want to sleep well at night, to not be constantly angered by injustices, to feel valued, then don't work here.

Truly the worst place I have ever worked. The administration/corporate support hub Yorkshire and the Humber Probation Service based in York is to be avoided at all costs. It is a toxic, high stress, disorganised environment with managers who consistently punch down. The management have no idea what they are doing and instead of admitting that, they make it the staff’s problem. I’ve never worked with such incompetent managers before. Staff turnover is extremely high, with the burden of constantly training new staff on the current staff - who aren’t trained themselves. It is a total baptism of fire, you are thrown in at the deep end and expected to swim. I have never left a review on a job site before but I am so keen to warn anyone off working in administration for the York based Yorkshire and the Humber Probation Service.