VOTE TO ACCEPT THE 6% PAY OFFER FOR 2025
UNISON is recommending that you vote to accept the improved pay offer of 6% for 2025 for Probation Service staff. Our on-line ballot opens on 27 March and closes at 12 noon on 16 April.
You have received this communication because our records show that you are directly employed by the Probation Service on probation pay and conditions and are therefore entitled to vote in this ballot. If you are not employed by the Probation Service please ignore this information and please do not vote.
Following the strong vote by UNISON members to reject the original 4% pay offer, and a similar result from Napo, HMPPS returned to pay talks and increased their offer. The increase from 4% to 6% is significant and also testimony to the strength that comes from UNISON members fighting together for a better deal.
You voted no to 4%. This gave us the ammunition to demand an improved offer, which we have achieved. UNISON’s Probation Committee considers the improved offer to be the best that is achievable by negotiation.
This bulletin sets out the terms of the increased Probation Service pay offer for 2025, reminds members what the joint union pay claim was for 2025, and summarises why UNISON is recommending that you vote to accept the improved offer.
The Offer
A one year award, covering the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026:
- 6% increase on all pay points (please note that all salary figures are gross and liable to tax/NI): View the Pay Tables here.
- 6% increase on the following cash allowances:
- London weighting: increase from £4,250 to £4,505/year
- Prison Supplement increase from £737 to £781/year
- Standby allowance increase from £46.07 to £48.83
- Deletion of the lowest pay point of pay band A (currently £53,995). Staff on this pay point will get a 9.2% pay rise
- All increases to be backdated to 1 April 2025, including arrears relating to overtime, unsocial hours, prison supplement and standby allowance.
In addition the offer contains two conditions, that:
- The probation unions commit to continuing to work with HMPPS on the Our Future Probation Service modernisation programme
- The unions enter negotiations with HMPPS on a full review of CBF with the ambition of jointly agreed reforms.
The joint HMPPS/Trade Union statement on the improved offer can be found here.
Joint Union Pay Claim for 2025
UNISON and our sister trade unions in the Probation Service submitted the following pay claim on behalf of members on 15 January 2025:
- A one year pay award
- A 12% increase on all pay points
- A 12% increase on all cash allowances: London Weighting / Geographical Allowances etc
- A minimum wage in the Probation Service of £15 per hour
- The conversion of the current Regional Reward and Recognition funds into a single fund for staff retention purposes, to be the subject of collective bargaining.
The rationale behind the pay claim was to include some restoration of the purchasing power of probation salaries which was lost between 2010 and 2024, address low pay in the service and ensure that the money being spent by RPDs on individual reward and recognition payments was fairly distributed to all staff, rather than just ‘exceptional performers’ chosen by those RPDs.
You can read our original 2025 pay claim here.
UNISON is recommending that you vote to accept the 6% pay offer because it:
- Is above the current rate of inflation of 3.6% (retail prices index February 2026)
- Begins to redress some of the pay erosion suffered by probation staff due to pay freezes and less than inflation increases over the period 2010 to 2024
- Would be one of the best public sector pay awards for 2025.
- Represents a win for UNISON members who rejected the earlier 4% pay offer
- Is believed by UNISON to be the best offer that can be achieved through negotiation.
What about the conditions attached to the offer?
As set out above, there are two conditions attached to the offer, which will come into effect if members vote to accept it:
- That the probation unions commit to continuing to work with HMPPS on the Our Future Probation Service modernisation programme. This is an ambitious programme including proposals for the following: supervision packages, on-line check-in, Justice Transcribe, service centres, revising case transfer policy and implementing Sentencing Act provisions. So if members vote for the improved pay offer, UNISON would be committed to engaging with HMPPS over these proposals. The details of the modernisation programme will be subject to the normal process of employer/trade union consultation. We will represent members’ interests as part of this process.
- To enter discussions with HMPPS on a full review of CBF with the ambition of jointly agreed reforms. There are no proposals as yet from HMPPS for this review of CBF, so if members vote for the improved pay offer, UNISON would be committed to entering formal negotiations on a review of CBF. We will represent members’ interests during this negotiation and any final proposals would be put to members in a ballot.
Impact of the offer on Low Pay
The previous 4% pay offer would have increased the lowest pay point of pay band 2 from £23,250 to £24,180. This would then have been overtaken by the 2026 National Minimum Wage of £12.71/hour, or £24,520/year, on 1 April 2026. This was one of the reasons that UNISON opposed the previous pay offer.
The improved 6% pay offer would increase the lowest pay point of pay band 2 to £24,645, thereby taking it above the National Minimum Wage, if only by £125. Members on pay point 1 of pay band 2 should be aware that HMPPS will apply the 6% pay rise, if accepted, not to your current National Minimum Wage salary of £23,583, but rather to the lower salary of £23,250 which was in place on 31 March 2025 before the current National Minimum Wage took effect. UNISON challenged this on the basis that the pay offer should apply to the salary that the lowest paid staff are actually being paid (£23,583), but HMPPS refused. The impact of this decision by HMPPS is that staff on pay point 1 of pay band 2 will get £20 less in their pay award for 2026, if the 6% pay offer is accepted by members, than they would have received if the increase was based on the National Minimum wage salary. In the pay table enclosed with this pay briefing UNISON has chosen to show the lowest pay point of pay band 2 as £23,250, rather than the National Minimum Wage salary of £23,583, because it is to the lower of the two salaries that HMPPS will apply the 6% pay rise, if accepted by members.
UNISON wants HMPPS to do much more to tackle low pay in the Probation Service and we will return to this issue as part of preparations for our next pay claim. During negotiations over the 2025 pay award, HMPPS responded to the unions’ claim for a £15 hour minimum salary with proposals which would have gone a significant way to address low pay, but in the end they were not able to get approval from the Treasury to put this into their final offer.
But HMPPS knows full well that the problem of low pay has not gone away, and that their pay band 2 salaries are simply not enough to enable them to recruit and retain the essential admin staff they need to keep the service functioning.
Impact of the offer on Universal Credit
It is likely that staff in receipt of Universal Credit may suffer a loss of benefit, if the pay offer is accepted, because they will receive a year’s back pay in one month. HMPPS has stated that it is unable to stage the back pay to avoid this happening for some staff because of advice from DWP that this would be contrary to benefit regulations. HMPPS has agreed, at UNISON’s request, to explore with DWP whether there is any way of mitigating the impact of this one-off higher payment and any delay in reinstating claims that may be ceased as a result of this. Further advice will be issued accordingly.
Impact of the offer on Student Loans
It is likely that staff paying off Student Loans may pay a higher repayment amount in the month that the award is implemented, if the pay offer is accepted, because they will receive a year’s back pay in one month. HMPPS has stated that it is unable to stage the back pay to avoid this happening for some staff because of advice from the Student Loans Company that this would be contrary to the way in which repayment plans are intended to be structured within the rules. HMPPS has agreed, at UNISON’s request, to explore with the Student Loans Company whether there is any way of mitigating the impact of this one-off higher payment. Further advice will be issued accordingly.
UNISON Pay Offer Consultation Process
The UNISON consultative pay ballot opens on 27 March and closes at 12 noon on 16 April. This is an on-line ballot only.
This is your opportunity to have your say on the improved pay offer. Please vote and encourage your colleagues who are UNISON members to vote.
UNISON is organising two on-line meetings for members during the ballot period as follows:
- Thursday 2 April 12.30 – 13.30 Members Meeting-Probation Pay Ballot | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
- Tuesday 14 April 12.30 – 13.30 Members Meeting – Probation Pay Ballot | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
UNISON RECOMMENDS THAT YOU VOTE TO ACCEPT THE IMPROVED OFFER.
VOTING IS NOW CLOSED
Please Make Sure Your Membership Details are Up To Date
It is very important that your membership details are up to date so that we can contact you during the pay ballot. Please check your details on My UNISON and update as necessary. We need your home address, e-mail and phone details to be accurate please. You can check/update your details here.