Annual Salary
£24,000 to £40,000
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
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Probation officers supervise people serving community and prison sentences and help them to stay away from crime.
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
You could work: evenings / weekends; occasionally
There will be
2.4% more Probation officer jobs in 2027.
As a probation officer, you could:
You could work in a prison, in a court, in an office or in the community.
Your working environment may be emotionally demanding.
You can get into this job through:
You can do a foundation degree, higher national diploma or degree in:
Similar subjects may be acceptable.
Once you finish your course you can apply for the Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP) training programme. You need to complete this to become a qualified probation officer.
The PQiP programme takes between 15 and 21 months to complete, depending on what you studied at university.
You'll usually need:
You could start work as a probation services officer. Once you've built up your experience and completed on-the-job training, you could apply to join the Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP) programme.
You'll be expected to have paid or voluntary experience of working with vulnerable people, or people with challenging behaviour, before you apply for training. You can get this by working with charities and organisations that support ex-offenders.
Go to Do IT and NCVO for information on voluntary opportunities in your area.
You may be able to apply directly for a trainee probation officer job if you already have a qualification at Level 5 or above. For example, a social work degree that includes a probation option.
You'll need to:
It will help if you have some knowledge of how the criminal justice and rehabilitation systems work.
You can join the Probation Institute for professional development opportunities.
You'll find more on how to become a probation officer from HM Prison & Probation Service.
After further training, you could specialise in working with certain groups, like high-risk prisoners or those who have committed sexual offences.
With experience, you could become a senior probation officer.
Further promotion usually means moving into management and away from direct work with offenders. You could also become an area manager.
You'll need: