Probation Notes

It’s almost D-Day for the four existing probation areas in Wales to bid to join forces as an all-Wales Probation Trust. Closing date for the bid is next week.

If the application succeeds, an all-Wales Trust will be established with effect from 1 April 2010. If it isn’t, then plan B is some combination of mergers and/or stand alone probation trusts (I reckon there are 11 permutations: 3 + 1, 2 + 2, 2 + 1 +1, etc.).

The financial arguments for a single trust for Wales appear to be overwhelming; we’ll have to wait until September to see if the argument is won.

A by-product of the merger will be that there will be one Board instead of four, and so I would have to apply afresh to be a non-executive member of the new organisation.
There’s lots of interesting information on trust mergers and more on the Probation Association website.