MoJ and HMPPS stated that they were focussing on improving staff retention as well as recruiting more staff. In the year ending March 2025, the leaving rate for probation staff was 9.3%, up from 6.2% in 2021, and sickness rate was 13.2 working days, up from 8.9 in 2021. Poor mental ill health accounted for the largest proportion of working days lost, 41% for all HMPPS staff and 58% for probation officers.31 HMPPS agreed that “it would be futile” to “hugely recruit just to see people leaving”. It told us that the most recent statistics suggest that there has been an improvement in retention rates, for example, the overall leaving rate for probation went down to 8.5% for the 12 months to the end of September 2025, one percentage point lower than for the year to March 2025.32 30 RPS002; RPS003; RPS004 31 C&AG’s Report, para 2.6; HM Prison & Probation Service, HM Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly: March 2025 32 Qq 38,42; HM Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly: March 2025 13 2 Future of probation services HMPPS’s Our Future Probation Service (OFPS)