Probation Service staff across Kent are due to go on strike today in a row over privatisation.

Trade union Napo said an estimated 170 members in the county will take action against plans to privatise 70% of the service.

Its members are based at offices in Gravesend, Chatham, Canterbury, Margate, Folkestone, Sittingbourne and Tunbridge Wells - as well as at prisons in Rochester, Maidstone, Blantyre House, East Sutton Park and the Sheppey Cluster.

Workers are due to walkout for 24 hours from midday today, with protests planned at some sites.

Picket lines are expected outside probation offices in Joynes House, Gravesend; New Road, Chatham; College Road, Maidstone; and Garden Road, Tunbridge Wells.

The Ministry of Justice said it has contingency plans in place to deal with the strike.

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Under government proposals, private companies and charities would take over much of the Probation Service.

Firms are bidding for contracts worth more than £450million to supervise low and medium-risk offenders.

Kent Napo branch chairman Chas Berry said: "Pressure is mounting on Justice Secretary Chris Grayling that his plans are beginning to unravel. Industrial action now threatens to bring them to a grinding halt."

Napo, which represents 9,000 staff nationally, said it is only the fourth time in the trade union's history that it has announced industrial action.

About 80% of members are said to have voted to go on strike.

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