What's It Going to be Like?

The one thing that we know about this TR omnishambles is no one knows how it's going to work or what it's going to be like. That should be be pretty worrying in view of some of the people we come across and are responsible for. I thought this comment from yesterday helped crystallise things:- 

It's terrifying. If this goes according to plan, I will hand over at least 80% of my work on 1/4/14. I hold mainly community cases with a high proportion of high risk domestic violence, child protection and sex offenders. I scored virtually nothing on 11/11/13. I have a caseload of around 45 and I write around 4 complex PSR's a month, specialising in mental health and immigration cases. Oh! I forgot, have 3 lifers and 2 IPPs on top. Not any more. I'm going to have the most beautifully filed nails in the CRC while I watch my colleagues in NPS collapse and my cases flounder. If anything is criminal, this is.

I found myself chatting things over in the pub and it was remarked that come the summer, lots of highly qualified PO's will have written their last PSR and lost them for the very last time when nDelius swallows it whole. All those FDR's currently being written by PSO's will have to be picked up by the hopelessly small teams in NPS left to cover vast swathes of the country.

I'm hearing stories of how sifting in some areas for NPS first has left virtually no one for the CRC and vice versa. Whilst colleagues in CRCs will have the variety of their work dramatically curtailed, those in the NPS will by all accounts be run ragged trying to cope. It truly is a disaster of epic proportions that is slowly evolving. 

Here is an interesting blog by Effie Perine, a court officer in London and her take on things entitled "I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity"

Thought I’d share this snippet from the TR missive that’s just come round in London.

We can now begin to clarify how offenders will be managed between 1 April (when staff will move into either NPS or CRC teams) and the “go live” of the new structures on 1 June.

Essentially, staff will continue to operate as now even though they been allocated to the new organisations and will be working in their new teams from 1 April. The extension of the Trust’s contract notice period gives us the chance to test the new procedures and to complete case allocation by 1 June.

I have emailed the TR queries mailbox asking for more information on the testing procedure. What are the parameters? What does success or failure look like? What happens if the testing period reveals significant problems, or (hem hem) is not long or organised enough to be meaningful? I will of course share a response should I receive one…

Offender Managers will continue with current duties, such as writing court reports, until all current offenders have been appropriately allocated into the CRC or NPS. This is due to be completed by the end of May, following which staff will start to work to the new operating models and the initial training will have been completed.  

~Scooby Doo head-tilt~ Training? Interesting. I pity the poor sods having to try to devise and deliver that.

As I’ve noted before, Grayling has said that cases who would transfer can stay with current case managers if there is a compelling reason for them to do so – and really, this ought to be enough rope to hang this nonsense. There is a compelling reason for every case – it’s called desistance research. The relationship is crucial. Will case managers and/or service users be able to appeal the allocation and transfer of cases? It’s not just an administrative exercise – it could be immensely significant for individuals, and their risk of reoffending, and of harming themselves and others.

This period between April and June will also allow the new teams to meet together and to plan for any moves of staff within their clusters that are required.

The only caveats to this overall picture are that by April we will start to allocate high risk and other offenders to offender managers who will retain responsibility for them following the transition and that staff at Court will start to allocate work using the new assessment tools.

I am currently in a court team and have yet to hear any detail about the new assessment tools. The clock’s a-ticking to get us all trained up. Word is that under the new model probation officer report writers at court will be allocated a maximum of 2 fast-delivery reports per day rather than the usual 3, because of the time needed for the new allocation/assessment tool. There is a clear impact on the service we provide to courts. My team undertake full PSRs too, because of the sheer volume of requests, and get a full day allocated for these in line with London’s workload management tool. Add a lengthy task onto that process and you’ve got a bit of a hangover to the next day (often happens anyway, especially if a lot of digging and liaison is required, or a psychiatric report), and then things get even messier.

So, hands up who has every confidence that the staff and client allocation and transfer will be complete by June? And that the timetable will be revised further or halted if testing brings up serious concerns for public safety?

Oh.

[Title from Pulp Fiction]