I'm pleased to update that at Liverpool Crown Court only two system administrators were fully back online to input results, report requests etc which is like trying to do 70mph in 2nd gear. Liverpool Mags were still all apparently offline. We were told that we'd be informed when they were back online but as of 5pm last night there was no update.
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The breach process is a mess in CRC, and I'm sure it will result in annoying the Courts and also, more importantly, the clients. If no evidence received after the 5th day of the 2nd absence and breach to go ahead, we have to complete the breach process, inc obtaining Court date, and then submit to NPS. However, if the client subsequently provides evidence for the absence, then we have been told we can't withdraw the breach! What a waste of time and money for the taxpayer, the Court and the client.
Still, I can't imagine the private firms allowing this to happen for too long. They seem to be calling the shots about what they want the system to look like. The other day Jim's blog included an interview with the Civil Servant in charge of the sell off who said (in addition to it being payment for service and NOT by results), that the firms are telling them what service they can offer and for what price. This chimes with something I was told about preliminary TR events at a local prison; prospective firms such as Interserve expressing concerns about supervising the under 12 months sentenced prisoners. And lo and behold, we find out the central premise of TR in providing support for this cohort is going to be postponed (I'm sure you can substitute 'removed' for postponed').
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IT staff assigned to CRC and cannot access various functions or open new accounts. They have pretty much been neutered by this weekend's switch off/over.
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I had two trainee Probation Officers (started mid April of this year) attend my women's project today and they told me they had been given the following cases due to the officer being away for the next 4 weeks: Wounding With Intent, Aggravated Burglary and a new release from custody following a Breach of a Restraining Order! They said they had an officer attend Supervision (just to sit in) but because everyone was so over stretched they had little support. I was shocked by this and they were overwhelmed and recognised they did not have the experience to manage these cases.
I have sent a whole list of issues to my MP who confirmed has sent them on to Jeremy Wright. How on earth are they getting away with this?
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Has anyone tried to get any sense from Shared Services yet ? I should have remembered and requested an "eye care" voucher last week but totally forgot. So I spent 15 minutes on hold before a human answered. I spent 10 minutes explaining what it was that I wanted and I was given the pathway to finding the form on the system and instructed to call back when I had found it so that she could assist me in completing it.
The form turns out to be a general requisition form which has to be completed partially through a number of "drop down" boxes with writing so small that I told the assistant in Newport (after being on hold for a further 10 minutes) that I was unable to read it and that was why I needed an eye test. She was unable to help me answer most of the questions on the form and had to pass me to finance. They were just as unable to help and passed me to another assistant. Somehow I partially completed the form (name, address and LDU area only and that I wanted a Specsavers voucher) she said that I had to save this form, email it to my commissioning manager who would then authorise it and send it to the MOJ who would then send me a voucher.......this second part took 35 minutes, a total of an hour to get nowhere at all.
Last week I would have phoned HR, asked for a voucher and it would be put in the post time for the next day. A total time taken of 5 minutes maximum. How is this meant to be more efficient?
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I am CRC all new allocations to me have been on verbal reports, so I have had to do full assessments on OASYs. Risk assessments are coming through as low risk when in fact they are medium after being assessed by me again e.g. pre cons battery after battery alcohol related another assessed as low risk of harm regular suicide attempts one only few weeks prior to sentencing, another ongoing self harm. No children's services checks done no DV checks done. All should be done by NPS but left to me in CRC.
I am not apportioning any blame on my NPS colleagues it is just that they are so overwhelmed they do not know whether they are coming or going. If this carries on someone is going to be badly harmed when this harm could have been prevented. This is a positive way forward. nDelius is being updated, hang on, I am still getting to grips with the original nDelius. Are Grayling and this Government living in a bubble? They are certainly not living in the real world. OK lets stop this trial period it has definitely failed and lets get back to something that really worked, reduced offending and gaining awards which were world recognised. Grayling you are a f....ng prat!!!!!!!!!!
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Funnily enough we can't access this blog from our work internet for some reason... I wonder why...
I cannot believe how badly and ineptly these changes have been implemented - the procedures are not in place or badly-thought through, Delius seems to have been updated to make it more difficult to use, there is no clear communication, no clear leadership, no clear direction or idea of what the f**k we are meant to be doing - both on the CRC and NPS sides.
Shared Services and Phoenix are pretty to look at but crap computer systems - have tried to book a hire car for two days only to be told that I cannot as the local Enterprise is all booked out. Yet our office's two pool cars (now CRC owned) are sat unused in the car park.
It's a Towering Inferno of a f**k-up, and nobody has any extinguishers.
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Well I can top that. Overheard two managers speaking today and it appears that Court staff will be required to complete FDR's on DV perps. This (and the RSR) will be completed without having any additional information from Social Services or Police given that it is normally a 90 minute stand down by the Court and clearly insufficient time to gather information.
The case will then be dumped on the CRC as the scoring will be well below the 7.1 for NPS!! Given that over 95% of cases are going to the CRC and they are clearly overworked to start with, what do you fancy the chances of a full background check being immediately done?
Joe or Jane Blogs will be seen for their first appointment and sent home to live with partners/children who might be at risk from them. How fuxxxxing scary is that!!
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As a Court Officer this is 'fuxxxxing scary'. I cannot see either me or my colleagues putting their name to a risk assessment without being fully aware of the facts which inform risk. But, even with knowledge of DV or risks to children, you do know this has little bearing on the RSR tool?
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Experience suggests that unless you're Fred West (or Chris Grayling) you have no chance of being allocated to the NPS. I feel sorry for the number of cases going from Court to the CRC, especially when I see how overworked they are at present.
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And this is the problem. As a CRC Officer I am being allocated new cases and NPS cases at a rate of knots. The NPS cases I can't even access on NDelius and the CRC cases are all off the back of FDR's and I don't have the time to gather any additional information pertinent to risk before seeing them! I have that many new cases, I can't even remember their names, let alone their individual issues. This is complete madness and I cannot fathom how anyone thinks that NPS or CRC officers are expected to cope, let alone do a good job!
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Just got my letter about my 'move' to CRC. One line in there states that members will be 'encouraged' to join the Probation Institute. Encourage away, I'd rather shit in my hand and clap!!
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The reality is that they have the wrong people in the wrong places. It's an utter mess and people are just turning up to collect their wages. If you look closely there is nothing behind their eyes. Only thoughts of how to get out of this disorganisation..
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I intend to keep fighting, this is all we have left. I've spoken to colleagues who have been told they can't take their toil because there is too much work! Stop doing more than your hours your helping to make this train wreck work. I know work to your hours has ended but FFs stop doing over and above what you should be. Come On We Still Have Something To Fight For!!
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I have had the day of hell. Can't say what happened as it could identify me. My boiling point was reached today. Spent pretty much most of day in tears or feeling tearful. Only time I wasn't was when I was with my clients.
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Anon 22:45 if it makes you feel any better I was the same today. In tears 3 times and I only work part time so not even in the office all that long! I hope your colleagues are being supportive as mine have been x
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Really sorry to hear about your distress. It's awful. I heard a few people around the office saying that if they had known how awful it was going to be then they would have gone out on strike for a month and found a way to sabotage the computer system to make sure anyone foolish enough not to join them wasn't able to work.
It is a complete disgrace when you hear that some staff are putting in extra hours to make things work when employers have had more than enough warning. Don't try to plug the holes and bail them out let it sink and say good riddance to bad rubbish. If they think its working they'll carry on. Some people are still behaving as if they are working for a Probation Trust.
For the first time in my life I am working full time for a company with the prospect of it being taken over by one involved in human rights abuses and military work. I wouldn't have chosen to work for scumbags like that and they will get precious little work out of me to meet any of their targets. From now on its 9-5 and the bare minimum. I'm not working to put money in their shareholders pockets. The message should be keep probation public.
I think a strike by both Unison and Napo would do it now.
ReplyDeleteReally good to stay in touch with other colleagues suffering the pain associated with this mess. Interestingly enough, I wonder how it is working in other areas - the SPOC (Single Point of Contact for CRC to contact in the event of Risk Escalation). Clearly there has not been any, or maybe a few which a Duty TM is dealing with. West Yorkshire is a huge area, you would have thought 12 months was sufficient notice and pre warning that the CRC's, in every office, would need to know who the SPOC was, as would the SPOC of course. We had a team meeting yesterday and apart from some clarity about how we need to manage HR PPO's/DRR's in the absence of the one colleague who knows what to do - we did not really make much progress, although we did identify a colleague who wants to work with women in NPS - previously all women where accommodated at another building, with a member of staff co-located there (the local woman's project) now all the previous directives about seeing women separately, and at a place conducive to their safety and needs, is no longer necessary. It is becoming more apparent that anything which doesn't neatly fit into TR, just gets displaced or those at the coal face are seemingly 'expected' to resolve the problems which arise.....................not bloody likely. In my team we are doing what we do best - work with clients and then, spend small amounts of time on confusing IT systems and Shared Services, just in order to be sure we'll be paid at the end of June. It took me 2 hours yesterday to clear my Officers Diary in NDeelius - never used it - never saw the need to duplicate work and then went for a curry and a good belly laugh with some colleagues.
ReplyDeleteJust some general information for all you lovely Probation people - in order to claim your expenses at the end of the month you will need to download a form NPS001 from Shared Services - pop 'NPS001' into the search box as otherwise you cannot find it (and of course there is no bloody information on Shared Services to tell you what you need to do - I had to ring up to get this information!).
ReplyDeleteFill in the first two sheets and pass to your line manager, they fill in the third to authorise payment and then email it to Expenses-Processing@NOMS.gsi.gov.uk (I'm guessing they won't know what to do either so you might want to let them know!).
And then fingers crossed, you might get your expenses paid!
Mike
Just received an email to say that all CRC staff to carry on writing PSR's to minimise business failure/transition. They should have thought of that when they SHAFTED US ALL, why should we this was their idea. Also delius will not allow CRC staff to write PSR's, great another system F****k Up. They seem to be making this stuff up as they go along to pretend and LIE to Graying that everything is going smoothly. Next week they will tell us to keep all our high risk cases.
ReplyDeleteI've seen that guardian jobs are specifically advertising for New Zealand and Australia probation officers working in the Uk a higher salary than a standard PO. http://m.jobs.theguardian.com/job/4883185/?FullDescription=True
ReplyDeleteYeah but what a commute?
DeleteNo longer available apparently - must have been popular then?
Deletemust have been removed after 4.30 as was there when I checked...
Deletethe text of the guardian advert placed by 'Criminal Justice Skills' : Are you a Qualified Probation officer from New Zealand or Australia?
DeleteAre you looking to continue your career in probation whilst in the UK?
Criminal Justice Skills is a market-leading supplier of staffing services to the offender management work community
Currently in the probation market we have a scarcity of candidates with background in probation. In order to address this problem we are currently looking for candidates who are experienced Probation Officers, looking to break in to the UK Probation Service. Several of our probation trust clients are interested in employing probation officers from Australia and New Zealand on interim contracts. We are considering offering assistance to any probation officer from Australia or New Zealand who reside in the UK, and who may be interested in this line of work.
We are running a course in the next 3 months to place experienced Probation Officers from outside the UK who have a minimum of 2 years+experience. We will take you through the policies and procedures, as well as train you on the electronic systems that are currently being used in the Probation Service.
Main requirements for a Temporary Probation Officer Role are:
2 years minimum experience in a Probation Officer role
Available to work immediately, and have proof of eligibility to work in the UK
Experience in caseload management of offenders
Have not been dismissed from a probation officer role
This is an exciting opportunity to enter an industry where there is a lot of opportunity to work, and with an agency who are experts in recruitment in to probation.
If this is not right for you, but you know someone who would be suitable. Please call up with their details, and we would pay you £50 in vouchers for the referral if placed.
If you would like to be considered for this position and have the relevant experience, then please apply below.
The Red Snapper Group acts as an employment agency (permanent) and as an employment
business (temporary) - a free and confidential service to candidates.
The Red Snapper Recruitment Group is an equal opportunities employer.
probation officer, PO, SPO, Senior probation officer, social worker, YOT, youth offending, offender management, offender manager, Australia, new Zealand, Senior Case Management Officer, case management officer, reporting officer.
Its more evidence of ill thought out from the government if they need to advertise for staff to fill gaps in nps. Surely before the split there was no need to advertise for staff
ReplyDeleteI thought only UK nationals were able to work in the NPS?
DeleteDoes that mean they have to increase our wages in line with the new staff.
ReplyDelete£28/hour seems to be the going rate for temp agency staff.
Delete28x150hrs = £4200 monthly = approx £50k a year.
Far cheaper than the £35k a year for an experienced PO.
Grayling is not the only one to blame here for the above issues. Our CEO's sold it to Grayling. They are the ones who have caused this mess.
ReplyDeleteHalf a dozen cases allocated to crc this week. Nps crown court colleague/s unable to complete rsr or any other paperwork "due to lack of time". Then it turns out crown court nps staff have asked if one of the city crc teams can pick up a dozen reports. This is Week One. Utter meltdown. IT DOES NOT WORK, Christopher Stephen Grayling. TR DOES NOT WORK.
ReplyDeleteCourts all over the country not able too input results and in our office, ndelius chucking us out when trying to update contacts including breach able absences. I have given up and stopped trying to input the contacts. The clients won't be breached.
ReplyDeleteJust caught up with comments and saddened by the NPS v CRC comments, as a Manager in the NPS who was on strike and went to great lengths to inform colleagues, mostly now in the CRC, there was an apathy about the 'sift', no grievances, just acceptance, it is only now that realisation is setting in. I don't think there are any winners in this travesty. I was told on the last day there was 'nothing' to mark the split, no shared buffet, no chocs, no cakes, no going for drinks to mark the occasion, just 'nothing'. A sad ending to 15 years working with a Probation Trust. Whilst I like the mugs pictured above, on one side it should have CRC falling, or should I say failing and NPS in the same predicament. I haven't come across 'the I'm alright jack' portrayal of NPS as has been indicated, rather I see NPS colleagues concerned and saddened for the future of their past colleagues and friends in the CRC and also concerned about their own futures!
ReplyDelete