Wednesday 4 June 2014

TR Day Two

Here's how readers feel Day Two of the TR omnishambles is going:-

Reports are coming in thick & fast of Delius issues all around the Country. It's a flip-in joke & we are supposed to be a professional organisation. Social services contacted me for some risk information relating to an offender. I couldn't access the records because case previously was NPS.

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ETE and UPW and colleagues in CRC - not able to access NDelius to write case notes up if they see NPS clients, so they have to email it through to officer who then has to copy and paste. however you cant access the drop down boxes for the CRC staff. The odd one may not sound much but when u get a number of these and also we have to do the letters as CRC can't access the case- time wasted/duplicated soon mounts up.

Courts team cant start up cases on Ndelius. Breach officer can't enter breach feedback.

NPS in our office are feeling overwhelmed. We still have CRC cases as CRC are waiting for more staff. Meanwhile we have lost two POs who are going to other posts, one PSO is on loan two days per week to the adjoining county (as our city and that county are now one LDU) due to long term sickness. At the team meeting today most spoke of how overwhelmed we are feeling.


I have already had a stress assessment about two weeks ago which indicates urgent action is needed. I am waiting for my CRC cases to be taken away and I have an OHA next week. The way I feel right now is that I would go to my GP and if he offered me a sick note, I could easily accept it. The only thing that is stopping me is the impact it would have on my workmates/colleagues and that I won't let Mr G beat me.


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Programmes teams also unable to access NPS NDelius to input information. 

Also, if any contact is made about an NPS case to a CRC officer i.e. if they used to manage them and information is required. Unable to record what was said on NDelius and just have to be hopeful that the NPS officer records the contact. Not really good enough - CRC staff need their own record of the case to evidence what was said and to whom. What are we meant to do, wait a few years until the case comes back to CRC then update the contacts ourselves?!?! ;-)


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Assigned to CRC was one of the biggest blows many of us have felt in Probation. How demeaned I felt today when I could not access a PSR I was writing because on the first adjournment it went to someone in the NPS. Then when looking for reports in the drop down menu I think all assigned CRC staff have no option for it. Only a few days ago I could access it all to do my job properly. I felt physically sick and my feeling was shared with many. We have well and truly been SHAFTED. Worst of all management all seem to be on board with this nonsense, I wish Grayling would take a hard look at the system he is trying to devise and see how utterly CRAP it is, not fit for purpose, and the human value and feelings are immeasurable. BASTARD BULLY.

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We had our first nps team meeting today. We had someone from shared services Noms to discuss stuff about HR matters. We have to book our own hire cars now through this 'shared services site'. I asked questions about taxis, travel warrants or bus vouchers which we used to book or obtain from our business support officer who is based in our office (who is now CRC). It was clear that this was something that had not been thought of as they were not able to answer instead they stated they would have to check and get back to us

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No cases allocated to the CRC since the split cos they can't - computer says no. All the UPW hours have disappeared too.

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Addresses disappeared too to be replaced by random / old addresses. Shambles.

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Yes - the do it yourself service that is - shared NPS services - not only are we overwhelmed with reports, deadlines, and a serious lack of information coming to us in relation to those reports or the IT we are now supposed to pick up with ease, all whilst IT briefings are being delivered to all grades of staff on the basis that we know what's going on, they may as well be using hieroglyphics as a learning tool. 

Our Business Manager and Finance dept used to do all the 'support tasks' ie travel warrants, (now you need to complete a form) they would book/hire cars via a local service, (now you have to book your own)..the laborious excel time sheets - oh and check this new system, if you can follow the instructions, have in fact got your bank details correct by 10/6/2014 or you won't get paid. Phoenix and Firefox - I have always thought of as good names for race horses, now they join, Lotus Notes, Oli, Epic, nDelus, Oasys and and the rest of the bureaucracy they were supposed to replace and/or improve. 


Oh and Anon at 22:33 - don't press your IT dept for dual access - why put yourself out to make this work and remember come the sell off - CRC;s will not be a Public Service and therefore have no more right to access sensitive information than Charlotte's Ice Cream Parlour.

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I'm assessed as being a known person at high risk of serious harm from a previous case. I'm now working for the CRC. I looked to see what information the team would be able to see about this person: it is nothing.

I have a good Team Manager.,Now nobody is allowed past our secure reception area unless we fully know the risk they present.


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I received an email welcoming me to the NPS... I'm CRC ... Omnishambles.

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Maybe you got mine! Am NPS and did not get the promised email. The call to report this takes forever. Personal information has been recorded incorrectly. Office chaotic because no one NPS or CRC is able to access the info they need on ndelius. What a farce. Goes to show Grayling in his ignorance has NO IDEA WHAT WE DO or HOW we have been doing it as an AWARD WINNING PUBLIC SERVICE. Watch the SFOs roll in. Currently 450 - 500 per year I understand. That figure needs monitoring. What a despicable way to treat human beings.

17 comments:

  1. im 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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  2. It's an absolute disgrace that staff working for capita as enforcement officers have been assigned to nps . I wonder what else they will eventually be required to do. Total bollocks!

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  3. The sifting of staff has been an absolute farce - as whenever it suits, they allocate the necessary title - i.e. all Court Staff in W. Yoks - or most, were previously PSO's now they are in the NPS - to avoid the mayhem of transferring staff in and out - but does that mean that the staff in Courts/AP's will remain there to end of their working lives? As far as I can see, there is no role for PSO's in NPS.

    Hope Liverpool are reporting all the cock ups to the journalists who float around Courts hoping to pick up on scandal - plenty going on in NPS/NOMs at present. However, health warnings should apply - I note that the Whistle blower Policy is showing on Oli - maybe another tactic to keep people quiet!

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    1. There are PSO's in NPS here, they're doing 1-1 work with NPS cases

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  4. As assigned to CRC we must have some legal grounds to fight this horrendous pile of shyte. Loss of professionalism, made to do a job we don't want to, there must be something that we can take them to task on, there has got to be.

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    1. I'm on to it. I'll post here when I find out more. Everyone else can do this too. Contact a local solicitor who does employment law and ask for them to let you know if you have a case. The initial consultation is free with mist firms. Let's get to it!

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  5. 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 substitute').

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    1. Sorry, in a rush and made a mistake in my post above ...I'm sure you can substitute 'removed' for 'postponed'.

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  6. Will they pay salaries correctly - were I working I think I would now ask for confirmation of the personal details held about me.

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  7. 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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  8. Law and Lawyers - Tuesday, 3 June 2014 - Rehabilitation Reform: A gamble with public safety or a useful reform?

    A lawyer writes with a good legal overview: -

    http://obiterj.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/rehabilitation-reform-gamble-with.html?spref=tw

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  9. 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 an 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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  10. 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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    1. "MoJ staff threaten strike action over shared services"

      SEE: -

      http://www.napo2.org.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=691

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  11. Saw a documentary last night about Colditz......it seems that the Nazis allowed books into Colditz and one British Officer even completed a Social Scvience degree....never thought that we would have lessons to learn from the third Reich....

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    1. Dunno - there seems to have been a lot of "I was just following orders" stuff coming out of trust managements.

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  12. 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 n 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. n Delius is being updated, hang on, I am still getting to grips with the original n Delius. 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 gained awards which were world recognized. Grayling you are a f....ng prat!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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