Monday, 21 July 2014

Manchester in Meltdown 2

As an experienced officer I have never known a time like this. Here in Manchester, managers have a habit of saying 'yes we will do' to everything. I think if Chris Grayling said someone clean my arse, some manager will turn round and say 'yes we can do'. Of course the manager won’t be because they are too busy chatting away whilst the work force is worn down to the ground. They are just pushing and pushing to make it all work when nothing is fitting together. I’m reaching breaking point and worry that either I will go off sick, will snap or even just walk out. Who will they blame, it will be me no doubt.

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At least you have been offered money we have been directed to do PSR's in Manchester. If money was offered however, I would refuse. It sounds though the whole service nationwide no longer has the same practices and policies everyone is on survival mode.

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In Manchester the membership fee to join Probation Institute is being paid by our CRC. Management have been actively encouraging us to join by telling us how good it is. Even willing to pay the membership for every person in the CRC. Can you believe this shit? In supervision, my manager spent more time trying to convince me of joining rather than spending time discussing the f***k up which the split has caused. 

In a recent staff meeting we were even asked to explore the benefits of privatisation & the 'creative opportunities' available for staff. Biggest pile of shit I've ever heard. Trying desperately to convince us that crap will be good. What bit do they not understand, staff do not want privatisation. 

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As someone who is working flat out in Manchester the idea of the mutual with Sodexo will not be a mutual but a full takeover by Sodexo. The management who are puppets of the profit making machinery are full steam ahead. I worry about myself and my colleagues as we know very well, that at the end of the day we will not be working in probation but for Sodexo. If Sodexo think this is going to be easy they need to think again. We fully intend to expose and leak info to media of as many issues as possible.

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There are areas of Manchester with OMs holding 70+ cases in the NPS. The split went very wrong there.

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It’s chaos in Manchester CRC. Been allocated a domestic violence case and my manager has instructed me to put him on three week reporting so that I can take on more cases. Before I even got back to my desk I was allocated a further ten cases. I am getting cases allocated to me that I do not even know about. I have complained to my union but they do not seem able to do very much except asking me to send examples into NAPO HQ. What good will that do. I need help now. 

On Thursday last week I had a phone call from reception saying that an offender is here to see me. I was not expecting anyone, did not know he was coming, he does not know me, I have no prior information or history of who this person is & I am expected to induct him without a case file. It turned out that he is a sex offender low to medium risk. I went to see my manager and complained. I was told just get on with it. I tried to explain to my manager that this is not professional practice and was told that no one will be investigating anything and just do whatever you can. When I tried to argue against this I was told that if you do not like it you can leave. How can anyone work in such a climate i.e. health and safety of their staff is actively being ignored. If this is how things are now I can’t imagine what it would be like post share sales.

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Trouble is when you are that saturated and overwhelmed you have no energy for a grievance although in reality that is what is needed. Manchester needs a big shake up as they got all their figures wrong and they were harsh with their shafting, arseholes they deserve what they get which is an enormous meltdown. They have treated the CRC staff disgracefully.

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"Had to do a report for an Initial Child Protection Conference. Took longer to upload the thing onto Delirious than it did to write it! And it took three of us to work it out". - Same problem in Manchester, and then you loose it. I have been doing my PSR's in word, then the clericals can cut and paste them into a document. Its great it now takes 2 to 3 people and lots of man hours to write a report.
at

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous21 July 2014 at 08:42

    I spoke to a journalist from Manchester Evening News who said that he has written an article on the TRain Crash, but I can't seem to find the article, can someone help. He was busy reporting something else so I couldn't get anymore from him only to shout to him that he needs to report on the meltdown caused by the Privatisation of the Probation Service.

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  2. Anonymous21 July 2014 at 11:44

    Under control is a strange phrase to use I feel.

    http://m.gazetteseries.co.uk/news/11353264.Gloucestershire_probation_services__under_control_/

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    1. Jim Brown21 July 2014 at 16:26

      PROBATION services in Gloucestershire are under control following a reorganisation, the county’s Police and Crime Commissioner has been assured.

      Work on transforming 35 probation trusts nationwide into 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and a new National Probation Service began last month.

      Third sector, private sector contractors and mutual companies formed by probation officers will be selected as preferred bidders for contracts by the end of the year.

      Recent claims in the media that the new reforms were ‘a risk to public safety’ were discussed during a meeting between the commissioner Martin Surl and John Wiseman, Chief executive for Gloucestershire, Bristol, Somerset and Wiltshire CRC.

      “All of our frontline services are operating as usual”, said Mr Wiseman.

      “Offenders are being seen in accordance with the requirements of the sentences of the courts. If they fail to comply with those conditions they are brought in and, if necessary, returned to court or directly to prison.

      “They are certainly not being left to roam the streets as some of the critics and news reports have suggested.”

      Mr Surl added his assurances, saying there are problems with any re-organisation, particularly on this scale.

      “I need to be sure the public are not at any extra risk as a result”, he said.

      “This is a process that will take the best part of a year and I will be keeping a close eye on how it develops but I was pleased that Mr Wiseman was able to reassure me.

      “I want to keep people who live in Gloucestershire as safe as possible and I look forward to developing a productive working relationship with the CRC which has an important role to play in reducing re-offending”.

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  3. PC Brigade21 July 2014 at 16:42

    Is anyone in charge in Manchester? It seems as if the entire chicken coup of TRoubles has come home to roost there......for the sake of your staff CEO either stand up and be counted and denounce TR as disastrous (as I understand some ACE;s have been doing) or resign and let someone else have a crack-alternatively come out and support these changes-support TR and see what your staff really think....a message to staff...you didnt create this mess so dont try and fix it..not that it can be fixed.....

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    1. Anonymous21 July 2014 at 21:33

      Yes someone is in charge. She does not give a damn about her staff, she is too busy licking Graylings arse to worry about us. She has been in this just to pave her own future, she is egotistical and once shitted on her best friend by dismissing her to get into management, so there was very little hope that she would care about any of us. She is Graylings organ grinder, a nasty piece of work and I think he likes her too that is probably why she got a 5 year contract with NPS. PAIR OF BASTARDS. No way will she resign, being shafted into the CRC is better than having her as a chief and that puts into context about how despicable she is.

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  4. Anonymous21 July 2014 at 16:45

    Are all staff in Manchester wrong then? I dont think they are and its likely that this is a very accurate assessment of what is actually happening on the ground...still they were all told this is what would happen...

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  5. Anonymous21 July 2014 at 18:12

    I was told by an agency colleague today in Manchester that they get paid £250.00 if they get people to sign up with their agencies. Everyone seems to be throwing money around to make this thing work, in my no amount of money could save this disaster. I wonder how much of the publics money Grayling has spent!!

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    1. Anonymous22 July 2014 at 08:59

      £250 a day or a week ?

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    2. Jim Brown22 July 2014 at 12:44

      I think they mean a one-off 'bounty' payment!

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    3. Anonymous23 July 2014 at 21:51

      Hi all

      I'm working in London and the Manchester debacle is being repeated in numerous boroughs here as well....it looks like this whole thing is going to explode any moment.....and anyone who says that the public is not being put at risk by this process is deluded, or a CRC manager looking for their next promotion within the private sector....traitors....and they should be ashamed of themselves....goes against everything we represent as probation officers.

      As far as the payments are concerned....agencies have always offered sign-on bonuses to contractors who they refer to them....nothing new there.....

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  6. Anonymous24 July 2014 at 16:41

    Interesting in Wales CRC they are re-employing POs who took redundancy only about 12 mths ago.

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  7. Anonymous24 July 2014 at 23:44

    Good for those POs, talk about having a second bite of the cherry......

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