CRCs answer is to put everyone on infrequent reporting and link them up with an agency but I'm finding I have no working relationship with my caseload and we all know how important that relationship is to the success of the Order. I already have a breach that I can pinpoint to the fact I have not been seeing them weekly as per old National Standards. Local offices have been closed down which means offenders, in some cases, have a 2 hour round trip for supervision and are usually so frazzled that they're too irate and tired to engage properly anyway - don't forget a lot of these people are struggling with drug or alcohol misuse.
We have been cut back to the bone and then some. There is nothing left to cut. Thankfully we have a really good senior but but he is not a magician - he cannot make new orders disappear, they have to be allocated. I have given up working extra hours to keep up because it is pointless. I love my job but I just cant do it anymore, the volume of work and hours do not fit.
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For the first time since I joined probation I am terrified of work and really desperate to get out. I am NPS and the chaos is beyond description because every system and process we had has changed and we are provided with massive amounts of written instructions but no time to read any of them in full. We are now working with some of us knowing bits of process and trying, without any direction from management other than "do your best, we are all in the same boat", to just get through each day. Therefore, in our "national" NPS nearly every office let alone every area is doing something different so there is no consistency. For a "national" organisation it is simply bizarre.
Now this week we are facing further IT upheaval as the "work arounds" are removed and the err, broken system, is supposedly fixed. I can't wait for the 10 emails with varying instructions to tell me how to do tasks that used to be so straight forward and of course not being able to understand any of them. I have been made to feel utterly incompetent because I am struggling so much with the IT systems. I am frankly, embarrassed at my inability to comprehend the instructions - I am unsure if I have developed a problem with my learning style as I am struggling so much.
There is also the constant tension in the office, we all used to get on well but work is constantly disturbed by outbursts and verbal frustrations that there is no peace. It is such a febrile working environment but we know we have to let colleagues let off steam or they would go sick and then where would we be?
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Another unintended consequence. Most of the people with pre-booked summer leave before the shafting have gone to the CRC. In one week in August we have four staff covering all five offices in our county.
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I'm shocked to read the above comments. It is appalling how people feel. I feel devastated on how things have turned out it is disgusting and professionally demoralising.
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At our office in Manchester cases seem to be allocated when the client comes in for their initial appointment, prior to them arriving we have no idea of there being a case that needs allocating. Its embarrassing and terrible.
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You all make me feel so much better, it makes no sense to me either. I kept a log a few months back about what I did in my working day and was surprised how much of my day was spent trying to get Delius to work.
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Large urban area in the North is in meltdown, and I don't mean Manchester. It's utter chaos, but staff have a realistic approach........do your hours and leave. In many ways I think TR has given them a lot more freedom to do this. Before they felt responsible for their caseload. Now they feel they can't do their jobs the way they want to or safely, so why bother. Better to do the hours and leave. Quite a few are leaving and not coming back, and lots of the younger female officers have decided it's a good time to have a baby.
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Why are we left in a situation that staff feel so vulnerable? How can staff expect to safely manage risk when they constantly thinking about being shitted on by the employer and NAPO who will not hesitate to collude with managers and say “well you should have done your job right in the first place”. What the fuck is going on?
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Are you listening MoJ? We are trying to stop people from killing other people. We work with the most difficult, chaotic and dangerous people in our communities. We care if it goes wrong, we consider ourselves somehow responsible. We try our best. We are compassionate, caring human beings using our skills to keep people safe. You are not helping, you are putting people in danger, you need to stop this. This is not safe.
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I can’t believe this. I’ve been away since Wednesday to get a little respite from all the shit that is TR, and returned back to work this morning. Went in feeling slightly refreshed but noticed my anxiety levels increasing as I got nearer to the dreaded office. Once outside the office I parked the car up and just sat there for a few minutes just thinking about the pile of shit I will be walking into. I found myself cursing senior management. I have never ever had such bad thoughts until this shit came into my life which I did not choose. I would what you call been ‘properly shafted’ into CRC.
I managed to drag myself into the office and no sooner I walked through the door, someone said “have you heard the news, someone has been murdered under TR”. At that point, I could have fucking collapsed. Thought it was one my cases. I was somewhat relieved having discovered that it wasn’t but worried at the same time, as it could easily have been.
If someone asked me to risk assess my work for a possible SFO – I can say with absolute confidence that there is an 80% chance that someone on my caseload will go on to kill someone. You might ask, why I am so confident? The answer is very simple, 90% of my caseload is made up of domestic violence and child protection case. The majority of these cases have been transferred to me.
There is no file, no information, there was no hand over, no management oversight. There has been no support, no advice, no direction, no contingency plans in place, no proper risk assessment. There has been no time allowed to even talk to colleagues, no time to work out the shit IT system. Delius doesn’t work, can’t access OASys. Can’t get hold of my manager despite sending 100 emails all which have gone unacknowledged. I’m getting the feeling that I’m being stitched up, to fail. It’s a fuckin nightmare.
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Since Oasys-r came in my team of seconded POs in open prison have not been able to request control of Oasys. Apparently it is because a remand box is ticked, and the only people who can remove the tick is the hp help desk. My colleague phoned last week about a particular case and was told no, you can't have control, he is a determinate, the Oasys belongs to the community.
In the meantime lifers are waiting longer and longer for their rotl, OMs in the community are too flat out to do the extra reviews that are now compulsory before rotl is approved (less than twelve months is no longer good enough, has to be done after their arrival in open even if one was done the month before). Yet more workload pressure and I won't be at all surprised if we see more absconds as indeterminate prisoner get more and more frustrated with lack of progress. Oh and how much are we charged to call hp help desk?
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Bidders beware most cases in the CRC will be domestic violence, only the headlines in the future will be directed at your company and reputation. Don't sign anything, walk away whilst you can.
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Mental Health is more prominent too - I have a man who wants to chop his own legs off and I have a couple of people who brandished machetes at people they thought had 'wronged' them - but actually hadn't. These offenders should be in the NPS closely monitored. Whilst I think they are a potential risk I am not seeing them anymore frequently than I would any of my other cases. This is what Grayling wants - CRC to continue as per Trust national standards reporting when caseloads were smaller - well he can go swivel.
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I've got a guy with a previous Manslaughter and Threats to Kill, all domestic related. His new offence is Breach of Restraining Order. Computer says Tier 2 CRC case. OK then....
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That RSR tool is the biggest load of shit I have ever seen, I think you have to murder three people before you can get a score of 7 and go to NPS. Another load of crap devised by some stupid civil servant who knows nothing about risk. The job is becoming a joke. The word risk is branded about without all those in power knowing how you assess it or what it means.
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In the early days I heard that local managers could amend the score to suit their needs ie if not enough new cases to justify all staff in NPS then lower the %. Who sets this percentage? Staff in our NPS are definitely going to lose their jobs on the current allocation.
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What the feck does 'Risk of Serious Recidivism' (RSR) mean anyway? Risk of lots or crimes or risk of hurting somebody a lot again? I have no idea. In the CRC we can't even see the NPS RSR assessment. We just have to accept that its right. The only way we can send it back is if something terrible happens and we can justify doing a 12 page Risk Escalation assessment that needs to be signed by several managers. I used to be able to do my job.
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In CRC we can do RSRs and in my opinion should be doing them on all our cases to make sure they have been allocated correctly.
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Not in our area. No training and no access to the RSR tool by CRC staff.
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I disagree. Why should CRC staff use that fucking tool? It is an NPS task to allocate the fucking cases!!!
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A CRC office severely hampered by staffing crisis. A PO is asked to complete a risk escalation procedure for a case they've never seen and know nothing about (supervising PO off sick). After research to ascertain the details of what was turning out to be a blindingly obvious escalation of DV risk, the PO then spent hours working out how to get the document to appear on the easy-peasy IT, completing the document, discussing with CRC manager who then spent an hour trying to locate a NPS contact in the relevant risk escalation team... it was finally submitted within the specified timescale. The hours spent were, incidentally, invaluable hours out of the working day of a highly stressed & overloaded PO who feels they haven't got a minute to spare in any given day to complete their own tasks, let alone cover other tasks. But it was evident this case needed to be reallocated per the increasing risk criteria and the responsible thing to do was complete the onerous, stupid process.
The iron dome that is the NPS gatekeeping system blew the application out of the sky. After a lengthy & heated telephone conversation where the stressed CRC PO repeatedly reiterated the perfect storm scenario that lay before the uninterested NPS gatekeeper, it was finally agreed it could be looked at again. "A new risk escalation application will need to be submitted."
Someone somewhere is just taking the piss.
The CRC PO might just be off sick today; and tomorrow; and next week.
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In our office they are dropping off like flies and I don't blame them, this whole thing has been an utter mess which is beginning to impact on peoples health. To be honest I would welcome the redundancy rather than work for this service where staff are now being abused. No work load management tool means that they can allocate as many cases as they want, its a monumental shambles created by yours truly Grayling. I hope everyone goes off sick.
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NPS manager in a meeting told their staff that they would not blame anyone who went off sick. They advised them that should they feel that the job is affecting them then they should go off sick. They are being really good, and came on the back of them having about 90 unallocated cases. One NPS staff that had 15 parole reports to do walked out this week saying that they could not cope.
We have also been told that we no longer use the WMT, so cases are allocated on a number basis which could mean people carrying about 70 cases each, all high risk. I don't know how they will apply adjustments to those with Protective Characteristics. The NPS manger is being very good and is highlighting that they have had numerous letters from clients begging to stay with their probation officer, and they are starting to expose to us that senior managers are turning a blind eye to the crisis. They are very concerned about the effect this may also have on service users.
It feels like our office has slowly ground to a halt. I have been off sick for the last few days. I am CRC shafted after 30 years, and on our side cases are coming in thick and fast and it's getting concerning that assessments aren't being completed due to the level of work coming in. Everyone is becoming edgy and working evenings and weekends, but soon this will cause more people to go off sick. Its a terrible state, and someone in a position of power needs to stick their neck out and expose this.
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I was told yesterday that the MOJ have said that water dispensers nationally are to be taken out of offices because they class them as 'hospitality' and they will not pay for them. This is for both CRC and NPS. No consideration for staff in the current weather.
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I can't believe anyone thinks this is safe enough to move to share sale anytime soon. Real fractures in practice are beginning to emerge which scare me.
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Risk Escalation Tool - Discuss
1. Pre TR - conversation with manager, do the OASys and RMP. End of.
2. Post TR - CRC PO has discussion with manager, completes the risk allocation tool, gets out the circular try to follow it, upload onto delius, email to assessing NPS Manager who then allocates to PO, open doc on delius, contact IT for assistance, check OASys, delius, ring CRC PO to discuss, OASys and delius flags done, complete NPS PO bit on delius, complete NPS manager bit on delius, allocate to NPS LDU manager, NPS PO to get the file and review RMP
And THAT'S progress??? Who got paid a salary for designing this total crap?????
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On the subject of Gloucestershire, I have heard that ISOP will not be running for internet sex offenders anymore so the 11 men waiting to start have to go back to court to have their programme requirements removed. No alternative intervention will be suggested so they will remain untreated.
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Latest episode in the omnishambles. NPS prepares inadequate report and passed case to CRC without proper documentation. Offender fails to turn up. CRC staff refer breach to NPS. NPS rejects breach as it was submitted by the CRC without the proper documentation that they had never received in the first place.
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I think the NPS are deluded if they expect us to read & digest these massive 'getting started' documents they send out weekly. No time!
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
ReplyDelete― Desmond Tutu
So, TR week 9 looms and imo it is essential that the truth gets out and this blog is the means of doing that, thank you Jim. We have the testament of practitioners and yes, we will use that in defence when they come for us. I just want to warn colleagues that there are signs that Senior Managers both CRC and NPS are starting to clamp down on dissent and that this can only have come as direction from the very top.
So, Grayling and Spurr appear to have woken up to dissent of staff and realised what a significant risk to TR this is. Signs are that staff are being spoken to so they have "advice regarding their future conduct". What is "acceptable "is starting to be discussed with staff in a sort of are either with us or against us way.
GREAT!! This should not intimidate us or silence us because it demonstrates that we are at last having some impact, so please keep on telling the truth, there is no place for collusion and cover up. We have all seen Grayling's and Spurr's capacity to re-frame the truth ie LIE to Parliament, to the public and to staff.
If that turns out to be the case the this blog remains the bastion of freedom and should continue to highlight TR flaws as and when they occur
Deletei completely agree. they can do what ever they like, they will never silence my contribution on this blog.
DeleteFrom noms most recent satistical data report 2014:
ReplyDelete"It is hoped that with the introduction and phased rollout of a national management information system (nDelius) for all Probation trusts and, since 1 June 2014, the National Probation Service (NPS), more accurate and complete data can be produced on PSR breach reports in future. This will be kept under review."
Two things strike me:
1. "It is hoped..." - goodness only knows how much has been spent on a shit IT system and they "hope" it works;
2. After all of the hype around nDelius being a shiny new case record system it is now admitted that it is, in fact, a "management information system"
And what is a "PSR breach report"?
Apologies, on first line above it should have read "statistical" - although I quite like the idea of a 'satirical data report'.
DeleteThey "hope it works"? It doesnt fukin work! National NAPOshould be moving to action on this now. Boycott the pile of crap! Refuse to use it en masse!
DeleteAs for "PSR breach reports", I know what it is. It's a sign that the people who are meant to be running this profession dont even know the basics of what we do!
I like the sound of boycot. If a system or tool doesn't work you don't use. Very simple really. Maybe NAPO should reflect on this further in terms of health and safety - maybe.
DeletePSR breach report confuses me too. Pre TR we used to call them 'Response to Supervision Reports' and that abbreviation was RSR - now TR has come along and hijacked the RSR abbreviation so it looks like breach reports have been re-branded to Pre-sentence breach reports. This is wrong - there's nothing 'pre-sentence' about them!!!! This alone is a mockery of the idiots who implement with they system!!!
ReplyDeleteIn addition, Delius is not fully functioning in my area either - the main problem i'm experiencing is that it cannot find people even when extra identification information is inputted.
NDelius is dangerous in this respect. I searched for a case I KNEW was on crams but ND came up with zero. I even got a colleague (a ND trainer) to do a cross-check. Still zero. Must be my memory playing tricks I thought. Then, a colleague working in the courts, finds him with a slightly different alias. On the ND record, his original name is there as having been precisely that which we couldn't find and was migrated from crams. It's there, yet you can't find him if you type it in!. It's scary.
DeleteDear NOMS Readers
ReplyDeleteTo assist you in understanding probation work, PSR stand for Pre Sentence Report so the expression PSR breach report is an oxyMORON....!
If our probation managers are not a part of the solution, then they are a part of the problem.
ReplyDeleteIf our probation managers are continuing to support TR without vocal and public opposition, then they are a part of the problem.
If our probation managers (particularly SPO's) are making these flawed MoJ/TR reforms work at the expense of staff concerns and health, then they are the problem.
If our probation managers (particularly senior managers and directors) are not taking action to protect and relieve staff from these flawed MoJ/TR reforms, then they are the problem.
If you're not doing so already, work your hours and no more, use supervision and office meetings to record what you cannot do and tell tell your manager what you expect of them, if no supervision or office meetings then send an email, if your probation manager has no answers then request an individual or team meeting with their manager and bring along your union rep. Most importantly, don't suffer in silence, report your concerns to your colleagues, your union rep, Napo, this blog, your MP, your GP, anyone that can help.
Slight digression towards mutuals - just came across this from 2012:
ReplyDelete"A “best friend” of Francis Maude joins Cabinet Office as COO
Posted on September 18, 2012
Troubleshooting Stephen Kelly, a “best friend” of Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, is taking over as Chief Operating Officer of Government at the Cabinet Office. He also has Ian Watmore’s old job of head of the Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group.
A profile of Kelly in the Daily Telegraph last year suggested he was a caricature of someone who was most likely to annoy civil servants. The Telegraph’s Louise Armitstead said Kelly had
“Longish hair, combed back with ‘product’, loud tie, edgy suit, transatlantic drawl – and the enthusiasm of an untrained golden retriever.”
He has a reputation for cheerfully taking on toxic projects and making them work. He has been in charge of the Coalition’s plan to mutualise parts of the public sector.
He was chief executive of Micro Focus, a small UK software company that he helped to turn around.
The Cabinet Office says Kelly will “enable the Government to go even further with its crucial efficiency and reform agenda and build on the £5.5bn of efficiency savings achieved last year”.
He led the successful delivery of MyCSP – the first ‘John Lewis-style’ mutual to spin out from central government. It administers pensions for the 1.5 million Civil Service Scheme members.
Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, Richard Heaton, said, “Stephen is one of the most successful CEOs from the private sector and has already proven himself within Government.”
Maude said, “I’ve always said Government needs to function more like the best run businesses and this new appointment, which will strengthen the corporate centre at the heart of Whitehall, is another step towards meeting that goal.
“… We want to go much further in cutting waste, saving money and streamlining Whitehall. Stephen brings expertise and charisma to this crucial role and I look forward to working with him…”
Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, said Kelly will help to pioneer change in the public sector, “building on the significant progress already made in making Whitehall more efficient and helping to put Britain’s public finances back on track”.
Wots is the point of this comment sounds like a party political broadcast if this idiot was any good he would run his own business - or am I missing the sarcasm in this.
DeleteArticle in the Observer today:
ReplyDeleteThe justice minister responsible for reducing the population of women's prisons has been banned by his civil servants from visiting the women's community centres that offer an alternative to custody because of commercial considerations.
Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem minister, has been told that an ongoing privatisation of the probation service could be jeopardised if he made a visit to the centres, where women who have been convicted are made to work out their community sentences.
The Ministry of Justice fears that by visiting a centre run by a provider seeking to take over probation services, or which may in the future want to bid for services, the minister could be seen to be showing favouritism. Hughes has been told that the controversial privatisation of the probation service could then be subject to a judicial review, with all the expense and delay that this would involve.
Women's centres were introduced by the last Labour government to ensure female offenders – a quarter of whom were treated for mental illness before their incarceration – were punished outside prison.
Suicide and murder rates in prisons in England and Wales have reached their highest levels in six years. In 2013 there were four alleged homicides – the highest number since 1998 – and 70 apparently self-inflicted deaths, more than at any time since 2008.
Rachel Halford, director of Women in Prison, a campaigning organisation that helps women involved in the criminal justice system, said the ban was "absolute madness". She added: "To ban the minister for reducing the number of women in prison from visiting the alternatives is absolute madness. It's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. And he has admitted it himself."Details of the ban emerged at a justice select committee hearing. Hughes admitted to MPs that it was one of the "biggest frustrations" of his job after being attacked over the situation by backbench MPs.He told the committee: "My frustration is that in England I have not been able to go to see the women's centres that do as important a job as the prisons do."
The government's part-privatisation of the probation service kicked in last month with 35 probation trusts in England and Wales replaced by 21 community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) to supervise medium- to low-risk offenders and a new national probation service to supervise the remaining "high-risk" offenders.
The government believes that work with short-term offenders should be done by the new CRCs after they are outsourced on a competitive basis with at least three bidders. However it has emerged that mutuals and charities, who were supposedly to make up 50% of bidders, are pulling out. Some areas such as Northumbria now have only one bidder.
Sadiq Khan, the shadow justice secretary, has written to the competition and markets authority complaining that the contracts being offered to the private firms left are for 10 years and threaten to create a monopoly.
In a letter seen by the Observer, Khan writes: "The government has no measures in place to guard against a small number of large providers picking up the majority of contracts. This could also end up creating a couple of large private sector monopolies, which is counter to the government's aim of improving competition."
Sounds like Grayling, Brennan, Spurr & co are frightened to let the libdems out on their own in case they let one of the many cats out of a bag.
DeleteCan't the Howard League run with this information surely it is discrimination on the grounds of gender that a Minister of the Crown can not visit these sites and so, may be prevented from fulfilling his ministerial brief for that group ?
DeleteAnd to add, is just me getting tired of reading comments from probation SPO/managers coming here to say their bit? Probation managers are the ones delivering TR instructions and allocating TR distorted work to staff. I'm tired of hearing of overworked managers and how difficult it is for them when they are the ones dishing out the bloody work, and in many cases to afraid to take our concerns to senior managers or CEO's. Simply put, if SPO/managers started standing by the fact these TR reforms do not work and stopped allocating the work, Senior managers would then have to provide additional resources and report back to NPS/CRC CEO/Directors that it is not working. If resources are unavailable, which is currently the case, they would then need to report back to the MoJ. Although they would not want to do this and appear incompetent to the MoJ, which they are, they would have no choice if increasing a amounts of unallocated work is building up at ground level. Failure to do this would mean they are acting unlawfully and this is what both SPO and senior managers should then be escalating direct to the MoJ and publicly (and not anonymously) to the press (ie whistle-blowing), which I'm sure unions would be more then happy to assist them with. So you see, SPO/managers are key to fighting this mess but progress will only be possible if they want to be part of the solution and stop compelling staff to do what cannot reasonably done.
ReplyDeleteFrontline staff should hand work back. The SPOs are as much a victim of this as everyone else. More so in terms of the threat of redundancy. They have a lot less power than you seen to think.
DeleteProbation officer you raise some interesting points. I think the points you raise are valid. Manager have the power to influence things. So far they have kept very quiet.
DeleteAnother drift, but towards our oft forgotten colleagues dealing with youths. Debate took place on 23 july about secure training colleges (stc's) and The Lord Ramsbotham was again in good voice:
ReplyDelete"My second suggested alternative is the solution run very successfully in Spain for more than 20 years by the not-for-profit organisation, Diagrama, which is currently competing to run an STC in this country. One of its 38 establishments, of varying size and each with a catchment radius of 30 to 50 miles, has just been awarded the title of best children’s custody centre in Europe. Diagrama’s child-centred ethos is to create living environments and services conducive to the main task of integrating young people and consistent with the needs of developing children; to provide children and young people with the skills they need to lead positive and fulfilling lives; and to do whatever it takes to meet the needs of children, formal and informal, in partnership with their parents, families, communities and existing support services.
This child-centred approach is also being replicated in the United States, where the growing trend is to turn away from large establishments in favour of what is called the Missouri model, in which no facility has more than 50 beds. Family therapy is practised and there is general recognition that trained specialist staff building relationships with children are better able to deliver a positive regime than less qualified custodial officers.
In that connection, can the Minister confirm or deny that the person in NOMS responsible for writing the rules and policies for secure colleges is the former governor of HMYOI Brinsford, who was moved after the Chief Inspector of Prisons gave it a dreadful report, describing it as the single worst jail he had ever visited, to HMP Hewell—which is about to receive a dreadful inspection report—and from there to this role in NOMS? If that is true, I must question the judgment of whoever made the appointment."
Do you know that under 18s can not be entered onto delius? So if within a month of their 18th birthday when they come to adult probation not YOS, newly sentenced offenders have to be held unprocessed until they reach 18 and are entered onto the system, they are not allocated in that time because the IT will not allow them to be.
ReplyDeleteYup that is true - perhaps the single most vulnerable group of offenders, young people, are being held unprocessed. Go on check it out...it is scandalous...
Could it be another mistake by NOMS 'cos they don't understand probation...??
This is not true. We still supervise 16 and 17 yr old doing payback and they are all put on Delius
DeleteNo one is meant to do that anymore
DeleteLondon still does. Servo have still got permission to supervise 16 and 17 year olds so we still do in London.
DeleteAnon 13:11. Again, tired of hearing these comments. We are all at risk of redundancy. SPO's have more power than frontline staff and should not be allocating excessive workloads in the first place. We should not have to "hand work back" to managers who are meant to have a duty of care and shouldn't allocate above and beyond in the first place. Let's see them hand the work back to senior managers.
ReplyDeleteCaseload numbers are never the issue. Give me 1,000 cases, that's fine. It is what we are required to DO with each case that is the problem. Maintaining the same level of service for 100 cases as you would for 40 is IMPOSSIBLE. Stop trying. Your SPO can allocate as many cases ad s/he likes, you need to seek clarity on which tasks you NO LONGER DO. An SPO cannot hire, cannot fire, cannot discipline you, cannot hit you, cannot bully or harass you. What power do you think s/he has?
DeleteI have over 60 cases where as pre-slit I had around 40 which I felt was manageable. The way I now manage 60+ cases is that I do very little. It's not because I want to, it's because that's ALL I can do.
DeleteRe-offending figures were at their lowest for some years pre-split. What the odds on them rising significantly this year?
Anyone want to have a guess at what Ministers will blame the increase on? My money is benefit sanctions.
I wonder what odds Ladbrokes will give me???
I agree with anon14:18. I have a caseload of approx 70 on a 4 day working week; all bar 3 are in the community. A Manager rings me in an apologetic tone every week to say sorry but he's got to allocate these case(s) and there is no one left to give them to etc etc, and I say fine as long as you accept I will just add their names to my list and I will get to them when I can, which won't be for a while. And he says yes, cos what else can he say? He has no solution to the chronic understaffing in our bit of the CRC; the money and the will to take action reside elsewhere.
DeleteDeb
Me too. I've already told my manager that I think I am around 160% capacity (in an email so I have at least some comeback). When things don't get done, I just tell him that it was in the 60% bit, as I have already given 100%.
DeleteMy Delius entries are now about 8 days overdue!!!!!!!
Look it's very simple really. Managers are only towing the party line. They don't give a shit about people like you and me. There might be some SPO grade who do raise some resistance but these are very few in between.
DeleteYou are wrong. They are caught up in this shit the same as everyone else. I am a non-operational SPO and do not allocate work. Those that do are in the main as distressed as the staff they are managing. Stop looking for blame internally. The fault lies outside Trusts, CRCs and the NPS.
DeleteProbation SPO and courts managers should be writing to courts to tell them where the 'closed' sign is up because offices are over capacity and cannot complete any more PSR's or commence new community orders. I doubt this is happening so what the hell is Napo doing to make it happen?
ReplyDeleteThat decision rests with senior management NOT SPOs. I agree, though.
DeleteIt appears that the answer is the grand sum of fuck all! The last posting on their website was Thursday....it's appears they are as much on the ball as a dead seal.
DeleteWhat's Colin Allars got to say about all this?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 14:35: try this for size: "Major change programme" "On track" "Teething problems and glitches" "Minority of staff complaining" "NAPO would say that" "Public protection is our highest priority" blah blah effing blah
DeleteI will keep saying it, unless SPO's act this will not stop. SPO's for offices and courts are choosing to allocate and compel us to do the work we cannot do. They CAN instead not allocate the work and compel senior managers to act. This would either have to be allocating more resources which are not available and so the 'closed' sign goes up. SPO's CAN write to courts and explain we are over capacity and should be active in seeking support from senior managers to do so. If they feel they cannot do this or are not permitted to do this then they CAN request their senior manager do it as they cannot allocate any more until there is a change in circumstances.
ReplyDeleteThis is well within an SPO's remit and takes into account the duty of care to staff which is paramount for a manager, or meant to be. I wonder how many SPO's are secretly here writing the 'SPO's are victims too' statements to seek some self justification for failing to act. Make no mistake, SPO's DO have the power to change this, or they CAN instead bully, force and compel staff to do what they cannot, they CAN also commence disciplinary and capability proceedings against staff that are unable or unwilling to complete tasks. These actions will be supported by the very same senior managers that are telling SPO's to allocate the work regardless.
Therefore don't just say you can't do the work and then be compelled to do most of it anyway as this will drag on unchanged. Instead expect your SPO to not allocate, and ask for group meetings with the senior managers too to request allocation stops, and ask what directors are doing about it, and ask how this is all being fed back to courts and the MoJ, and get the union on board to follow all of this up, locally and nationally, whistle-blowing included. There's so much that can be done but it need a co-ordinaries effort and for those with even the smallest bit of power to do the right thing - SPO's must decide if they're part of the problem or part of the solution.
@Probation Officer. SPO's can't do jack. You sound like the Sun and it is annoying to say the least. This problem is out of our control and will only change when our politicians get there finger out of where the sun never shines.
DeleteImagine SPO's wrote a letter to the courts saying unable to write the report because of limited resources. Now it will only take a few of these before it starts to get media attention. That's how much power SPO have.
ReplyDeleteI am a PO but have watched an SPO to the point of personal crisis because each of the team took our concerns to her, she did the right thing and took it up the line until she came under unbelievable pressure from the director for not managing her team. She is now on sick leave. It is never THAT easy as some above suggest.
ReplyDeleteWould someone mind explaining to me how serco manage to get away with doing something different to the rest of the country?
ReplyDeleteBrown paper envelops and jobs for the boys latter on, its called money power, makes the world go round you know.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that probation staff will keep soldiering on, keep working longer hours to try to get work done, keep thinking that a magic top down solution will materialise out of thin air and keep having faith that their managers will be listened to. However,the best solution is to take collective action through a recognised union. There are those who complain constantly about their lot and yet have never been a member of a union or done anything other than complain. So make sure everyone is in the union then you can make a collective complaint. Help out by giving your union as much evidence as possible about things that are going wrong. Despite what is sometimes said on here they regularly in contact with the press and media and continue to be. If you do not feel you are being heard then talk to your branch chair, bring a motion to your local branch meeting, and insist your union takes action. You will be surprised how few people actually use the avenues available to them preferring to take the easy option of saying how terrible everything is and not doing anything about it. Also encourage your managers to join a union too. The union will only become strong enough to challenge what is taking place if more people join and become active members. Alternatively continue to complain to each other and it might make you feel better but it will achieve very little.
ReplyDeleteAnon 18:37. Also tired of these silly comments you've reflected. Take note, Napo is crap and unison doesn't care. Many writing here are probably already union members, and every SPO/manager I've ever come across is in a union too, usually Napo. The unions are well are of the problems, it's been in the national press for gods sake, and Napo/unison reps are usually frontline staff. We have been telling them our issues for the past 2 years leading up to and beyond TR and they've as of yet done nothing. Don't insult me with the 'put in a motion' nonsense. Unions have meetings with management and can take action at any time, but choose not to. I'm sure nobody is waiting for a 'top down' solution, we're waiting for any solution... And still waiting .... Tumbleweeds roll
ReplyDeleteAnd your considered solution is?
DeleteAnd what effective action you take is?
Sounds like a recipe for no action
Rolling with resistance here.
ReplyDeleteThere is no single solution, but there are many comments as to individual and collective actions you can take, especially if your an SPO.
You say you are tired and fed up with comments that you regard as silly. However your solution is to urge SPOs not to allocate work presumably to cause a backlog and cause a small local crisis. Whilst I agree with this approach in principle individuals taking unauthorised industrial action in this way are liable to be picked off. Collective action via the union is preferable and the kind of action you propose is not being supported at the present time as it would constitute a breach of contract by the manager concerned. Generalised comments such as Napo or Unison are useless is also unhelpful and inaccurate offending many activists and branches that have been the backbone of opposition to TR. Unions do not operate in isolation from one another or the wider trade union movement. Napo for example has come in for heavy criticism and close scrutiny and yet when they have sought further advice from lawyers and other unions at the suggestion of their members it appears they are doing as well as they can and that they have achieved much in the campaign and consistently punched above their weight. It is all to easy to be a critic but harder to roll up your sleeves. What they and other unions need is for more members to become actively involved and by doing so learn about what is going on in greater depth.
DeleteSo, as far as we are aware in the past two months there has been but one single serious further offence? One single SFO that could well have happened had processes been the same as pre-split?
ReplyDeleteIf re-offending figures are around the same level as previous years come next June then this TR in regards to the Probation Service will be considered successful by all concerned.
The truth is that we do not know if what the Probation Service did pre-split really had any effect on re-offending. A great deal of public money could well have been wasted on offenders who were never going to re-offend anyway, and heaven forbid, those interventions themselves could have back fired and have been a major cause of re-offending themselves. A big possibility consistently overlooked. Maybe Probation has always been over-estimated.
Put Offenders on an Electronic Tag. Cheaper, more effective and more reliable than any PO.
There's been loads of SFO's. The one you refer to is probably the DV murder that made the news. I guess your playing devil's advocate or just trying to be downright offensive to PO's.If so please climb back under your rock and leave us all alone.
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ReplyDeleteI lost a whole report the other week. Told it was gone forever and had to do it again. Saved it and uploaded it to Delirious. Next day, gone!
DeleteI would love to feedback all my cases over the last 12 years who have said I have saved their lives. I have not but they believe that I have contributed in some way and that feels good. A tag is a plaster over the cut. A PO heals the wound for the offender and for future victims!
ReplyDeleteI guess Clients aren't capable of telling you things that you would like to hear as opposed to things they know you wouldn't?
DeleteI stand by my point... PO's over estimate their importance. Heal wounds? How do you know you have not helped cause SFO's?
I'm not trying to be offensive.
Anon 21.36. I assume you no longer work for probation or never did. If we don't believe that individuals can change what chance do some of the people we work with. We are not selling sweets or working with nuts and bolts. That is what makes it so hard to stop being conscientious or care. Strength to us all.
ReplyDeleteI guess I know my clients. It's what I am paid to suss out and I think I am pretty good at doing so. Which kind of proves your point I guess. Doh! I do think you have a point to some degree. The service needed some changes certainly. I do think we would be better focussing on bourgening criminality rather than focussing on controlling high risk. I'm afraid your post is offensive though. Stating tagging is more effective than the work we put in day in day out to try and help someone become motivated to make positive changes in their lives is frankly ridiculous. Red tape is what causes SFO's. PO's tied up on the computer when we should be out in the communities and keeping an eye on things. Sold ourselves down the river to some degree allowing partnerships to do what we do best. DRR fine example. We should have been doing the testing and delivering the interventions ourselves. We have let other in the backdoor and this has made us ripe for privatisation really. What role do you do?
ReplyDeleteClients tell me every day things I don't want to hear believe me. I can take the rough with the smooth and do so. No point in them bullshitting you and I always make that clear and reflect the same back. It's worked for me for years.
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