*****
I have over 60 cases whereas pre-split 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.
*****
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.
*****
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%. My Delius entries are now about 8 days overdue!!!!!!!
*****
Caseload 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.
*****
More mayhem, yesterday I tried to book a very well motivated client into our ETE service, they keep changing name so I will stick with what we all know. Anyway, managed to get into Oli - many haven't, and got the booking form, the process is that a referral form is then sent to me by email. I managed most of the booking form, but couldn't complete, as I was not among the recognised staff members in the drop down and I couldn't manually override it. So just picked a colleagues name out and asked her to forward me the referral, when she gets it...what a palava.
And I couldn't get access to any letterheads, and so had to hand write letters and pass to case admin to type up - I have been doing my own letters for years and I find it productive and satisfying, as it is one piece of work I can do and see the result almost instantaneously. The IT systems have caused so much wasted time and energy, it really is beginning to irk me.
*****
*****
More mayhem, yesterday I tried to book a very well motivated client into our ETE service, they keep changing name so I will stick with what we all know. Anyway, managed to get into Oli - many haven't, and got the booking form, the process is that a referral form is then sent to me by email. I managed most of the booking form, but couldn't complete, as I was not among the recognised staff members in the drop down and I couldn't manually override it. So just picked a colleagues name out and asked her to forward me the referral, when she gets it...what a palava.
And I couldn't get access to any letterheads, and so had to hand write letters and pass to case admin to type up - I have been doing my own letters for years and I find it productive and satisfying, as it is one piece of work I can do and see the result almost instantaneously. The IT systems have caused so much wasted time and energy, it really is beginning to irk me.
*****
Here's a scandal. My SPO spent all day sorting out HR stuff with the symbolic Shared Services. My LDU Director estimates this is currently taking up about 70 percent of her time. All this means that operational issues are being left undone. Morale before the split was good. Now, it's at an all time low. People who saw their career as being in Probation are now openly talking about leaving. It is galling beyond belief to hear senior MOJ managers and ministers to say everything is fine when we know it's not. That is influencing people to be even more frustrated and want to leave more. We were a good and effective service but are rapidly becoming a disorganised mess. And don't get me started on Delish and OASys. Commenting as Anon btw to avoid negative consequences.
*****
We all know that we have in the past continued to offer information to Children's Services six months after termination of a case. I had such a request and was unable to access my own report (due to cases defaulting to NPS on termination). I was informed by a manager yesterday that in order to 'work around' this they had come up with the idea that I should copy and paste my entries and reports and contact a person I had never heard of who would open a folder in a shared directory to keep the information for future use. I asked if this was a national or local idea and they said it local as it was something no one had accounted for. I cannot believe that our practice has now come down to making things up as we go along.
*****
Video-link with client cancelled due to staff cuts in Prison. Now this vulnerable female may be sentenced without a pre-sentence report.*****
We all know that we have in the past continued to offer information to Children's Services six months after termination of a case. I had such a request and was unable to access my own report (due to cases defaulting to NPS on termination). I was informed by a manager yesterday that in order to 'work around' this they had come up with the idea that I should copy and paste my entries and reports and contact a person I had never heard of who would open a folder in a shared directory to keep the information for future use. I asked if this was a national or local idea and they said it local as it was something no one had accounted for. I cannot believe that our practice has now come down to making things up as we go along.
*****
*****
Here in Derby we are desperately short of POs. It's getting quite bad.
*****
Leicester are hiring agency staff to cover the cracks.
*****
Threatening staff with capability procedures if they don't work faster & get up to date is the WORST style of 'leadership'.
*****
Leicester are hiring agency staff to cover the cracks.
*****
Threatening staff with capability procedures if they don't work faster & get up to date is the WORST style of 'leadership'.
******
I know an office with so few CRC staff, the NPS are having to manage CRC caseloads.
******
1 office NPS staff sent to provide cover at office 2. But office 2 CRC staff being sent to office 1 for cover!
******
An agency staff at my office in Manchester tells me that agencies are overwhelmed with requests from all over the country and some are paying what is requested, PSO's getting nearly £20.00 per hour, they can't seem to meet the demand. I thought this exercise was done to save money.
******
It's all going to be OK in London NPS because we need to focus in on performance, which is slipping...so we get together and focus on the wonderful processes, the state of the art IT we use, the relentless, sorry manageable, caseloads and...er...er...er...just how are practitioners supposed to fix this mess?
******
Anonymous yet again as we are not allowed an opinion! Having been a qualified PO for over 10 years I am even more disgruntled than ever at the ridiculous state of probation that this excuse for a govt has created. I'm now embarrassed to associate myself with the self serving, power crazy organisation called NPS...it beggars belief that public protection is dismissed as below 'process needs' (if it isn't written as we say, it isn't written) and at the beck and call of the the egos of the 'process matters at all costs' idiots! Have they ever actually worked with a client..blah blah whatever the current acceptable label is!!!!
Quite frankly, if you could see what I am seeing then you should be as restless at night as I am. Politics...both nationally and between the NPS and CRC...is seemingly all that matters! Point scoring at the expense of what our job is!!! This is a massive disgrace and an affront to those of us who wanted to make a difference to people's lives! I, quite frankly, will now do as little as possible for my salary...the organisations/companies will get what they deserve...nothing!!...my cases will get my all!!
******
In the last month or so I have been allocated about 12 new cases some inherited from staff that have left which are in a right mess all need oasys, contacting children services and referrals to here there and everywhere, I am still holding NPS cases and writing PSR's. Then we had a team meeting where the CRC mangers are now saying that our performances are failing, and we have almost been threatened with that Private Companies will not tolerate this and our jobs can be at risk, so what do you do, work to rule or work to keep a job. I can't manage this mess in working 9-5. I do not want to shoot anyone in the foot as I have been fighting TR with a passion. The bullying and threats have already begun.
******
All this 'the private companies will be tougher' bullshit is just lazy management. You cannot do the same work with 100 cases that you did with 50, however 'tough' you are. These bullies are just cowardly.
******
'A refocused national probation service'. I work for this organisation as a PO. It is so unfocused and chaotic you wouldn't trust it with much. Why? As it has been wrecked, wrecked and wrecked. Grayling is a total shame.
******
We have never stopped writing reports and have been directed until we receive further notice. Due to the cock up that Manchester made in the shafting they are very short staffed so CRC's are propping them up. I have also heard today that there are 10 NPS jobs for the city, applications from CRC staff which will I think be advertised next week. Having spoken with some of my CRC colleagues no one in our office seems to want to apply. If this is the same around the city what are they going to do, re-shaft us? Watch out people there maybe a shaft X2 coming our way.
******
Problem with PO's moving across to NPS leaves a problem for PSO's in CRC then expected to pick up work that would be expected to be managed by a PO only they don't get their salary, this is happening now.
The establishment numbers were done by NOMS but who let them just get on with it in full knowledge they didn't have a clue about what they were doing and got most of the figures wrong hence job adverts soon after the split, yes you guessed it, the Trusts.
The establishment numbers were done by NOMS but who let them just get on with it in full knowledge they didn't have a clue about what they were doing and got most of the figures wrong hence job adverts soon after the split, yes you guessed it, the Trusts.
******
I was told today that Bolton in Greater Manchester is the new Manchester-meltdown wise....anyone from this neck of the woods able to confirm or deny??
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/09/former-nhs-carers-intensify-strike-over-pay?
ReplyDeleteGrim story in today's Observer. Substitute CRC for Care UK and you are probably in the presence of the future. Substitute Care UK for NPS in a few years time and you probably have the same. 35% pay cuts, state and third sector squeezed out - get those debts paid down now folks, while you still can.
Fifty carers for the disabled are staging one of the longest strikes in the history of the health service to secure a living wage for staff working in privatised services formerly run by the NHS.
DeleteIn a crucial vote on Monday, the support workers are expected to back plans to "extend and intensify" action that has already seen them withdraw their labour and sacrifice their salaries for nearly seven weeks.
Care UK, whose former chairman Lord Nash is now a government minister, took over services for people with severe learning disabilities in Doncaster, south Yorkshire, this year, cutting wages of staff who had been on NHS terms by up to 35% while bringing in 100 new workers on £7 an hour.
In an attempt to rewind a national trend for the de-skilling and the imposition of low wages in social care, the strikers, a majority of whom were transferred from the NHS to Care UK, are demanding a living wage of £7.65 for their poorest-paid colleagues.
They are also asking for a basic wage rise for better-paid experienced staff, whom they say have been left in dire financial straits by Care UK's decision to cut their hourly rates for working weekends, bank holidays and nights. The standoff between the workers and Care UK, which took over the contract from the NHS last September, is likely to become a rallying point for growing concerns about the outsourcing of health and social care.
In 1993 only 5% of publicly-funded social care given to people in their own homes was provided by the private sector. Today that has grown to 89%, as local authorities seek to cut costs. Ray James, deputy director of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, agreed that the public sector struggled to compete with the lower labour costs of the private sector.
Care UK reports in its latest accounts that public funds accounted for 88% of the company's revenues in the year ending September 2013. Yet it also admits to using "tax-efficient" financial structures involving the Channel Islands. Its sister company, Silver Sea, is domiciled in low-tax Luxembourg.
Care UK has not paid a penny in corporation tax since it was bought by the private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital in 2010.
Dave Prentis, general secretary at Unison, the public sector union organising the strike, said: "Damaging government policies are starving local councils of the funding needed to deliver vital local services. The dispute with Care UK is a result of Doncaster council's cost-cutting contract and private-sector greed. The result is damaging the service to vulnerable people and hitting the pay and conditions of the workforce, leaving them struggling to make ends meet."
Care UK won the supported living contract from the council after telling officials that it could deliver it for £6.7m over three years. Yet the wage bill alone for the service was £7m.
Richard Murphy, a chartered accountant and anti-poverty campaigner who has analysed Care UK's business model for another union, Unite, said he recognised similarities with all the major private equity-backed care firms.
He said: "They often win contracts on the basis of making losses or small profits. At the same time they are putting in place what look to be tax-driven structures that are designed to mitigate taxes on profits. I believe that what a lot of these companies are trying to do is to undermine any chance that an NHS organisation can win contracts.
"Once they have squeezed out the state sector, and the third sector, we will then see prices rise; then we will see profits; then we will see these tax-efficient structures working."
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said he was concerned that the privatisation of social care would be copied in the wider health service following the government's reforms to encourage competition between health providers. He said: "Since the government's health act came in to force, 70% of health services put out to tender have gone to the private sector."
Just read an article about the MESS the NHS is in- have they not realised yet that the private companies cannot deliver-
Delete"Hundreds of thousands of patients are being left at the doors of A&E in ambulances because hospitals are too full.
Figures obtained by Labour show more than 300,000 patients in need of emergency care were caught in queues of ambulances last year.
Some 279,207 ambulances were delayed for more than 30 minutes in England during 2013-14.
Another 30,601 had to wait longer than an hour, Labour said.
The party sent Freedom of Information requests to all 10 ambulance trusts in England.
Among the replies was the revelation that one patient in the West Midlands was forced to wait for eight hours and 11 minutes.
Another in the South West waited for seven and a half hours.
Labour said "handover delays" occur when ambulance crews cannot transfer patients because of staff or bed shortages.
Shadow health minister Jamie Reed said: "Under David Cameron, hospitals are full to bursting and he's forcing ambulances to queue at the doors for hours on end.
"Thousands of vulnerable people, many of them elderly and frightened, are being wrongly held in the backs of ambulances because hospitals don't have the space. And yet ministers deny that A&E is in crisis", "People know from their own experience that the NHS is heading downhill on David Cameron's watch. It is clear the Tories can't be trusted with it."
I WOULDN'T TRUST THEN TO TAKE MY DOG OUT, THEY WOULD PROBABLY SELL HIM. WHAT A BUNCH OF GREEDY WANKERS, PREPARED TO MAKE MONEY AT THE COST OF LIFES, DO THEY NOT CARE ABOUT ANYTHING.
NAPO !! UNISION!! Get hold of this expert accountant Richard Murphy NOW, he understands the metrics and the future and could prepare an expert briefing paper C'mon use your heads and start talking to this expert now! Let's publicly prove Grayling is a liar and misled Parliament by producing the figures to prove it. We are really great at probation work, accountants likewise with figures...Let's start to work smart, if this is all about the figures let's disprove them maybe even collect some data relevant for JR...now there is a thought.
Deleteoff topic perhaps but who knows?
ReplyDeleteOver the past few days there have been stories published about increased victim surcharge and the introduction of lie detector testing.
In neither was there a reference to the probation officers' perspective. Whilst we may be all preoccupied with TR, I would have hoped that when any journalist refers to criminal justice issues a light should come on and the name of NAPO appear before their eyes. They should feel nervous of making ill informed comments and seek our opinions. Our systems should allow 24/7 contact with an on-call NAPO spokesperson who can respond.
NEC should demand an explanation of why we are not consulted in all CJ stories and if we were whether we were quoted. Performance management I know but the NEC is the employer.
In relation to lie detectors I fear that their use signals what may be a developing debate again on the subject of care vs control with CRC and NPS colleagues falling into separate camps. This will have implications for Professional Association structures as significant as that posed by the creation of CAFCAS. As NPS staff are drawn more and more into the web of NOMS unless we guard against it that journey will take them further away from our roots. Grayling will find that splitting the service will produce a discontinuity in value bases also. Lesson from Zimbardo is that structure determines behaviour.
I fear future NAPO AGMs will require separate forums for NPS, CRC and CAFCASS members. Debates will highlight the differences in approach. NPS concern with ROSH will intrude upon commissioned work with people for whom it is less salient as an issue.
What a con, they drive down wages, pay no tax and undermine the NHS and the wider public sector. And government ministers are part owners of the con.
ReplyDeleteThere is a massive contradiction here, short-sightedness on a grand scale; care for the vulnerable deteriorates and wages are reduced. So government needs to back up wages with benefits from a reduced tax take. To do this government borrow money from the likes of the private equity funds and have to pay it back at a much higher level. You see it's win win for the rich every time. Now with wages reduced fewer commodities are consumed and so the economy bumps along the bottom. But this is overcome by pumping up a bubble in London house prices and student debt. All bubbles burst and I thick the current one is about to. If we can see this and the unions can see it too we must assume that our politicians are in the pockets of the merciless rich , the likes of Serco and G4S. It's all so sickeningly corrupt.
papa
Does anybody know if/when we will be offered the EVR? I'm at an age where I'm more than willing to take the money and run. Fast!
ReplyDeleteI feel the same, at this stage I'm even prepared to take a reduction, really struggling to cope and its effecting my health. As far as I can see they are so short staffed that they probably won't offer it. It seems to me that its one of those things that Grayling probably used to divert the Unions attention which they put their all into instead of concentrating on TR and now they aren't even offering it. More game playing and lies which they seem to be winning.
DeleteRegarding Bolton being the new Manchester in meltdown. As far as I know its the whole of what was the Greater Manchester Probation Trust area that is in meltdown. Every district but particularly Bolton and Tameside (east Manchester way) are dire. There must be hundreds of temps. Both NPS and CRC have massive staff problems. Its been well known amongst practice staff that GMPT were relying too heavily on temps not just since TR but in the years before. I'd herd once that there had been around a 25% cut in practice staff from 2008-2011ish, I'm sure there must be firm figures on this somewhere?
ReplyDeleteSince the split things are even worse specifically in the NPS where case loads are in my opinion dangerously unmanagable. For example a colleague of mine works a 3 day week and has approx 40 high risk cases. Absolutely ridiculous. Staff are now being informed of things they don't have to do i.e regarding reporting frequency and no prison visits to try and paper over the gaping cracks in the service. Regarding senior management from what I can tell there is some sympathy with staff and awareness amongst the better managers but little bit if no idea of what to do. No wonder really when we at a recent staff conference the head of the NPS north west area has the gaul to try and tell staff they are over reacting when legitimate concerns regarding case loads and amount of work being expected were raised by staff. In my opinion she basically implied staff were overreacting that things aren't that bad because according to her caseloads might be high but you don't have to do much with people when they are in prison or in approved premises. She presented as dismissive and showed no understanding of the actual expectation of work with high risk cases.
The head is only interested in her own career, don't expect anything from her. She has never cared about her staff and is only loyal to Graying and what she can get out of this. I heard how dismissive she was to a staff member at the conference when a statement was made about being overwhelmed and she brushed him aside. She makes being in the CRC look attrctive.
DeleteI know of a couple of officers in Manchester who are now saying that they want to transfer to CRC because they cannot cope. If granted the transfer this will cause additional pressure on the NPS. Things "going smoothly", not so in rainy Manchester. STOP THE LIES!!!!!!
DeleteThere are more temp staff and those on fixed term contracts in our office than permanent, and most of them are close to walking out. If they did we would have to close our office.
DeleteNPS in Manchester have now got contingency plan, tele contact with high risk clients fortnightly, there is a long list of other things too many to list, to help them cope. Merging us back is the only thing that would help, no other contingency plan is going to work. They may realise this in another week or too when the contingency plan goes to pot and they have to think of something else, just do the obvious and right thing and admit that this is not working, any cracks that are papered over will only reappear.
DeleteI'm absolutely astounded that this is even considered. We all know how devious and manipulative some of out clients can be. I hope that if this instruction is written down/on email, you can send it to Jim with the view that it be published.
DeleteI've only seen a hard copy if I can get someone to email it to me Jim is welcome to it. I'll try tomorrow.
DeleteThey have issued a long list of things you currently don't have to do with high risk cases including seeing them weekly. The proviso is it it only those who are 'stable' which is a glaring contradiction in my opinion as if we are saying they are high risk we are saying the risk is imminent? This list does not help in terms of case management as whilst we are being told its ok to follow and if there is an sfo the instruction will be taken into account. What's the betting though that in the event of any sfo you'll be dragged through the coals for suggesting they were stable enough to see fortnightly. None of this manages risk and none of this eases concerns amongst staff who on the whole want to do a good job not a 'bodge job' with their clients. The stress of not being able to work to the standard you'd like to keep your own professional values and integrity is all too often dismissed by management particularily those we know who were never good with the client faced work or never interested in this part if the job (and from my experience that is the majority of managers I've encountered).
DeleteMight I suggest the union branches in Greater Manchester considers a vote of no confidence in who ever this NPS leader is? It should mention sepcific reasons such as the ones posted here. It WILL afford you some protection at an ET if you have raised issues and not been listened to so had to take such action, if you mention the specific concerns re telephone reporting or moving to fortnightly reporting for High Riskers this will afford some protection when SFOs happen , sad you need to consider this but please do. Also if the branch votes on this there is safety in a collective decision and that should really ring alarm bells that such action is being taken.
DeleteExcellent idea.
DeleteHmmm - Manchester's contingency planning might have use for that old tried and tested practice from across The Pond, whereby our US Parole Officer colleagues would manage the scarier bad people not by home visits but by the Drive By And Wave method.
Delete1/2 As an avid reader of this blog and all things TR I have tried to make a contribution that will possibly make a difference , there is lots to go at but little is happening at the moment , the caravan processes on slowly but surely and we seem unable to make any impact. I was drawn to this recent comment; “In my view the best tactic for stopping TR is to help disgruntled unsuccessful bidders appeal the procurement process. Grayling’s weakness is that he has very little contingency in letting the new contracts. Delaying tactics – especially if they can slow down the letting of any contracts until Feb / March 2015, mean that he could run out of time before the next election. “ I think this is a particularly important focus of the campaign to stop TR, this is an area of real concern to all staff both CRC and NPS – presently the focus is on the omnishambles caused by the split but this is not having a publicly recognised impact yet. Both Jim and Ian Lawrence have both had further comment to make on the share sale plans, here’s Ian Lawrence’s from his blog “More good but predictable news that the so called bidding process is to have a further evaluation stage introduced, speaks volumes of the shambles it is in, and is clearly a sop to those bidders who have been complaining about the commercial and operational difficulties they faced in pulling a tender together. It also raises another embarrassing question which is: why is another assessment stage deemed necessary if everything is so hunky dory, and after the all the blatant spoon feeding and coaching of would be CRC contractors that the taxpayer has paid for? “And as Jim has suggested; “We know that the MoJ is determined that the share sale will go ahead, whatever, before the end of the year, because there is a political imperative. But we know Chris Grayling is between a rock and a hard place because so many bidders have dropped out and those remaining are driving a hard bargain, precisely because they know the electoral clock is ticking. They are ditching all that PbR nonsense and wanting a premium for taking on a poisoned chalice full of pissed-off staff. Basically, an MoJ employee was being instructed to revisit the scoring of potential bidders because the scores were not high enough.” So if the process is corrupt in the way that an additional stage been put in, scores been tampered with and bidders who quite frankly don’t cut the mustard are allowed to continue then there must be a claim from those who have spent literally millions to ask for some transparency in the process? If I was a bidder who believed I was going to win some lucrative contracts very soon because of the money that I had invested in sending staff out and writing bids, I would be mighty pissed off if I believed others were having their scores improved to maintain the competition – this could both cost more money and inflate the ultimate share sale cost surely!
ReplyDelete2/2 Now I am a simple person but I can see there is malpractice here, do they call it insider trading when stockbrokers gain an advantage through knowing what is coming up before others? What is it called in government, is it fraudulent to inflate a share sale price? Here is where there could be some linkage between the various parties in anti TR. We must try and stop the share sale as the first contributor suggested and this is how it could be accelerated, NAPO are aware of malpractice and they have also been in discussion with some of the bidders, is there a chance they could raise the matter with them or am I been naïve to think that the organisations are too focussed on the big prize to see what is going on? So perhaps Dean and Ian might want to take up the invitation that they have had to speak to bidders and highlight the dubious dealings of the MoJ and the cost to them, as well as us. Jim you have a role too in continuing to highlight the issues of poor procurement practice and not having a service that is fit to sell – remember the Sale of Goods Act? Surely anyone trying to sell what we have must surely be liable to prosecution on the grounds of “merchantable quality”!! Jointly we can all raise issue of government malpractice by talking/writing to our MP’s, PCC’s, Councillors to highlight that all may not be well in the TR house. Strong opponents of TR like Vera Baird will have something to tackle the ministers with. It is a quiet time in Government as the House is in recess and I am sure that is why we are seeing this happening now so the more noise made now may give the papers something to write about during this fallow month.
ReplyDeleteWon't that delay the share sale if there is more work to be done?
DeleteAll this and this is without the additional 50,000 serving under 12 months! If they were striving to push the probation Service into extinction-they are succeeding!
ReplyDeleteIf I were a bidder, I would also be furious if the requirements of the winning bid were different from those in the original specification because any changes would make a difference to the actual bid. More to the point, if I had pulled out because a financial package was unfavourable but it CHANGED before the bids were awarded, I would als scream blue murder. Also, any horse trading over areas with no bids (Wales?) would compromise the whole process further. I will be more surprised if this debacle is NOT challenged that if it is.
ReplyDeleteNo bids for Wales?? first I've heard of this, anyone know any more?
ReplyDeleteNow a man in the pub who is very knowledgeable about such things tells me that devious plans are underway to ban staff from speaking out against poor performance in their areas, this will be wrapped up in terms of it being 'damaging to apportioned value of the organisation' at a time when 'commercial confidentiality' is king.....man in the pub says that there would be little they could do about it if CRC staff asked their NPS colleagues to fly the flag on their behalf and vice versa......man in the pub says that this blogm is having an impact at the highest level and what's the first casualty in a war????
ReplyDeleteI also know a man in the pub and he says all areas have at least TWO bidders ......issue might be how good these bidders are?
ReplyDeleteIf they are tinkering with the process all areas now might have FOUR bidders by now!
I might suggest to the bloke in the pub that he gets these bidders to create merry hell 'cos they are been shafted like the staff (sheds crocodile tears for bidders!!).
Who said "buyer beware"......
MOJ/NOMS will divvy the areas up between bidders - you watch - each will have a similar number of areas so that no bidder is left empty handed. Talk about cooking the books.
ReplyDeleteThe skids need putting on this debarcle as soon as possible - because at the moment all staff are scoring Significant Problems' on their own oasys assessment for Emotional Wellbeing.
And suicidal thoughts. Sorry, make that murderous tendencies.
DeleteMost nights after work I now meet a man (and some women) in the pub. It's the only way we get through the day!!!
ReplyDeleteTeesside only have two bidders; Sodexo and ARRC. Frying pan and fire spring to mind. I must say that some of the problems that my colleagues appear to be having are much worse than in Teesside (although that is bad enough). Whilst my caseload (and PSR's) are unmanageable, it not by a great margin and I get to see my clients every week, albeit for 5 minutes in reception. I've stopped asking if they have any problems as I don't have the time to help them. Maybe this is the new way of working in the CRC, just signpost everyone to someone who can signpost them to another. Eventually they will just give up asking for help, offend, get locked up and Sodexo can get some more money from the Government who can deduct the £80 Victim Surcharge from their Discharge Grant.
In cloud cuckoo land, they can then be met at the gates by old lags who will take them to their fully furnished home, the landlords willing to accept benefits and rent of £50 pw.
It's all sorted chaps, just relax.
Does anyone know what happened to the concept of old lags meeting them at the gate? Please don't tell me that we were misled over this too :(
Uservoice are taking over the North West - they have all the answers apparently - WRONG!!!
DeleteHow can Uservoice, a service users group, run a service? That is Anomal Farm all over.
DeleteSounds like Grayling's employing an old market trader tactic - shiny, beautiful apples on display, but damaged, bruised fallers are loaded into the customer's bag:
ReplyDelete"Probayshun! Come and get yer luvverly Probayshun! Fresh from the Trusts, mind. Two for the price of one. Come on, darlin', you look like you could do wiv a bit of TR. Cash only. Come on, come round 'ere and we'll see what we can throw in for you (wink, wink)."
Excellent!
DeleteI feel so mean with clients. I was duty officer and somebody rang to ask if their boyfriend could report late so he could go & sign on or whatever, I agreed, she then went on to introduce herself as the victim and so began a 30min phonecall - I was the duty officer so the shutters came down - I do not have the time to listen to this - I curtailed the conversation; another person phoned that day - his sister was in custody and the family was struggling to visit due to the cost - again it was not one of my cases and again I cut him short - I simply don't have time to listen to these problems. don't get me wrong, i'm sympathetic to these people but I just don't have the time to get involved.
ReplyDeleteThis is the reality of the overworked CRC- no time to properly speak to people and having to pick and chose who gets your time and who doesn't. It's absolutely disgraceful.
One of the chief architects of privatising public services, and "best friend" of Francis Maude, has resigned.
ReplyDelete"The government’s chief operating officer Stephen Kelly has today announced he will leave the civil service in November to become the chief executive of business software firm Sage Group."
Good he should take his mates with him.
DeleteC'mon, see this for what it is...Mr Kelly can now help SAGE develop financial and IT packages for "providers of probation services" bet SAGE now step into this game (err sorry, probation) big time. Conflict of interests? Think we should all be writing to Ms Hodge about this one...it stinks...
DeleteA little gem from Civil Service World magazine. This is the opening paragraph:
ReplyDelete"For working lunches, I have so far devised two rules: turn up on time, and order a meal that’s easy to eat so you can concentrate on wowing diners with your conversational skills. Unfortunately, I broke both rules on a recent visit to Colosseo Restaurant, Victoria. I and two colleagues bumbled in 20 minutes after the others had arrived, the empty bread baskets a tell-tale sign that we’d delayed the arrival of food. This is always frowned upon, but especially so when your fellow diners might need to get back to the office in good time."
I'll just check how much lunch might be at The Colosseo in Victoria...
It seems its average for its pricing, but you'll be pleased to hear that:
Delete"Professionally, the meal was a success: Colosseo has the right mix of inoffensive décor, moderate prices and a wide selection of dishes, and conversation flowed despite the variable quality of the food. And personally, too, I was content. I might have found it embarrassing trying to sound expert on cultures of leadership in the civil service while hooking the meat from a tiny, prickly sea creature, but I came away with the idea for my new book. And that gives me the prospect of many more lunches with publishers at which to explore the fine balance between taste and dignity in the cultural minefield of working lunches."
Perhaps I should have opted for NPS after all?
Hang on, you might prefer Olivelli?
Delete"Indeed, on our last visit I so trusted the restaurant that I strayed from my usual order: the Caprina pizza, with goats cheese and rocket. A lifelong vegetarian, I scanned the menu for ‘V’ symbols – and, taken by the idea of “tomato infused with pecorino cheese, onions and breadcrumbs”, picked out the ‘Faccia da Vecchia’ pizza. Then we got stuck into a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo red: dry but refreshing, ripe and plummy, it was deliciously redolent of the warm sea breezes of its home on the Adriatic coast."
But then came a disaster at Moro:
Delete"Sadly, my meal fell down as soon as I started making decisions. I opted not to go for a glass of wine, although I clearly could have had a cheeky one at lunchtime. And I didn’t have a starter – something I now regret. The seared pigeon breast with garlic purée and watercress sounds sumptuous; the grilled rabbit also sounds great, as does the pinto bean, radish and tomato salad.
Yet while Moro has a sterling reputation, I found my main course a little disappointing. I plumped for wood-roasted pork with peppers, onions, oregano and pine nuts. The vegetables were delicious: fresh, moist, clean and eminently edible. The pork itself was also good, with fairly crispy crackling, but it seemed to lack something. The vibrancy of Exmouth Market was everywhere but on my plate."
Not one mention of Greggs, M&S sandwiches, crisps in your keyboard, cold coffee, indigestion...
I work near exmouth market. "Vibrancy" is estate agent speak for over-priced kak for sale amidst braying arseholes. Just so you know...
DeleteGreggs
DeleteM&S Sandwiches
Crisps in your keyboard
Are you spying on me :)
anyone else reading this and thinking PIGS IN THE (albeit posh) TROUGH? Ah me, Civil Service World, dontcha luvvit??
DeleteWhen in Victoria I've always favoured the Regency Cafe, just round the corner from Grenadier House. Featured in Layer Cake don't you know.
DeleteRules for working lunches. Is this what we have to look forward to as a Civil Serpent?
ReplyDeleteWould "38 Degrees" be interested in Probation now, as an example of the privatisation of the whole of the public sector? This blog makes interesting reading. Should we contact them again? I do it if others thought it may make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI found this 2010 interview with an unnamed PO in the civil service magazine. Apologies if it has been previously posted, but it is an interesting read with hindsight:
ReplyDelete"This week’s interviewee is a probation officer with nearly 30 years’ experience – both in the field, and as a trainer
“I qualified in the early ‘80s, and have trained probation officers ever since – most of the time while maintaining an offender caseload of my own. I’ve worked for many years in a medium-sized, ethnically-diverse English town; crime and deprivation are well below average, but like every town it has its poverty and social problems.
Probation officer training has changed dramatically over the years. When I began work we used to train alongside social workers, but since the late ‘90s we’ve run probation training in-house. Typically, at any one time I’m training and supporting five trainees; each works simultaneously on a caseload of offenders, regular training days, an NVQ and a two-year university degree. I observe their work, train them up, and assess them for their NVQ – sometimes I mentor them too – while taking responsibility for risk management of their caseload.
You could describe this training as a ‘Rolls-Royce’ model: it’s very thorough, with a lot of one-on-one support. But we’re now wrapping up the last cohort to be trained under that system: in future, rather than recruiting trainee probation officers, we’ll train serving ‘probation service officers’ (PSOs) – less qualified, lower-paid staff recruited in recent years to handle lower-risk offenders – up to probation officer level.
The idea has its strengths. For one thing, trainees will be experienced people who know what they’re getting into. What’s more, under the old system, PSOs who wanted to become probation officers had to apply for training, resign, and come back in as trainees on a lower salary; unfortunately, this year there weren’t enough jobs to go round, and some people qualified only to find themselves without work.
However, under the new system trainees will no longer be managed by dedicated, hands-on tutors like myself; instead, they’ll join regular staff under the management of senior probation officers, and be appraised on their NVQs by assessors. So they’ll get much less tutoring and support, and it’s difficult to know how the seniors – who are very stretched anyway – will manage.
Another major change came with the introduction of OASYS records for each offender. It’s a computer-based system shared with the prison service, which aims to ensure that each offender is the subject of a consistent form of risk analysis and assessment, and a risk management plan. This obviously has benefits, but each file has to be updated at least every 16 weeks and it’s a massive task: we have to complete every field, even if it’s not relevant, and it’s very time-consuming.
If we don’t update our OASYS files in time, we miss a target and that can impact on budgets. We’re being measured on the process rather than the results, and a lot of wasted effort goes into needlessly updating parts of these records. Obviously, all this paperwork reduces the amount of time we can spend working directly with offenders, and adds to the huge pressure that probation officers are put under. The fear is that, what with all the record-keeping, report-writing and target-monitoring paperwork, people won’t have time to get to know the offenders on their caseload, do proper assessments and watch for any warning signs that risk has been under-assessed. The staff are very committed and work long hours – but they often feel very beaten-down."
Contd...
Contd...
Delete"The merger with the prison service under the National Offender Management System hasn’t improved morale. There’s quite a feeling of distance between frontline staff and the probation service’s senior managers – it often seems that they don’t understand the pressures at the sharp end – and within NOMS, probation is very much the minority service. These two issues can lead to odd management decisions: for example, when looking at the completion rates for offenders attending programmes, NOMS doesn’t seem to take account of the fact that probation officers don’t have a captive audience! On the other hand, the creation of NOMS has improved communication between probation and prisons, and improved liaison on individual offenders.
That’s really important. When there are cases of people who’ve been on probation and have committed serious offences, the reports often show that the problem has been a lack of liaison between different agencies. And we now have dramatically better liaison with the police; they used to see us as the ‘other side’, but now there’s a lot of risk information being shared and even some cross-service teams. Liaison with social services can sometimes be a bit tricky, though – perhaps because they’re also overstretched.
All in all, nowadays risk is much more carefully assessed and managed than previously, but the OASYS system does reduce the time we can spend with offenders, and the monitoring processes are incredibly onerous. We put a vast amount of staff and management effort into demonstrating that we’re hitting the targets, rather than focusing on tackling offending behaviour. I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be targets; ultimately, though, the job shouldn’t just be about managing the risk that people will offend, but also about working with them to help them change their lives.”
Well spotted! We've not had that on here before.
DeleteAll this makes me wonder why they introduced TR, maybe they don't want such excellent staff, and will employ unqualified staff at a third of the cost. That's until they start looking at quality.
ReplyDeletePrison management have long resented the fact that it takes a lot long to train a Probation Officer than a Prison Officer. Personally, I think that is like complaining that it takes lo get to train a vet than it does a zoo keeper.
DeleteNo doubt a thought already expressed, but something that struck me recently... Most of the likely bid candidates are already suppliers of services the the UK govt. If they win the probation contracts, how does that affect the facilities management contracts? For example, will a bidder be allowed to rent a property from themselves, cleaned & serviced by themselves in a pre-existing contract? It beggars belief that such totalitarian control of government contracts, i.e. Public money, continues to be handed over to Tory chums running global monopolies when the EVIDENCE is clearly available that subsequent service provision is crap to non-existent; that staff are abused, deskilled, poorly paid and neglected; and that it actually costs many times more than when previously provided, but the lying cheating weasels use accountants and PR and bullying tactics to hide the truth.
ReplyDeleteI have written to the monopolies and mergers agency. I have written to my (useless and TR collusive) MP. I have written to Watchdog. I have written to the European Parliament. I have written to Radio 4 (today & wato).
I hope you get positive responses from them. Its frustrating when they don't listen and spout out nonsense colluding with the Government.
DeleteAccording to my mate who works for payback in London one of their staff got shot yesterday
ReplyDeleteThis is sad to hear, I hope they are okay. It also highlights that we are working with the most dangerous people in society, and TR is not even allowing us to manage risk. It is frightening and I hope we don't get more of these examples as a result of clients not being seen due to TR. Bidders beware, our client group is not the sick and elderly, they are a complex and dangerous group of people who don't give a toss about your results and payment, if they want to offend they will.
Deleteit's very intersting to read how different this mess is depending where you are. I'm sat here in the North East, a long standing PO, now in a CRC, with 28 cases!! My colleagues, numerous of us, are in the same boat. Hey I'm enjoying a hard earned rest and doing lots of 1:1 work with my clients but I am fully aware that redundancy is the only future likely to be coming my way. My NPS colleagues locally are however in a different world. 70 -80 cases and PSR's, the most miserable bunch who are hanging on by fingernails and quite frankly, some ready to walk.I wouldnt work for the NPS here for a million quid! Perhaps some of them shouldnt have verbally lorded it over those of us in the CRC when the split came out. I really dont have any sympathy anymore. We've been split less than 3 months and ppl who had lunch together can barely speak civilly to each other so Mr Grayling's assertion that we would all be sat together, able to discuss and action risk escalations etc etc in seconds is, as we all knew, just ridiculous. Risk management is now second to process and staff self preservation.What a disgrace!
ReplyDeleteFinally, any chance the govt will give me a a ready made company funded by public money, time and other resources?? It's better than any enteprise scheme I've ever seen. Then again, I'm not in the Old Boys Club! The tax payer has no idea whose pockets their money is lining.
I heard that they have an appointed ACO to referree the CRC/NPS relationship in the North East - and they are overworked!
ReplyDeleteI'm also CRC in Northumbria sitting comfortably on 31 cases with an SPO trying to find work for us. PO's here are managing Tier 1's while our former colleagues and friends in NPS are run ragged.
DeleteWow. I'm CRC and I've got 57 cases.
DeleteI have to say it, despite this unprecedented national snapshot being presented, it would be very wrong to suggest these problems commenced on 1st June 2014, as in many areas probation was understaffed, overworked, badly managed and subject to ministerial abuse for many years.
ReplyDeleteI've been a probation officer for many years and there's always been problems resulting from too much work, high caseloads, too little pay, shoddy IT systems, staffing shortages and not enough recognition of what probation actually does. We're not the only public sector organisation with these problems either.
We've always moaned and complained, and it's never really improved, but to be honest my caseload is now slightly less than it was pre-TR and I'm now able to pick of sessional work and overtime to boot. The buck may stop with directors and Grayling, but it starts with each probation employee and their line manager or SPO. How many here have taken their complaints to the SPO/manager, handed the work back, agreed what can't be done, and demanded to know what that manager/SPO will be presenting to a director so the very same work doesn't return to the said employee or their colleague, or do they just leave anonymous blog comments? Maybe that's all they can do, I do get it, but where's the stories of the CRC and NPS teams that are working well, let's hear why it's working for them.
I don't intend to sound negative but we know this omnishambles is ongoing but in the meantime lets not undermine the good work and perseverance of the many probation employees that are still getting the job done, and as a result there many offenders still benefiting from probation input, I dread what they must think if they read this blog. It's about time to put out stories of where probation is working, a more balanced view, even amidst the difficulties of TR. Failure to do this will only play into the hands of those wanting to disband probation altogether, and here we have a probation blog full of posts and testimonies from probation staff that probation is not working.
Jim you've got your one million hits, now be a bit more responsible. How about a few positive probation posts!
"It's about time to put out stories of where probation is working, a more balanced view, even amidst the difficulties of TR."
DeleteI'm not the BBC, we're in a battle for survival and I'm publishing what I see and hear. Your blog, the Probation Institute and other sites may well be rather better placed and informed than me of where things are working well.