Omnishambles Update 70

Many thanks to the reader for sending me the following exchanges copied from 'Compass' the in-house magazine for Cheshire and Greater Manchester CRC:-   

CGM in the media

This was a very recent article in the Warrington Guardian. What are your thoughts on the article? It has high-lighted some concerns around peoples opinions on PSO's and the amount of agency staff in all LDU's. Are senior management happy with the number of agency staff we currently have in all LDU's?

The article published last week:

THE community in Warrington is being put at risk as criminals are being managed by unqualified staff, according to a Probation Service union boss. Kevin McIntyre, Cheshire secretary for probation staff union Napo, claims government changes to the service have resulted in some offenders being badly supervised, including those who could be likely to re-offend. He said the problems have stemmed from splitting the Probation Service into two sections.

The National Probation Service deals with high risk cases, but lower risk cases, like domestic violence, are handled by the Community Rehabilitation Company. “The CRC’s main task is to supervise low to medium risk cases, the majority of these being domestic violence cases which experience shows regularly re-offend,” said Mr McIntyre. “Many such cases are being supervised by inexperienced, unqualified staff. “Staff morale in the Probation Service is at an all time low since the reorganisation. “Despite statements to the contrary by the Ministry of Justice, the system is in chaos and staff are struggling to cope with the practicalities of making the new arrangements work while at the same time dealing with a time consuming and cumbersome case allocation process, disproportionately high workloads and inadequate IT systems. “All these factors are putting staff under extreme stress as well as jeopardising service delivery and putting the public at risk of harm.”

Napo also criticised the amount of agency staff in use at the CRC. Reports that can decide how a criminal is managed after leaving prison are being completed by staff with ‘little knowledge’ of cases, it said. Napo also claimed more public money is being spent than on the old probation service.

Justice Minister Andrew Selous said: "Each year more than half a million crimes are committed by those who have broken the law before and 50,000 of the most prolific offenders are released totally unsupervised and free to go back to their criminal ways. "Our reforms will finally address this unacceptable issue. "All offenders under supervision, including those convicted of domestic violence, continue to be managed by trained and experienced probation staff."

Warrington North MP Helen Jones said she will meet with Napo to discuss concerns in Warrington.  

Chris Noah 2nd September 2014 13:17

Thank you for your question. I am aware of the article and was disappointed by the comments made in it. I would like to give you a full response to the points you made and will do so on the follow up forum which will be put up on Compass later today.

Chris Noah 2nd September 2014 15:23

As promised, here’s the fuller answer for you with regard to the question you asked in the Live Webchat.

I am aware of the Warrington Guardian article and was very disappointed by the comments made about colleagues who are doing an excellent job and working hard to manage cases effectively. Approximately 25-30% of our workload involves domestic abuse and we have included consideration of this in our training plan and service design.

All our PSOs have received domestic abuse training and will have additional briefing and support when supervising such cases. Whilst some of our staff are inexperienced, we are providing the necessary training and support, and, actually, the majority of our staff are well trained, skilled and experienced. I would like to introduce more stability into the workforce and we are looking at the number of temporary staff we have. I am keen that we do not increase the risk to permanent staff though (as per Louise’s question about redundancy), so this is a careful balance.

As you know from the blog, I am well aware of the IT issues, unfortunately many are out of our control and I do appreciate the pressure that slow ‘clunky’ IT places on staff.

In relation to the Warrington Guardian article, we will be inviting them to hear about our work and promoting some of the many ‘good news’ stories of effective work with offenders at the Warrington Office. We will also be seeking to meet with Helen Jones MP to discuss the work of CGM CRC and some of the real issues (such as IT) to be addressed.

We have already engaged with the Warrington Guardian recently in that they ran with a story we gave them about the success of the Support4Change project and its award from the Howard League for Penal Reform. This is just one example of the good news stories we shall continue to feed through to Cheshire media, including, of course, the Warrington Guardian, to highlight the great work of our staff.

2nd September 2014 12:52

CGM CRC in a year
The Moderator

The following question has been submitted by email for the live webchat - Where do you see the company this time next year?

Chris Noah 2nd September 2014 12:53

I would expect to see us working hard to achieve our mission, vision and values and achieving strong results. Our vision to deliver world class offender rehabilitation across Cheshire and Greater Manchester should be at the heart of everything we do. I would expect our performance which is already good, even in the current climate of change, to strengthen, particularly with the work we are doing to align programmes and operations across Cheshire and Greater Manchester to create a more efficient, effective and streamlined model for working with offenders. Our service redesign plans, too, are designed also to strengthen and improve our performance across the LDUs.

End State Realisation
Chris 2nd September 2014 13:07

In your last blog you made reference to the above and that the CRC and the NPS will be operating independently as of the 1st of November. I question whether such is an aspirational rather than a realistic target, especially given the problems that still remain with ICT and that as yet the NPS have not filled operational vacancies. Indeed in your blog you made reference to the CRC undertaking breach work (an NPS responsibility) as an interim measure. This further example just seems to affirm further that the `bailing' out of the NPS will continue, due to the whole TR programme being ill conceived and hastily implemented. Your views please?

Chris Noah 2nd September 2014 13:12 

Thanks for your question.

I agree that it will be a significant task for the NPS to put in the place the arrangements they need to be a self reliant organisation. We will continue to support our colleagues within the NPS during this transition to ensure that the whole system works as well as it can and that public protection is maintained. We are setting up a project to manage end of state realisation and I will keep everyone up-to date via the blog.

There have been some fascinating exchanges over on the Probation Graduate Diploma Facebook pages as young enthusiastic applicants discuss the delays in finding out if they've got a place or not:-

Thank you all for your patience. As an update, the results of the campaign to recruit PQF learners will be sent out this week and all applicants will receive an individual e-mail giving them their result. 300 places will be offered to start on October 20th 2014 and in addition to this, some additional places will be offered for a January 2015 start. Applicants who receive an offer will be asked to complete security vetting applications immediately to ensure that they can start on time.

I know I'm old and grumpy, but there's something really sad about the naivety of this bunch of prospective new recruits. They clearly have no idea as to the scale and scope of the omnishambles to which they aspire. There's been some attempt to enlighten them:-

Prior to TR I would have wished you all the best, welcomed you with open arms and mentored you. Post TR, you are walking into the worst profession in the public sector with the lowest levels of morale ever and resentment among CRC toward you new trainees who are effectively leapfrogging experienced, highly professional and well regarded Probation Officers who have been totally shafted by this Government. There is no job security, there is no job satisfaction, there is very little opportunity to make a difference and there is no joy or pride in this profession. Go in if you want but do it with your eyes wide open and be prepared for enormous amounts of stress and a highly stressed workforce with no time or energy to help you.

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I think that the NPS need to review their recruitment process quite frankly. I have worked for probation for many years, I have been allocated to NPS and didn't hit the criteria to get through to the Interviews. I actually did the job of a PSO. The whole point of the split in the first place was for the government to save money. Quite obviously it would save even more money to invest in the staff that you have already got who have got the experience of working for probation and what it entails. Taking on University graduates is all fine and well, everybody deserves the chance to get into the world of work but to take on over the already experienced staff that have worked immensely hard for the service over the years, is quite frankly ridiculous and does not 'make best use of public money'!!! Very disappointed..."

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It is sad to hear people initially happy at having passed the process but then dismayed at the lack of subsequent information. Unfortunately, working for Probation this is something they will need to get used to - look at the poor woman who'd over 20yrs service and been diagnosed with terminal cancer and is still waiting since 2nd June for her ill-health retirement money. 

Many of the applicants appear to be young and just happy to get on the career ladder but do they really realise just what a tall task they have in front of them? In 12 months time they will be solely responsible for a caseload comprising of high-risk offenders? Just one thing to bear in mind. There is no guarantee of a probation officer post at the end of this training, posts available will be subject to how many staff have left and so if there are 5 posts but 9 people have passed the training then 4 people will be disappointed. 

In addition I know in my area you also, having passed or not, have to go through an interview process - you don't just pass the course and then get a job!! If this where to happen it could be possible that you would be offered a PSO role the starting salary of which is approx £21k, considerably lower than a PO starting salary.

Finally, the geographical area of some of the areas is vast - somebody tweeted this week that there area is 2000 Sqm. If you don't drive I would strongly advise you start taking lessons as in my area home visits are strongly encouraged and public transport is dire.

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I would say that as existing staff we do not have a gripe with 'outsiders'. The issue is that we have many experienced, colleagues who as they don't have degree are now excluded from applying for PO training and many other of our PO colleagues who were sifted into CRC and can no longer do a lot of the job that they trained for. It's not so much these new applicants we resent, it's the MoJ for doing all this.

I try to keep up, but I was completely unaware of this:-

Coming Soon: The privatised sick note service that will email you back to work

In two months time the traditional doctor’s note excusing you from work will start to cease being valid if you are still sick after four weeks. Just before Parliament went into the summer recess welfare reform minister, Lord Freud, announced that a US multinational company,Maximus, which also operates in Canada and Saudi Arabia will take over running the new Health and Work Service for England and Wales.

My report in this week’s Tribune reveals that up to one million people will be affected by the change which appears to be aimed to save the government money. Maximus runs call centres, occupational health programmes, child support and job seekers programmes abroad and in the United Kingdom. The programme is to be rolled out from November to next May aims to save up to £165 million a year by getting people back to work faster as part of Lord Freud’s welfare reforms.

The Scottish government has declined to contract out the work to the private firm and will keep the assessment programme as part of the public service. More worryingly it appears that the private company which will make the decision will not see anyone – and create a Return to Work programme via a call centre telephone interview and a decision by email. The package is supposed to be agreed between the sick person and the private company and sent to both the individual and their employer. Failure to co-operate with the service will mean the individual will lose their sick pay.

Lord Freud is quoted in a DWP press release emphasising how the scheme will improve economic productivity and get people back to work faster. He says:”Providing support where it’s needed most will help to reduce the length of time employees take off sick which, in turn, will cut sick pay costs, improve economic output and reduce the chances of people falling out of work and having to claim benefits.“

After the cruel and nasty system that forced disabled people to find work or lose benefits run by the French company, ATOS, I have a suspicion that this new system could push the sick back to work before they are ready. While ATOS did this by personal interviews and tests, Maximus look like putting the sick back to work without examining them to see they are fit and well. No doubt the government will see it as another way to tackle the workshy. But even employers’ advisers are sceptical about this. This new development needs watching.