Monday 9 February 2015

Pleasing Everyone

I was particularly struck by this comment the other day:-

"What has happened to this blog? It used to be worthwhile."

It's an interesting point because the blog is constantly changing and we all know you can't please all of the people, all of the time. The readership has changed considerably, having probably lost the magistrates and police from the early days, but we've gained some clients and senior management in more recent times. It may have begun as one disgruntled Probation Officers' ramblings, but it's now much more a collaborative exercise. 

The campaigning phase has past and practitioners of all ages and experience are now having to wrestle with the daily reality that TR has created and how best to respond to it. I have no idea where the blog will go next, but that in itself perfectly reflects the situation we find ourselves in.

What's truly remarkable is that none of us have a bloody clue what's going to happen and that includes the MoJ and the new CRC owners, who are busily 'getting to know' what we do and how we do it. Scary isn't it? Some would say no way to run a country, but in theory we can change that on May 7th. In the meantime, I wanted to highlight a few recent contributions that grabbed my attention and I think are worthy of highlighting:-        

"I joined the service through an interest in people who committed offences. Always there has been the question, what brought this person to this place? I too am surprised the guest blogger 5/2 had not been asked this question. I never expected I would stay in probation so long, especially when everything was becoming more punitive. I was aware of some officers who misused the power they had. I somewhat arrogantly thought, well if they (the clients) get me at least they wont have to deal with them! I saw my role as helping to ‘even’ up the scales which seemed to weigh heavily against most of the people (clients) I worked with. 

Well, I’m still around some 30 years later. I’ve learned a lot and am still learning but haven’t had to compromise my style as much as I thought. Despite all of the changes I still work in largely the same way. I still enjoy getting to know the people I work with, I consider it an absolute privilege that they are ready to share personal aspects of their life with me. I don’t worry too much that I’m not ‘protecting the public and victims’ because I feel I am by doing what I do. 

My point is that if you are a probation officer interested in people and work in this way and have a bit of political nous, you can't just switch off and stop doing it, even when faced with negative changes and pressures. People adapt and work surreptitiously if need be in their own way. We can make even a quick meeting a respectful and human interaction to ensure the recipient doesn’t have to feel worse than they do already. 

I’m not saying abuses don’t exist, and I know that the ‘standardised‘ job application process doesn’t weed out the dodgy ones as long as they can ‘talk the talk’. Often such people ‘talk’ their way into management roles also (as they don’t really like working with the client group) and we end up with managers who worry mostly about their own career development rather than sticking their necks out. (I think you have to take a few risks to manage risk in my view). I think also there has been a gradual decrease in aiming to appoint people with experience and the ability to question and think which might have enabled even more poorly equipped ones to slip through. 

I do not agree that the processes are intrinsically abusive but we do need people to think about the potential for abuses of power and I think it is still within our gift to choose not to make them so. If you believe that engaging with and forming a relationship with people trumps robotically trotting out the latest ‘worksheet’, then who is to say you cant ditch the sheet for today? (Who would know?).

I currently work alongside other officers of different ages who have trained at different times all with different backgrounds and lengths of service. I’ve also worked with trainees. Most of these would say they came into the job through an interest in people just as I did. When I listen to my current colleagues conversations it is clear that they are interested and engaged with the people they work with. I see them applying for charity grants, thrilled when they come through on behalf of their clients. I see them carefully weighing up the issues when writing parole reports or considering recall, I see them genuinely pleased when things go right in their clients lives. I hear them patiently dealing with abusive stressed clients on telephones. I see them going to clients funerals or visiting them in hospital. In turn they learn things about them that no one else would know. 

This work may not be valued by NOMs - most of it is well below the radar - but it takes great skill, sensitivity and commitment to work with some of the most damaged people in society. It has always been hard and has never been perfect, but the TR and privatisation agenda has made every single part of the job harder and will in my view make it easier for the abuses to slip by."

*****
"This is a good blog, with some insightful comments. However, I'd ask those that blame the new CRC owners for the situation to consider this; whilst the Sodexos of this world are bound to make staff reductions, this is by design, and the design is that of the MoJ. They have been asked to find a way to deliver more for less. They have responded, and their staff models, their approach to reducing reoffending, and the way they will deliver against the Target Operating Model have been assessed by MoJ procurement staff. The results have been signed off by Ministers of the Crown. The private companies are doing exactly what they are expected to do. 

And as for making a profit, there is risk in these contracts. This has never been done before. Stories abound of IT failures. No private company is going to approach risk without a hope of reward. You may question whether the MoJ was right to proceed with TR but that was not the private companies' doing. I hope the outcome (and that's not a dirty word) for offenders and the wider community is a positive one, it's not certain right now but I know for sure it's not even likely if people don't put the things they can't change behind them and get on with the job. I'm sure this comment won't be met with a great deal of joy, but I hope that people at least consider the situation with a bit of perspective."

******
"This is the point when all we have warned about on this blog will come to pass in tangible, demonstrable ways. Probation staff and managers face excessive challenges to try to deliver probation services including:
a) interface across the divide eg case allocation, risk escalation and appropriate information sharing
b) implementing differential supervision to service users due to the changes in ORA, in effect having two streams of supervision
c) keeping the service users informed so that they understand the requirement of their individual sentence and ensuring they are supervised accordingly
d) data protection issues - protecting the confidentiality of the service user balancing the need to know and rights under data protection legislation 
e) victim liaison - the province of NPS but with obligations to CRC cases and the data protection issues that could arise 
f) the capacity for disputes to arise between NPS and CRC as it is evident the CRCs now gaining autonomy will rightly challenge what is seen at times to be imperious decision making by NPS
g) performance against targets and income deriving from this, the pressure officers will be under to demonstrate performance rather than individual attainment for each service user
h) the change process gathering speed without allowing "bedding in time" so instead of building on a firm base consolidating learning, practitioners are disorientated by piecemeal processes 
i) changes to working practice and job descriptions with unions and management losing sight of rights and responsibilities. For example, NPS being very confused about HR processes and which policies apply. We are seeing examples where civil service HR partners do not understand the terms and conditions of probation that carried forward and have given incorrect guidance. 
There is a very real risk that by operating in the vacuum caused by insufficient/non existing training, practice will develop differentially based on "best guess" rather than knowledge. I do not refer to the different organisations that now exist, although that is a known TR issue, rather taking the Case Allocation tool as an example it was evident that areas within NPS, one national body now remember, implemented this differentially. A hastily arranged audit had to be undertaken to try to resolve this but it amply demonstrates my point about practice developing in a vacuum. There were many cases allocated incorrectly as a result.

Sorry if my post looks like a guest blog, but these are utterly confusing times and I would urge all staff to keep a personal diary alongside your work diary and makes notes to keep yourself safe in the blame climate that will start to emerge in response. Naturally NOMS will refer to this as accountability, but we know they mean blame."


(Guest blogs always welcome - Ed)

29 comments:

  1. A thought provoking post today putting forward some well reasoned points for everyone both staff and clients to think about. The impact on everyone involved in this Grayling inspired mess will only become evident in the weeks and months to come. I can only hope that the new regime will ultimately work though I'm not holding out much hope that it will be beneficial for everyone involved and that things won't go horribly wrong at some point

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  2. Today, I was reunited with a colleague who had been asked to temporarily cover another office due to staff sickness. He described seeing a case whom reception staff confirmed had been attending but not a single entry on delius since June, many had not been contacted so supervision has ceased altogether with no breaches possible just a hasty catch up game " come in and all will be forgiven", and overall a picture of real deterioration. Fortunately no SFOs so management are writing the experience off but does the MOJ know what is going on? How could they find out? It has all been covered up. I would add that this was one of the top performing trusts.It is beyond sad....

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    1. I have inherited cases off temps and literally had to start from scratch. It's a nightmare.

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    2. No Delius entries since June isn't that remarkable. I used to do form 20 monitoring. That is to say that any order or requirement that wasn't commenced or terminated on time, triggered an alert and the team or OM would be contacted. It also used to highlight examples like yours where no contacts at all were entered. I used to copy any email contact into the contact log and they would build up month on month, completely disregarded (usual suspects every time) to the point that management told me to, er, desist from logging them as it would 'look bad' if there was an SFO or subject access application. One of the excuses offered by OMs was that they needed to put aside a day to 'catch up' on Delius, or Crams in days of yore. Which begged the question of why SPOs used to let them not bother with any recording, when they too were made aware. Believe me, no records since June wouldn't make it into my all-time top 10. Tony.

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  3. Very true, you cannot please everyone and 'worthwhile' is always a matter of opinion. Those who struggled against TR no feel a sense of failure; the majority of the workforce, though, have been spared that experience, as they stood by idly. Maybe in its fashion TR will deliver whatever. But old probation had become mean managerialism. Not much to mourn. The Trusts did a great job greasing all the new machinery.

    The only thing worth struggling for is a decent wage packet which will become more difficult as collective bargaining unravels despite what was agreed. The latest piece on pay in Napo News by Dean Rogers drones on about an Ice Age and the need for a conversation about pay. Instead of fighting rhetoric, Napo writes about bland analogies that promise glacial progress on pay and conditions.

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  4. One week in and the wheels are falling off the wagon. What used to be straightforward is now complicated or not done. Oh what a mess!

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  5. no more designated admin - all now pooled in the same room around the same desk circa 1990; you couldn't make it up!!

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    1. i had that when i first started in 2000, makes massive us and them and disengages admin more from involvement in the cases. It didnt work then, unlikely to work now.

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    2. when will managers learn that 'if it aint broke don't fix it'. Its quite hilarious watching them make what they perceive ground breaking decisions - as for them and us i'm glad to be shut of them as our admin think they run the whole service, one in particular is hyperventilating at having to share a room with her colleagues lmfao

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  6. It appears that serious issues are already emerging around that most basic function, the service users actually reporting for supervision, although some clearly are reporting but not recorded whereas others are simply not being sent appointments or followed up. God knows what quality of work is being delivered. However, this is now a financial issue in the probation for profit companies, they do after all get paid for the supervision of service users. My point? This is already dangerously close to fraud [an act of deception for financial gain] or, if income is gained from any such case, IS FRAUD.
    These contracts are now up and running and the businesses concerned have responsibility to ensure they operate them honestly. I strongly advise all colleagues to keep your own records in a personal diary to protect yourself, when you tell a manager you must record who and when.

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    1. if they investigated staff for Delius entries and instigated fraud proceedings they'd lose half the workforce. On the brightside they'd save a few bob so who knows

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    2. They can do whatever they like really, after all, theres not even a HMIP to watch over it anymore.

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    3. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

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    4. wow aren't we a cultured lot? Juvenal no less....MOJ should not have underestimated us....

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  7. Ditto re 18.22 Admin will all be under one roof in our area. Looks like lot of offices will close as a result.

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    1. Be greatful it's 'under one roof in YOUR area'. It could be off shored, and the commute to Delhi every morning would soon become a pain in the arse..

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  8. Off on a tangent - lets hope Margaret Hodge uncovers Cameron's £millions stashed in Geneva via HSBC. That would explain his eagerness to give Green a Peerage & distance him from HSBC asap.

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    1. Anyone got a tux & a white tie? Fancy a meal at The Grosvenor? You might end up sharing a finger bowl with Dave, his cabinet chums & 400 other un-named, disgustingly wealthy chaps. Maybe Lord Green too?

      Taking the piss doesn't even begin to describe the situation or the contempt those fuckers have for this country & the electorate.

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    2. Do you mean things like bringing in a bedroom tax which disproportionality affects poor people whilst refusing to bring in a mansion tax which will mainly affect the rich.
      Stuff like that?
      I hate these six toed, inbred, born to rule pony fuckers with every fibre of my being and not only hope they are shown the door in May but are then strung up from the lampposts lining Wastemonster!

      Viva la' revolucion!!!!!

      *climbs down from soap-box*

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  9. Whats this im reading

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2944285/Red-No-Day-Comic-Relief-cancels-100k-grant-anti-stalking-body-MoS-expose-controversial-boss-sees-five-caseworkers-walk-out.html?login#readerCommentsCommand-message-field

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    1. Last week, The Mail on Sunday reported how Ms Richards, 39, had alleged to police that Harry Fletcher – a 68-year-old fellow architect of anti-stalking legislation and a co-founder of Paladin – had stalked her. He strongly denies the allegation. Mr Fletcher, former assistant general secretary of Napo, the probation officers' union, successfully campaigned alongside Ms Richards for a change in the law on stalking in 2012, and the following year they launched Paladin.

      The new service was awarded large grants from charities, including Comic Relief, which last year pledged £148,000 over three years. But on Friday, Comic Relief said the remainder of its funding, totalling £99,334, was being 'suspended' – an unusual step for the Red Nose Day charity, which raises millions through its annual BBC telethon and other activities.

      It said: 'As a result of some issues raised by changes within the organisation that have been brought to our attention we have suspended the grant while we investigate further.' Comic Relief said the money destined for Paladin was channelled through domestic violence charity Safer Places, of which Paladin is a subsidiary. Ms Richards, whose salary as Paladin's chief executive is believed to be about £30,000 for a two-day week, set up the London-based organisation to deal with 'high-risk victims of stalking' in England and Wales.

      She charges up to £1,000 a day for private training work and speaking engagements with police forces and other organisations.
      Paul Infield, chairman of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, said yesterday: 'We have stopped referring clients to Paladin because they didn't appear to us to have capacity. We were referring people and they weren't being picked up. 'I know they lost almost all of their staff. We are concerned about what's been happening recently – the loss of their staff, some of whom were very good, does concern us.

      'And the situation – to use a neutral word – between Laura and Harry – concerns everyone within the anti-stalking movement.'
      Mr Fletcher resigned from Paladin in late 2013. In May 2014, Ms Richards went to police and alleged that he had stalked her – an accusation he categorically denies. Ms Richards told The Mail on Sunday that Mr Fletcher, who is married with children, was 'obsessed' with her and stalked her when she spurned his advances. She said she felt violated as a result.

      Mr Fletcher, who voluntarily made a statement to police last November, said: 'I completely and utterly deny these allegations and have fully co-operated with the police. I look forward to their inquiry reaching its conclusion.'

      In a statement, Paladin said: 'The safety of our clients and the high quality of our specialist stalking service has always been of paramount importance and we are continuing to build a strong team of experienced staff and management. Our service is being independently evaluated by a leading academic institution.
      'We are taking legal advice regarding allegations made against our CEO and in respect of our service. There is also an ongoing police investigation and it would not be appropriate to comment further.'

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  10. I hate to say it but the quality of work that I undertake with the majority of my Clients could very easily be done by a Temp for a fraction of the salary I'm currently on...

    Thank heavens I have other irons in the fire...

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  11. Hi Jim. I am in a Sodexho CRC and I have heard the new owners have invited all the CEO's to a slap up day out at Royal Ascot Races in the next few days . I think this is appalling as we have our jobs under threat and they are on a beano.

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    1. Well Ascot is not until June, so plenty of time to find out a bit more of the Sodexo business plan.

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    2. They still won't admit they've backed the wrong horse...

      Sorry, its poor, I admit. Even for me.

      Tony

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  12. http://www.sodexoprestige.co.uk/Ascot-Racecourse-announces-Sodexo-as-catering-partner/

    A sign of the future perhaps its work experience!!

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    1. Following a competitive tender process, Sodexo Prestige is today announced as preferred lead caterer for the racecourse, initially for a five year period.

      Both parties will now enter a period of exclusive detailed negotiations relating to a new partnership arrangement, which will see a move from the conventional concession based model to a joint venture.

      Charles Barnett, Chief Executive at Ascot, said: “Sodexo has been providing catering services at Ascot since 1998 and in spite of impressive bids from other competitors, has demonstrated that it remains best equipped to provide the unique quality and range of catering expected by visitors to Ascot.

      “I would like to thank Chris John, David Johnson and all the Sodexo team for everything they have done in the past. We are very excited about working with them in this new long term joint venture.”

      Chris John, Managing Director, Sodexo Prestige UK & Ireland, said: “Winning a contract of this scale with one of the world’s most prestigious sporting venues is incredibly exciting for me and the whole team. We are delighted to be entering into a new era of partnership and innovation with Charles and his team at Ascot Racecourse.”

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    2. As alluded to above, Ascot becomes 'Royal' Ascot for a few days in the summer, when the Royals parade in their horse carriages along the home straight. I will wager any odds that Liz and Phil will have about as much chance of sampling the Sodexo buffet as I have of riding the winner of The Coronation Stakes.

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  13. Can I interest you in a chicken in a basket? All chickens from battery hens as we are committed to keeping costs down!

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