Sunday 19 April 2015

Bleak Futures Week 16

Aside from the 'poison pill' clauses in the 10-year contracts which would incur penalties of £3-400m payable to the contractor for cancellation, there is no political will in the Labour Party to end the contracts early.

At a Progress conference in May last year, Lord Wood, a Miliband aide, said "more imagination" was required to improve public services when there was little spare money. He said politicians should not "fight ideological battles" over public sector services and there was a role for private companies.

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Probation staff might be interested in how the Prison Service is getting on with their annual pay review. Up to 5% for some staff. I have no objection to rising wages, but it seems we are playing Cinderella....again!

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I love the notion that prisoners' property can be confiscated on the governor's say-so, then sold and the proceeds given to Nacro. Maybe the payment formula for Sodexo's bed-fellows isn't that lucrative after all? Oh, hang on, might there be a case for Nacro being charged with receiving stolen goods if the prisoner wins their appeal? Or a conflict of interest, seeing as Nacro is now a private sector provider for the MoJ, who run the prisons yet is being handed the profits from a rather dodgy prison policy?

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It is a pity that the prisons cannot use all this energy and effort being spent on obsessive and overweening security and convert it into rehabilitative actions.

The use of a telephone in prison should not have a profit element. It has long been recognised that maintaining family and community ties assists in successful resettlement's. The language of 'privileges' towards what should be seen as necessities and the commonplace accoutrement's of life in the 21st century, really harks back to the 19th century when prisoners were virtually in solitary confinement from each other, when even conversations were forbidden and daily conditions were punitive and vengeful, and the only reading material was the bible.

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Am hearing stories regarding the training of TTG staff employed by some of these legendary VCS providers. Originally they were talking about 5 days training but this has apparently been reduced to 1. When the CRC trainers presented them with the list of things the training needed to contain, said providers balked at the depth and detail. They didn't realise how complicated it all was. Oops!!

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TTG in our area are training staff going into these positions for 6 full days. Not sure what other areas are training prison TTG staff but to only train staff for a day!!!! Some CRC's are standing up to their new providers and not letting them dictate to us and surprisingly they are actually allowing us to do this. Might not seem much, but the power balance is not all in their favour.

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TTG staff in a northern town are being trained to deliver programmes, with schedules already being drawn up for them to work alongside CRC PO & PSO staff.

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A woman arrived at the office this week accompanied by a CRC staff member. Apparently (again this is rumour and may not be totally accurate) she was from a US based "professional services firm" (one of the supposed big four) who, among other services, assess enterprise risk. Her company had been commissioned by the CRC, who shall remain nameless, to report back on the workings of the company in the brave new world. It was suggested that at the bidding stage, the Govt had not been fully up front about the complexities of what the CRC's were taking on and this one had bitten off more than it could chew. Now if this is true, I don't know how big business works, but would it have been wise to have employed said professional services firm before making the bid or did the Govt block this?

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We've been managing fine but are now beginning to creak under the volume of new cases. Not heard anything from our new owners PF - even their twitterfeed has stalled. Hand the poison chalice back I say!!

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It seems that a lot of Sodexo/Nacro staff are holding out for enhanced voluntary redundancy. I just don't know if they are going to get it. Even without it, nobody wants the NPS jobs out there, people have had enough and want out completely.

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A lot of Sodexo/Nacro staff ARE wanting out. And with the double-whammy bullshit of (1) being shafted to CRC in the first instance & (2) losing any chance of carrying T&C's across post 1 Feb'15, then why would they want to join NPS?

In our CRC office of 10 POs & 10 PSOs (Fte), 8 POs & 5 PSOs want out. And they are prepared to fight for it. No-one wants to be associated with the crass corporate shite. Those prepared to stay are either (a) financially hamstrung or (b) relatively new to the role, have no sadness about the historical stuff and are okay with simply being employed. Other CRCs must be in similar positions with staff?

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Yes. My CRC is similarly full of people who have no confidence in the operating model and are just waiting to see if they can get a package to ease their departure.

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It's all gone very, very quiet - lull before the storm? CRC mgmt have gone to ground; promised visits by CRC owners abandoned/postponed; middle managers' doors remain firmly shut; allocations by email only, no discussion.

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Cumbria & Lancs have effectively given notice of redundancies with consultations kicking off by end April/start of May. No doubt full email will be available to JB. (Not yet). Level of severance pay not available.

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Cumbria & Lancs, like BeNCH, have notified office managers and other corporate service staff of their imminent demise. Some grumbles have drifted down from up in Cumbria, saying that the Sodexo plan is to focus all admin in & around Salford (where they have an expensive fancy-pants IT centre in Media City) & Lancs, leaving Cumbrian staff high & dry. Who fancies commuting from Carlisle to Salford or Preston?

Still no news about how much redundancy payments will be. Rumours in our local boozer are that Sodexo (no other names mentioned as yet) are "Raging" & putting pressure on MoJ staff over the their claim that enhanced payments were NOT on the table for anyone post 1st Feb 2015, i.e. their modern 'clearances' program.

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Everything about TR is flawed massively. CRC CEOs are doing their best to minimise political embarrassment to remain in favour with NOMs and damage to operational staff is irrelevant.

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The robber barons have fallen out over the spoils. It's the oldest story in the book.

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Front line PSOs in Wales CRC being seconded to prison for TTG ready for 1st May. Who will take on their caseload?

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I thought CRC Staff wouldn't be working with high risk offenders?

'Dear Colleagues,

Delivery of Resettlement Services.
Earlier this week we wrote to you to explain how Wales Community Rehabilitation are preparing for the delivery of resettlement services for offenders from May 1st 2015. Under the new service, which forms part of our Through The Gate (TTG) plan, all offenders, including those with a prison sentence of 12 months or under, will be provided with support to address their resettlement needs prior to release from custody. To avoid any potential confusion, we would like to point out that Wales CRC will be responsible for providing these resettlement services for all prisoners, not just those at low to medium risk of causing harm.

Yours sincerely,
Liz Rijnenberg
Chief Executive'

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It was always the case that CRCs would provide TTG services to all prisoners in the prisons in their areas. This has been in the documents from the start. It doesn't mean that the CRCs will be doing offender supervision tasks for all prisoners, probably just delivering basic workshops on accommodation, employment etc.

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Not only in Wales. BeNCH CRC staff was advised that the Sodexo partnership contracted for TTG may not be able to recruit sufficient staff by 1st May to deliver. CRC staff was asked if they had current clearance and/or if they were interested in a temporary secondment for this purpose. A further notice indicated the enquiry was aimed at PSOs; tasks would include completion of the Basic Custody Screening. My understanding is that this would constitute an offender supervisor type role. No further news since.

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BCS was initially meant to be conducted by Band 4 officers in the prison but a couple of months in some prisons are missing targets because of staff shortages so guess what? The PSOs they decided they didn't want any more have now been told that they can do the interviews as well!

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TTG will consist of referrals to benefits, housing and job centre, nothing more or less. It will, However, be enough for CRC's to eventually claim they are as able of managing high risk as the NPS despite the fact the most experienced and qualifies staff could well be lost to them by then.

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Some Wales CRC Staff also have a secondment to TTG. 1 wk training next week then start in the prison on May 1st. Pretty intensive training! I think they may be filling in while the new St Giles staff await prison clearance.

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It felt like a breath of fresh air: the unions' threat to ballot for strike action. It's the only language the MoJ and the predators understand. They always prefer to 'consult', but they respect a threat. A threat: a capacity to do something and the means to carry it out. The membership of the unions could tick both these boxes.

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It's early days but there is potential here for probation staff nationally to support probation staff in local difficulties. I am thinking here of strike funds, tactical support to colleagues who are fighting on a particular front. The biggest worry for any striker is financial hardship and the more this can be militated the more those affected can focus on fighting their corner. The vanguard supported by national solidarity - and financial support. Because: but for the grace of God go I. Whatever, the threat of a ballot for strike action is a welcome step towards facing up to Sodexo.

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I am frustrated by today's joint statement. Unison all of a sudden are waking up and threatening strike action. They did this before and bottled it. NOW is the time for NAPO, UNISON and any other involved UNION to really stand shoulder to should. This time co-ordinate your ballots, co-ordinate your action and deliver together - if UNISON had taken strike action with NAPO before the sell off - I remain convinced this have been a total different situation. UNISON failed its members - don't fail them now.

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In response I can only talk for myself at this stage. I am in NPS and would stand and be counted in support of my colleagues in the CRC - we must remain united. I would vote to strike. You are right, the only language these people understand is direct action. As I see it none of us is "sitting pretty" far from it we are ALL in the target range. I went out on strike, lobbied parliament, walked the streets and distributed leaflets to the public in our area on the day of the strikes. It would make me personally feel a whole lot better to get up and do something about this. Be strong colleagues and stand together on this one - otherwise the future will be bleaker than we can imagine.

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If this does not include all CRCs we are on a hiding to nothing. While Sodexo are the only ones to have come out and announced these job losses - there is time for other providers to do so. Some areas may not have threatened job cuts but perhaps because staff are being spread so thinly, the overall same public safety concerns exist. What worries me is more and more staff are becoming subservient, and won't fight against what is not just morally wrong but dangerous.

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You will only be allowed to strike if it is your CRC as NPS and other CRCS are run by different companies/organisations. You may not agree but that is the law.

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Golden share is owned by MOJ and therefore technically still employed by MOJ and only managed by private sector provider. We should have right to strike against the job losses proposed and EVEN IF WE DON'T we should anyway. As NAPO and/or UNISON Members - WE SHOULD STAND TOGETHER.

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I will pay financial support if I am not allowed to strike as am NPS I suggest sharing the pain by donating half a days pay to a CRC colleague that way we are equal again both striker and the person unable to strike loses half a day pay. It could be done!

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I have been on this forum before and stated publicly (as possible being Anon) that I would pay money to NAPO legal fund to fight TR. I will now repeat this and state that I will pay money - up front - into a hardship fund or similar to assist my colleagues in Sodexo CRCs.
We must stand together whether we can strike (as NOMS/NPS) or not. The unions need to act stronger than they have ever done and stand up together NOW.

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I will support a hardship fund and strike action - if we fail to do this now - those of us who see the writing on the wall - may as well walk away now.

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Veiled threats from Seetec about losing jobs if targets not met. Lots of new staff in the CRCs who would not strike and will be enough to keep offices ticking over whilst people lose money. I'm not against striking but I think we lost our chance and are now even more split.

60 comments:

  1. Stockton office in Teesside losing six staff to TTG. Two Admin and four practitioners. AFAIK none have been given security clearance so I'm unsure how they are going to work in the Prison(s). Caseloads shared between remaining staff who are already buckling with post TR and ORA cases. I heard one staff member was holding over 70 cases which I feel is quite dangerous (obviously the findings from the Sonnex/Monckton review have been disregarded). Most of her time is spend completing Oasys to make sure targets are hit. Sad times :(

    BTW, does anyone know why Purple Futures and Addaction had a falling out?

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    1. I heard it was money.

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    2. "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows".

      Timothy 6:10

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    3. Do we know how many from other offices around the country have lost staff? It's turning into a right dogs wotsits. Given that 80% of the caseloads went to the CRC's, who had 40% of the staff, I'm not sure how much more can be shared out without the whole things becoming debacle!

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    4. CRCs had 40% of the staff? How is that figure arrived at? Surely most staff went to CRCs and NPS is smaller?

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    5. It varied. 45/55 in my area, NPS/CRC

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  2. one CRC missed its ISP completion target - got 0% simply because they changed the way they gathered the stats and didn't tell practitioners who should've been putting a delius entry 'oasys completed'. this failure potentially could have resulted in fines amounting to thousands of pounds - I think but am not sure that no penalties were enforced this time.

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    1. Having experience with the work programme, one of the major issues (and it creates the capacity for fraud), was the constant (almost weekly) changing of how data was recorded and presented.
      It's a nightmare for those working within the primes, but for those further down the food chain it's hell and many subcontractor organisations went to the wall when they failed to be paid by the primes month after month on the basis of submitting uncompliant files to support invoices.
      This could be one of the issues with Purple Futures and Addaction at the moment.
      I hate to say it, but there will be many days where some will feel unfairly repremanded because you've been pulled over the coals for not doing things in the way the big bosses want it done, but no-one bothered to tell you!
      And a lot of the time even if someone does bother to tell you theres a change, what you're advised to do dosen't work anyway, and it's all changed again the following month.
      Those that rely on the primes for payment will find themselves going hungry pretty often I fear.

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    2. It's been alluded to, quite often, that failed targets means lost jobs.

      I think out Chief has been taking tips from DV perps!

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    3. Not entirely true!
      Many of the smaller fish feeding off the primes struggle to produce the 'paper trails' and outcome evidence that are required by the primes to release payment, and are therefore pushed into recruiting more admin staff to deal with the workload.
      Extra cost to them, but the primes still pay the same agreed amount per outcome.
      My experience with the work programme in no way makes me an expert on the cut throat world of outsourcing, but I do predict that pretty soon tier 2 and 3 of the 'supply chain' will be heard squeeling very loudly (and hopefully very publicly), about the unfair and unworkable demands imposed on them by the primes.
      Purple Poopers and Madaction are I think only the first of many 'relationship' breakdowns that TR will experience.

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  3. It is my understanding that once ISP signed and locked, within 24 hours it automatically uploads on to Delius - no one in my office is recording ISP completed manually onto N-Delius.

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    1. well there must be something going wrong cos ours definitely came back at 0% and there is only one way to sign and lock an oasys - why one Area's automatically uploads to Delius and anothers doesn't is a mystery.

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    2. well we are talking N-Delius my friend and OASys is now worse than it ever was and it was bad enough before. Its a complete load of you know what.

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    3. OASys and Delius only talk to one another over night so whilst you might believe you have 10 days to complete the ISP, you only have 9 and so in some areas you have to put in a manual entry that it has been completed just to make sure nothing is missed.

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  4. I think you'll find that this all relates to the DOG'S BREAKFAST THESE AMATEURS HAVE CREATED. I have met a stream of providers over recent weeks and they are all remarkably umimpressive and equally ill-informed. They were warned but knew best. Watch the farce unfold.

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    1. Too true but its us practitioners and our admin teams that will pay the price

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    2. Only if you let it get to you. Treat it as the joke it is becoming and it will all feel a lot better!!

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  5. I fear when the penalty of not meeting targets for ffs or pbr, its our jobs, those that are left, which if others go down sodexo route won't be many. It is a shambles just as we all predicted but still we have Senior and Middle Management trying to tell us its a wonderful opportunity - clueless

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  6. I cannot see that a link to this has been posted - which surprises me - it is from The Sunday Times - sorry if it is actually a duplicate posting after all

    HEADLINE: -

    " Probation chiefs cash in as 700 staff lose jobs "

    http://www.napo2.org.uk/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=2

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    1. Here's the story:

      SENIOR executives at the National Probation Service have received severance packages of up to £300,000 as part of the government’s “enhanced voluntary redundancy” scheme.

      The figures, released shortly before the dissolution of parliament ahead of the general election, have emerged just weeks after it was announced that up to 700 probation officers will lose their jobs as part of reforms which will see the probation service outsourced to 21 new community rehabilitation companies (CRCs).

      In total, 10 senior executives secured six-figure deals including lump-sum payouts as well as pension top-ups. They include Sally Lewis, the outgoing chief executive of Avon and Somerset Probation Trust, whose exit package totalled £293,000, and Russell Bruce, the outgoing chief executive of Durham Tees Valley Probation Trust, who received a redundancy package worth £230,000.

      Heather Munro, the former head of the then London Probation Trust (now the London CRC), who was paid a salary of more than £130,000 in her final year of employment, left with a deal worth £247,196. Her pension pot was valued at £1.4m.

      In 2009, the London Probation Service was condemned for its decision to release Daniel Sonnex, a violent criminal, on parole shortly before he murdered two French students. Within days of his release, he had attacked a pregnant woman and her partner, yet escaped with a verbal warning.

      Details of the payouts under the scheme, which expired at the end of March, appear in a document posted on the Probation Association’s website. They come less than a month after Sodexo, a French contractor drafted in to oversee part of the “transforming rehabilitation” initiative, detailed the planned job cuts and plans to install ATM-style machines so offenders check themselves in rather than report to probation staff.

      Ian Lawrence, general secretary for Napo, the probation officers’ union, criticised the payouts. “The transforming rehabilitation programme was never fully costed by the government and the unions warned that this unnecessary social experiment would cost the taxpayer an extortionate amount of money,” he said.

      Sadiq Khan, shadow justice secretary, said: “David Cameron’s government recklessly privatised probation without any evidence it would cut reoffending and keep the public safe.”

      In an article for the Conservative Home website earlier this year, Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, said the scheme represented a “classic case” of the coalition “delivering more for less for the taxpayer".

      The Ministry of Justice said: “As part of a restructure of probation services and the dissolution of probation trusts, a small number of senior leaders were made redundant. Payments reflected the national scheme for severance.”

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    2. A good time to re-post this from the other day:

      "the corporate staff had their briefing at the Tickled Trout Hotel in Preston and the number of Corporate Staff are being cut down from 60 to 16 and they are facing Compulsory Redundancy, also Sodexo are trying to get out of paying the Compulsory Redundancy rate. There where members of staff present at the meeting who where successful in securing Voluntary Redundancy at 4.5 weeks wage per year of service, plus full pension as well, 2 of them don't go till December 2015 and the other one Head of HR doesn't go till end of June 2015. So they have had jobs and a good pay off when they do go. Most of the staff who are facing Compulsory Redundancy will probably be gone before the others go who got VED. How can it be justified that 5 members of the HR team for CRCLC got voluntary redundancy, the CEO's two PA's got VED another PA got VED, the companies's solicitor got VED, Kevin Robinson the CEO got VED, Penny Barker was replaced as the CEO, she is here for another 12 months, yet who will be her PA once the current one leaves in June? Cumbria and Lancashire have spent all the allocated money for VED's on picking and choosing who they wanted to give it to. Take note that the MOJ are still paying the exact same of money to Sodexo to cover Cumbria and Lancashire's costs, the same applies to all the other CRC's that where sold of to private companies. The concern's that Sodexo have about having to pay out for redundancies is because it reduces their profit margins. When all the staff have gone, the wage bill that Sodexo receives from MOJ will still be the same amount as it is now. It is still taxpayers who are being ripped off by the Government."

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    3. Look it was worth every penny to be rid of Russell Bruce....many of you would be astonished as to how he treated staff, the 'new' management all seek to distance themselves from his management style "let's just say things will be done differently" is the phrase being used.

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    4. No surprise in seeing the payoff figures for the so-called senior executives. That's what happens when you keep your mouth shut, or if you keep it wide open with platitudes. And, of course, Napo paid off JL handsomely when a lesser mortal would have faced disciplinary action. It isn't fair, but it's the way ALL the establishments work. And they don't give a ****! And there ain't no God in heaven to put things right. 'Everybody knows that the dice are loaded....The poor get poor, the rich get rich/That's how it goes/Everybody knows...'

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    5. Anon 1910 unfortunately not all management do wish to distance themselves. Some of him lives on in others.

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  7. Jim, I posted a message on here about Admin and PO's being moved from Stockton office to TTG; it has been removed. Was there a reason for this?

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    1. Not removed and not in spam filter - may I suggest try again?

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    2. is the 09.50 post?

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    3. Anon 1713, I saw it. Strange cos I posted something the other day re a TR conference with some CRC execs on speakers list. It disappeared to. Do we have an MOJ hacker

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    4. Anon 1713 its back, just reviewed earlier posts and it showing in my feed

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    5. Anon 22:28 There's no MoJ hacker to my knowledge - the conference details ended up in the spam filter and I decided to leave them there as I was in no mood to advertise the NoOffence TR tumpeting conference.

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    6. I just thought readers may be interested to see speakers. But appreciate you letting me know Jim.

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  8. Cheshire have been told that there will be no more Education Training and Employment (ETE) staff in the community. They will either be made redundant or be sent into the Prisons to try and make 'through the gate' services work. When asked what our clients will do who need their assistance in the community, we were told "direct them to the job centre". Great!

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    1. Job centre do nothing, sign post to work programme, run by more private providers, mmmmmm, cream the money and help the few.

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    2. I had the misfortune of having to attend the job centre mainly to get my stamp paid. It is run by people who started there at 16 on apprenticeships and have never had to look for work. Some of our Clients wouldn't stand a chance of gaining employment, they need the encouragement and one to one help. Not everyone has the ability to just apply for hundreds of jobs which is what it takes now and hit on the right job instantly. The ETE staff are needed in probation another resource that will be lost.

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    3. During a home visit last week - observed the service users partner constantly on internet - to demonstrate to Jobcentre that she was applying for jobs so she does not get sanctioned, she explained all she was doing was uploading her cv to anything...whilst she watched Jeremy Kyle.

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  9. In response to Anon 12:40 - When creating an ISP assessment in Oasys you have to link this to Delius so that when its locked it sends an update back to Delius. If the Oasys assessment is locked on day 10 the system doesn't update until early hours of the next morning making it look like its been completed on day 11. Therefore you have to put a manual entry into Delius to replicate the date on 10 to hit targets. We have been doing this in our area and are hitting this target with relative ease.

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    1. no-one's told us how to link anything to Delius - the whole CRC has not been doing this so its not like some of us were doing it and others weren't. We've now been told to just put the delius entry 'oasys completed' on.

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    2. We have been told to make entry manually. Told to do ISPs in 8 days to allow countersigning where required and 24 hrs to upload from Oasys to Delius. Every upgrade makes it more flawed, perhaps that is causing issue now.

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    3. Sorry, not to make entry

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  10. Bidders chose to ignore voice of frontline probation, preferring to trust in & believe Grayling et al. They're now finding out the truth but refuse to publicly acknowledge this. They'll take out their frustration on frontline staff, e.g. resisting to honour the redundancy agreement. As has been highlighted on this blog many times, it yet again mirrors the abusive behaviours we (as probation staff) have to challenge on a daily basis, i.e. the bullying, irrational & power-base abuse exemplified in DV & sexual offence perpetrators. Not enough peas on your plate? So spend the evening terrorising your partner before beating her to a pulp. Someone has to pay... Pass it on.

    Scumbags, the lot of the them.

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  11. Oops, I have been reported for a Breach of security! I thought the book ban was overturned and sent a book - 'the compassionate mind' to a prisoner, it's a self help text book an it's been withheld from intended recipient! Wondered if this constituency ' interfering with the royal mail'?

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  12. Auto correct is killing me! Constitute!

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  13. From purple sprouting brocolli, jan 2015

    "Q6. Will you offer VEDS?
    It is our intention to offer some sort of enhanced voluntary scheme and we expect that to be available around about this time next year. We will, of course, go through normal consultation processes and it will be done in the way that everyone is familiar with. There may be special circumstances that mean we have to consider voluntary redundancies before then but that is likely to be very limited.
    There may well be opportunities elsewhere in probation, pan CRC or with one of the partners. Interserve, for example, is growing all the time and there are likely to be opportunities. We would rather retain talent than make people redundant. Our approach is to treat people fairly and in a consultative manner.
    Q7. Is the existing VEDS continuing?
    There seems to be some confusion as to whether the current VEDS continues after March. The National Agreement (in paragraphs 11 & 16) sets out that the enhanced scheme currently available to those who were employed on 31st May 2014, only continues until 31st March 2015.
    There is no obligation on providers to offer any enhanced scheme post 31st March. However, it is our intention to offer some sort of enhanced voluntary scheme and we expect that to be available around about this time next year. We will go through normal consultation process and it will be done in the way that everyone is familiar with"

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    1. Their position is well known but is the subject of challenge.

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    2. Rumour is rife that Addaction have quit the Purple Futures partnership. It can only be about money. If it is true, what does that mean anyone?

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    3. All it means is that the prime needs to find another sub-contracter. But it is an interesting development this early on.

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    4. Yay! The bid candy woke up!

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  14. Off topic, and not sure if its been noted already in the last few days, but this article really demonstrates what utter contempt outsourcing companies have for their work force..

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/disgrace-g4s-security-guards-given-5540235

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    1. Outsourcing companies have contempt for the workforce, the commissioners, the service users AND the public. The serve only one master, mammon.

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    2. Given the big fat cushions which top management have been receiving, in contrast to the *!x!!!* treatment meted out to the humble workers who have kept the fires stoked (and here I include our valuable admin staff, who have never been given the appreciation they deserve), I think today is an appropriate time to remind the fat cats that if it wasn't for those slogging away at the coal face (whatever happened to the coal industry!), they would not be enjoying the black gold they are wallowing in now.

      According to '123 greetings' e-cards, today is Professional Admin Day, which states 'without their support by removing the rocks and pebbles from their path and managing at a micro level, the leaders would be stuck in a labyrinth..'.

      So, isn't it time to give those leaders a big fat reminder of how much trouble they would be in if it was not for their 'humble servants' propping up the firm?? And maybe, just maybe, throw the workers a few appreciative shekels along the way!

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    3. Perhaps the 'Leaders' need to be reminded that they and the admin support evolved from the work of people who called themselves Probation officers. They seem to have forgotten who actually does the job, PO's PSO's and admin that's who. Managers make nothing, they achieve nothing and yet hey seem to be believe that they do. Well, meetings ( do they ever tell what they acheive ???, process mapping, accountability, all meaningless..holding the firm .. we built the firm

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  15. We fought and lost....we struck and lost....we challenged bad managerial practice and lost....every TR battle the workforce fought we lost while senior management ensured that their nests were well feathered and yet the sell off went ahead and yet.......the man in the pub tells me that alarm bells are seriously ringing now with the realisation that TTG is a cobbled together disaster in the making.....the Secretary of State is now looking forward to his next posting and Messrs Allars and Payne getting ready to carry the can to allow the next government to try and modify the contracts that have been awarded......could it really be true that it's always darkest before the dawn?

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    1. err....we didn't fight - you cannot call that pathetic strike turnout a fight. We rolled over and had our bellies tickled.

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    2. No incoming government could afford to right the wrong now done

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  16. Confirmation that the charity ADDACTION have withdrawn from Purple Futures. Their website says on 15th April:

    "Addaction, a UK charity leading in the provision of specialist services which help people and communities overcome the effects of drug and alcohol misuse, today announces its decision to withdraw from its membership of Purple Futures LLP.

    The Purple Futures Partnership, led by Interserve plc, was set up to deliver five community rehabilitation contracts under the Ministry of Justice's ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’ initiative. Addaction has reluctantly decided to withdraw from the Partnership due to a failure to agree the detail of subcontracting arrangements.

    Addaction wishes the Partnership every success for the future."

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  17. Today Sodexo and the Probation Trade Unions had a full and frank discussion covering a number of key issues including the consultation process around proposed job cuts. Sodexo will consult with their Executive and CRC Chief Executives and it is hoped that a further joint statement can be issued tomorrow.

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    1. Napo should not be involved in a joint statement regarding redundincies. Just maintain proper opposition. It just shows me that if napo get involved in influencing a reduction process but still agree to some cuts and staff sifting they wont be able to object in the future and elswhere. Napo got involved in the tr consultation which is why they failed to take proper jr process. Getting wrong grounds was a gift to tr running in challenge to late another gift. The moj consultants team knew we could win but were astounded how foolish napo were. Naive and did nothing appropriately at the right time. This news is just the same for napo here they go again seekingbto appear at the table but don't know what do.

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  18. I would suggest, that if a TR contract was awarded to an amalgamated organisation such as Interserve/Addaction that formed a limited company called Purple Futures, and now that partnership has been disolved (no longer Purple Futures but solely an Interserve owned contract, then the contract awarded has no longer any legal status and needs to be revisited or declaired invalided.
    The company that won the contract now (in reality) no longer exists, and to my mind makes that contract (if not void), then extremely vulnerable. Some loud noise needs to be sounded about this I think?
    But maybe I'm way off the mark?

    'Getafix'

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  19. #Napo Discussion Forum • View topic - Joint statement between #Sodexo & the #Probation Trade Unions

    http://www.napo2.org.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=994#p3761 …

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  20. It is unwise and ill-informed to have a go at prison colleagues in this way. Have you never heard of solidarity? Their pay levels are very low for the work they do and if they get a pay rise, we should be celebrating with them. How did that happen? They have a strong union.

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