Bleak Futures Week 17

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 spent completing Oasys to make sure targets are hit. Sad times :(

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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 a debacle!

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

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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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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 reprimanded 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 there's a change, what you're advised to do doesn'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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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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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 squealing 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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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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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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Well we are talking N-Delius my friend and OASys is now worse than it ever was and it was bad enough before. It's a complete load of you know what.

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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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In response, when creating an ISP assessment in Oasys you have to link this to Delius so that when it's 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 it's 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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No-one's told us how to link anything to Delius - the whole CRC has not been doing this so it's 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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We have been told not 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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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 unimpressive and equally ill-informed. They were warned but knew best. Watch the farce unfold.

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I fear when the penalty of not meeting targets for ffs or PbR, it's 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 it's a wonderful opportunity - clueless.

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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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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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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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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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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.

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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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So they're putting job cuts on hold... until when? Until September when they can use compulsory redundancy? Until they have trained tier 2&3 providers to do TTG? Until after the election so we're not causing a fuss? It suits Sodexo/ Nacro's timeline to delay.

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I am appalled by the statement. Throughout all of my TU Reps training the message being hammered home was that the ultimate role of the union is to prevent job losses. Therefore, in my opinion phrases like 'unavoidable job losses' should NEVER be uttered by a Trade Union Rep involved in redundancy negotiation processes. It signals collusion in the process and plays right into the employers hands. Someone (later) in this thread poses the question - who do we think we are - the NUM? Well, at this point I wish we were - NAPO presents as just a toothless lion by comparison..

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Everyone knows it is the hard working local reps who advise members if they are facing issues including redundancy not the GS or the weak symbolic Joint Chairs or in fact anyone on the top table. People need their union for support and guidance when they are feeling at their most vulnerable so let's recognise and thank the people who do the hard work everyday.

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It will be those with union association that will be first through the door. No room for opposition in private enterprise. NAPO need to realise that apart from its membership concerns, it's in a fight for its own existence.

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"As you would expect we have fully briefed politicians about these developments, and while it is difficult to secure as much media coverage as we would like during an election campaign that is focused on anything but law and justice, be sure that in the event of a different colour administration being returned, we will be knocking on doors very loudly."

1. Who have you briefed? There are no MPs until Parliament is reassembled. Until then, who gives a fig? 

2. You never secured media coverage when numerous opportunities were handed to you on a plate.

3. I would expect my subs to fund you knocking loudly on those doors REGARDLESS of the colour of administration, not just if there's a change of colour.

4. This is my professional career, 30 years of my life. It's already been diluted into probation-lite, its now being reformulated into a 'just-add-water' version. No depth of flavour, no nuance, no character; just a bland, one-size-fits-all product wrapped in a shiny box. "See ya down MaccyP's, yeah?"

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With very few notable exceptions, no MP stood up for us before, when TR could have been stopped. Briefing prospective candidates & getting their lame words of support ain't going to stop Sod-U-Co getting rid of staff.

Isn't there something called employment law which protects employees from being exploited? Where's the legal advice about contracts that have been signed? How can our union on one day talk about staff protection being "enshrined" in the national agreement, then the next day be sharing skinny lattes with Sod-U-Co and releasing statements to the effect that "some losses are unavoidable" ?

What do I think this is? I thought I was paying into a trade union & professional association who were committed to protecting my interests as a professionally qualified Probation Officer, not financing my own professional funeral. I thought I was contributing to the not insubstantial salaries of trade union activists, not apologists for bullies - whether ministerial or global enterprise.

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A company can terminate all employees contracts and immediately re-employ them on different terms. If employees don't like the new terms and don't sign they will have deemed to have resigned. The Unions can do nothing about it. Employment law isn't worth the paper it's written on. It happened to Probation Partnership workers. Some had their salary cut by 5k per year.

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There may be job losses, but IL emphasises that they be on the EVR terms. There is no green light here for compulsory redundancies. And, on job losses, there have been hundreds over the past four or five years in the form of voluntary redundancies and there has never been a shortage of takers, though there have been many who were disappointed not to get VR. So those who bemoan job losses need a bit of historical perspective in their thinking. A respite is a good thing.

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I don't read it as this at all. I read it as no redundancies for now (not even enhanced) then compulsory redundancies in September. Given that most people want to leave if they get enhanced, this is just a way of stringing staff along until compulsory redundancies can be made.

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Who are they trying to kid? They don't have 'colleagues' in Sodexo – they have bosses. They don't 'discuss' – they follow orders. It was agreed on Monday between unions and Sodexo to pause. The CEOs are merely ciphers with no volition of their own.

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But this is the consequence of the unions getting into bed with Sodexo; Sodexo play them like a mandolin, then issue scripted instructions to local CRC management, effectively regional puppets of the Sodexo imperial commanders. This is why your view of "its okay" is being challenged.

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Yes Essex received a similar email today, but making it clear that this had been an agreement between all parties after union talks. Essex hasn't started consultation yet over potential redundancies. It's still very much mushroom management at this stage.

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Same email in Cumbria and Lancs CRC - in fact the intial paragraph is exactly the same as above. (Looks like a pre-planned approach) The email also points out that this only applies to Corporate Services staff at the moment as they have started with formal consultations since the 2nd April.

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Very similar email in Northumbria also.

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Thanks to Chris Grayling, collaborators across all Trusts, Sodexo and the weasels managing the CRC, and what seems to be meltdown by the unions. There will be several more CRC months of misery, ill health, long-term sickness, uncertainty, stressful work environments. - whilst enduring the crowing from an insensitive core of NPS staff with their new cars in the car park, loud conversations about holiday plans & voting Lib Dem "to get the pay increase for public sector workers". Can't fucking wait. Thanks a bunch. The torture never stops.

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There are some nauseating NPS staff in our office doing the same thing. They haven't worked for probation for 2 mins. Administration especially rubbing their colleagues noses in it. I don't know how I am still going into work!

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I am so so sorry. I am NPS and will do anything I can to see us reunited in the public sector. I have heard an NPS colleague 'crowing' as you put it and it disgusted me, she reported me to management when I protested. BUT the vast majority of my colleagues are not crowing, we know we are not safe and the axe will fall on NPS in the next round of cuts post election. I just wish we could all stand together.

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How can courts have so many report writers and yet the quality of them be so poor? Brief outline of offence: stole 5 packs of bacon. No more the time and date of the offence etc. Oasys used to be one of the easiest parts of the job as it mainly contained of transferring info from PSR to oasys but not anymore. Every line I read of an FDR raises questions as they are making statements but not expanding on the reason for said statement. I hate oasys it's a millstone round my neck.

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My personal favourite NPS gem: "OASys completed less than 6 months ago so no requirement to undertake rosh or OASys at PSR stage." Lost so deeep in the grass.

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The IT is such a massive part of the problem. It's so overly complicated that we can't even do the most basic assessment in less than half a day. How the new contractors can even think about building an interface to bridge two ridiculous systems that won't stand still for five minutes is beyond me.

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It's a joke. The CRC chiefs don't even have the balls to write an email in their own words. It's utterly pathetic that these people, most of whom have already lined their own pockets, are still trying to sell us the myth that they are in control! If they had opened their greedy eyes or had any degree of care/loyalty to their staff, they would have stood firm years ago but no, they chose to sell us down the river and that will never change.

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The wrong choices Napo members made was not to strike. 20% of my Trusts Napo members took action, the rest bottled it. No-one to blame but themselves.

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I am sorry to be so confused but I do not understand anything. If SOD exo have to make voluntary redundancies on enhanced terms for the life of the contract, surely this would obviate a compulsory redundancy situation from arising? Why then in the agreement is there reference to 'no compulsory redundancy in the first 7 months'? Can anyone explain, in simple terms? Thanks in anticipation.

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So I see it as this - figures released by MPloy indicate (for example) 30 x PO, 19 x admin, 15 x management posts are to be lost. Phase One = announce & consult with those 'at risk'. Redeployment or other options are considered, figures re-visited then requests are for indications of those wanting to take VR. Phase Two, assuming figures aren't met, compulsories are chosen. If too many volunteer then I guess they have to use selection criteria? How does that sound?

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As I understand it, it would not necessarily be the case that the organisation's need to re-organise (reduce staffing levels) would totally be met by those who might want to go. It could be "wrong" grades etc who wanted to go ie people the org wanted to keep so would not grant those applications. Hence you could end up with situation when org argued it needed less staff, had allowed EVR where it deemed it feasible and redeployed those it could and still had view it had to reduce staff complement. In which case it's left with compulsory redundancies ie saying we need so many who fit this criteria and then they assess all staff in that group and determine who scores highest on the agreed "eligible" criteria (eg worst capability or disciplinary or attendance record etc).

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So does it have to offer voluntary redundancy before compulsory?

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Yes but just because the org says it needs to lose 50 staff that doesn't mean it pays out 50 VRs; (see above) as may be staff who apply may not be deemed suitable.

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This is understood. Thanks. However, what I still don't get is why, given EVR lasts the 7 years, SOD exo don't have to just offer this again in the scenario you describe (ie get rid at one point, then want to shed more a few months later). I am clearly no good to them as I have no business brain, and am a wooly thinker!!!

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Because businesses (including the old Trusts) typically work to annual budgets. They'll want to streamline sooner rather than later (when Serco took over Unpaid Work in London they began consultations on redundancies within a month of starting) If Sodexo or whomever, say the org needs to lose staff their estimates will be to lose this year rather than next (although they could revise their business plans again next year. This is not new. For example, we had about 3 "revisions" of staffing levels for Unpaid work in Lancs over about 5yrs).

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Thinking about this a bit more, I speculate the Sodexo will back track a little in order to seem reasonable. EVR will go to large chunks of CRC senior staff such as ACO grades and their friends in finance, PA's, etc, maybe a few select SPO's that were good at brown-nosing over the years. We all know this is how probation trusts worked and they created policies to enable this. This is how Chiefs and their friends left with tidy nest eggs. Operational staff from PO grade downwards will not get a sniff of EVR and instead be on the compulsory redundancy list, actually they are already on the list and they just don't know it. Some PO's will be offered alternative roles as PSO's. PSO's will face changes in job descriptions to justify pay cuts. Admins will be shown the door. I suspect job titles will change to justify the above.

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What this blog shows to me is that partner agencies are confused about the new structures and don't know which AGENCY to call, never mind which officer. The simple truth is that PROBATION' the brand has been compromised and no-one knows or trusts the new structures. Historically, this provider would have been supported through their enquiry by a single agency with a professional and emotional commitment to service delivery and public protection. Now we have confusion, buck passing and poor quality information. A bad idea badly executed.

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I have trouble catching my SPO and I work in the same office so as an outsider you were always on a hiding to nothing.

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In our area the housing providers would have determined him as not suitable for housing because, with a criminal conviction, he immediately represents a risk of anti-social behaviour. Problem solved before it arises. Next?

Seriously, folks, that is what we have to contend with. Local Authority homeless, housing providers from ALL sectors and police all hold on to this approach. It's a friggin nightmare getting anyone housed, CRC or NPS. Shelter have closed their offices here and baled out, which doesn't help matters.

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I'm a CRC officer and if I had received this information, I would have actioned it. No matter which side of the divide created by MoJ we still have a responsibility. As repeated numerous times here, any MAPPA eligible cases should be NPS. I previously stated we have had a number in my area incorrected allocated - but once this has been raised by Officer allocated case, a reallocation has taken place. I oppose TR and everything about it, but if as individuals we do not take responsibility to action RISK then we just add to an already dangerous environment.

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The real problem is that profit rules. Whatever situation arises, if there's no pennies to be made from it, then leave it alone and fingers crossed, it'll just go away. As for the MAPPA issue, I think you'll find that quite a few MAPPA 1 cases will have been allocated to CRC on the basis of being medium risk regardless of whether they are subject to MAPPA or not.

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There are plenty of violent offenders who are MAPPA Level 1 by virtue of serving a 12 month sentence, don't forget them. The division is very clear - all MAPPA nominals, whatever level, go to NPS. It astounds me that we're nearly 12 months on from the split and this practice still isn't consistent. I'm not saying it makes sense - I have plenty of 'medium risk' cases on my CRC caseload who are one hell of a lot more dodgy than at lot of the MAPPA 1 cases I used to hold - but the dividing line is very clear.

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Well I work on reception and this would have been put through to NPS duty no question. It's standard practice to ask an outside agency which part of the business they need to speak to and if they do not know then a quick conversation would have signalled this as being NPS. We have it all the time, in that for some reason they have been given a name, ask for that person who now happens to be in a different side of the the business and they end up going around in circles. The phone systems are also a complete nightmare, for every one call we need to hang onto another 4 go onto the answer machine so it may be that this was just put through unannounced as a specific officer was asked for and it went onto someone's voicemail who wasn't in the office that day which probably includes the SPO on this particular day. I cannot see anyone ignoring this at all.

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Let's reflect a bit here. I am left to conclude that business as usual (pre TR) is not being delivered, yet that is the standard by which probation is being judged. Yes everything the guest blogger needed from probation would have been delivered, in the past. Staff are now exhausted and blighted by change. Sadly, the world has moved on and I believe effective communication is the single most crucial failure of the confused probation world I now inhabit.

As a PO in NPS, I am simply unable to process the volume of and means by which I am communicated at. I simply cannot read the daily lengthy and voluminous emails from the Hub. Probation Instructions remain unread until I need them because I cannot afford the time to read them and am now unable to retain the volume of instructions. I no longer know the information exchange protocols and my manager is available to the team approx 20% of the working week and frankly is in the same position. You see, the agencies we deal with have changed and I do not even recognise some of their organisation/business names. So I have decided I will use my professional judgement and if the risk issues justify information being exchanged I will do so.

I often google phone numbers of people leaving messages for me because at least it is a cursory check of sorts. I remain acutely aware that if I am later deemed to have disclosed inappropriately, I will be blamed and possibly disciplined, that is the world of new probation. It is not good enough, I agree with the guest blogger, but it is what has been imposed on us and we are all trying to muddle through. Now, how safe is that?

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Alongside all of this, what is being said about the unreasonable and unmanageable demands being placed on staff? Increasing duplication and bureaucracy. Managers and admin organising everything to meet their own needs, changes and more change to right errors in the first change. The list of error and incompetence is almost endless.

IT upgrades and shutdowns with hours notice, none of it actually improving anything, much of it detrimental. Stress and exhaustion rife. Meanwhile the Prison Service is storming on, accorded priority, promised increased income, people with a dangerously limited knowledge of what they are doing and having little if any understanding why they are doing it. Not that Prison didn't need one heck of a shake up. Who knows, perhaps they will get so good at sorting people out whilst they are nice and cozily locked away, that they won't need anyone to see people through 3, 4, 5, 6 and longer years of licence.