Friday 3 April 2015

'It's Probation Jim, but not as we know it'

The missive from Nick comes from a long line of such missives over the years, albeit these are the most radical proposals ever. But it's the same old justifications as these cuts are predicated on 'efficiency savings'. We used to be reassured that by accepting reductions in terms and conditions, jobs would be protected. And those who sought to argue against such reductions were accused of exposing colleagues to the risk of redundancy. I suppose now the argument will morph into saving as many jobs as possible. Not only will staff endure the long knives of redundancy, but those who survive will be part of the efficiency drive to ensure that all the economies of scale and reconfigurations deliver something that is recognisably probation and capable of delivering coherent and effective rehabilitation services.

The 'efficiency savings' argument has more traction in the public sector as the money saved does at least reduce the public deficit, however Nick is disingenuous: he cannot (though we see it) refer to the monkey on his back – Sodexo's first duty to their shareholders: profits. Nick cannot be honest and say that Sodexo are not in this for the fun of it – they intend to make a profit and as one of the appointed hatcheteers Nick must pretend to share the pain that he is inflicting on behalf of his paymasters. He will be well-rewarded because in the private sector we know that you pay a few at the top well and screw the rest. Let the devil take the hindmost is what this is all about. Nick is a good functionary. And as machines are in the news: If Nick was a replicant he would be almost human... as he feels your pain!

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The business case for cuts in staffing is terribly simple. The major costs for the CRCs are as follows, salaries, property, pensions, and IT. Salaries will take over 80% of total costs. So when you take out the 10% saving that the MoJ have built into the contract, subtract the 10% to 15% profit the CRC senior managers and shareholders expect that leaves you with finding 20% - 25% cuts in the budget.

In a budget of £20m per annum you need to find cuts of approximately £4m to £5m per annum. Saving money on property, pensions, and IT will not give you the level of savings you need. You therefore make the cuts in staffing with the most obvious targets being middle management and probation officers, expensive resources. You cut deep at first so you can recruit later if you need to fill gaps.

Your new recruits will have very different terms and conditions from current staff and you, the CRC would expect that in two years time you would change all the current terms and conditions. Current senior managers, who I have no sympathy for, will be used up very quickly as they have no understanding of being on the commercial end of JFDI. They have in my experience not survived.

Personally gutted at what is happening to hard working dedicated staff, sold down the river by inept senior managers who if, as a group, had fought this issue would have saved the probation service. The senior civil servants I spoke to where always surprised at how easy NAPO at the top level and CPO rolled over.

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Aye, its a canny tactic. Threaten massive change, pay the requisite pieces of silver to the decision-makers (it's a good investment), scare everyone daft as the changes begin. Promise a pot of gold, a jackpot bonanza to those who want to bale out - then completely withdraw that offer, make 'em sweat, make 'em drool. The greed will overwhelm them and they'll accept far less than you initially offered - and think they've won!!

Don't forget, this is the workforce who've accepted no pay rise for six years, and only 3% in ten years. This is the workforce who voted to hand back annual leave and essential car user for cash-in-hand settlements. They're easy-peasy. Look how readily their leaders snapped your hand off for those cash incentives, how the glint of gold distracted them, how easily they were persuaded to hand over the service. Greed IS good.

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Absolutely shocking. I feel angry. This was always so inevitable. The one contradiction I will never get my head around is this: profit making company/reduction in re-offending. Offending behaviour is now a market, and court system the means of bleeding them dry. The Trojan horse of PBR & £46 will fade into the mists of the past along with AWARD WINNING PUBLIC SERVICE.

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So, the principles of consistency regarding rehabilitation & risk management are now re-written as every area seems to be proceeding with its own version of CRC. No wonder the resistance to client relocation was written into the ORA, i.e. "No, you can't relocate to Hounslow for a job with BAA because you can't complete your Order there. You have to stay here in Barnsley until next September. It's the law." How might that fare under the scrutiny of Human Rights legislation?

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Look for the positives in TR? Your view of it will be shaped by how it has affected your thinking and impacted on your circumstances. TR has produced winners and losers. It was a victory for the neoliberal project of shrinking the state; it's a win for the private companies whose monopolistic grip over public services increases. It was a bonanza to all those so-called senior leaders in prisons and probation who jumped into the arms of the private sector having received offers they could not refuse and for those who took retirement, their pay-offs were lucrative and they are always on hand as consultants.

It was a win for fanaticism over reason: all voices of reason argued that splitting the service was a bad idea. In the midst of threats of compulsory redundancies, erosions in pay, and unions seemingly powerless to do what they are paid to do - protect and advance pay and conditions - it becomes difficult to see anything positive in TR.

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Their PR bullshit doesn't work on probation staff. We are practiced in the recognition of oppressive and controlling behaviours. I suggest Sodexo proceed with caution.

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You say probation staff are practised in the recognition of oppressive and controlling behaviours and we often hear how good probation staff are at challenging rationalisations that are used by some to justify/excuse criminal behaviour. The subtext is don't mess with such smart cookies. Ah, if only it was true, or if it is, then why has it proved so difficult to transfer and deploy these skills against TR and before that, to the erosion of terms and conditions and steady decline in salaries?

You hear stories about how passionate they are about their work and its values. And yet when it came to collectively standing and resisting TR, the ones who were truly passionate and challenging to the dismemberment of probation were in the minority. But this is raking over old coals and some voices think it's wrong to look back and play a blame game. We got rid of one myth about Napo punching above it's weight and we need to get rid of another one: in the absence of unity amongst a workforce, employers know they can do pretty much as they wish. It is easy peasy. If you want to be a great practitioner then in the current climate you have to be a committed trade unionist.

There are those who join unions for reasons of personal insurance and who think that the union exists independent of them. But as we see with the decline and fall of probation, unions wither without unity while the employers become more confident in their strides. When they see a workforce running away from a fight they know they are onto a winner. I hope there is resistance to compulsory redundancies, I hope if there is a call to support industrial action, this time the call is answered. If Sodexo and others are allowed to get their way without facing stiff resistance then all the talk about probation being challenging and so forth will be mythical talk. Save such talk for the Probation Institute as it will have no place in the real world of enfeebled probation, enfeebled through pay, and job insecurity.

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No-one believes that there weren't imperfections in the Trusts and there has been poor practice in place for some time (PSOs working with sex offenders/DV perpetrators etc). Nevertheless, selling poor practice as a justification for the introduction of the amateur sector brings new meaning to the expression 'race to the bottom '. We are at serious risk of losing all credibility with sentencers, something to which the Prison management at NOMS has never given due consideration.

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Unfortunately, probation, like social work, has always had a credibility gap with the public, often portrayed as too soft and lacking good old common-sense – that metaphysics of the barbarians who have been all too ready to blame probation when things go wrong. Instead of probation being promoted as the hallmark of a civilised society through its rehabilitative work, in recent years it was forced by politicians to tack to the right, to become obsessed with risk and show punitive teeth to those who most needed help, support and direction.

The majority of clients are themselves victims: of the care system, disadvantage, poverty and discrimination. But this truth has no traction in reactionary minds. TR is a race to the bottom. Probation staff, especially in CRCs, will see wages and benefits fall, but will clients be any worse off in the future than they are now?

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Lets look at it from the offender and the victim perspective - what are the benefits to them of TR? I foresee some probationers never getting off the merry go round of 12 months total supervision (-tive), but as 'hard to help' clients they will probably be parked with little input (+itive). Chris Grayling promised accommodation on release from custody (+tive) but happening near me any time soon? - don't think so (-ative). Innovative ways of working were to be the hallmark (+tive) but in my area we are still mired in the old ways with several additional bureaucratic layers to boot (-tive).

The splitting away of the Court and removal of the court officer function from CRC PO's means court reports and updates for CRC clients are largely written by those who have never met the client, ever (-tive). Victims hope that justice is seen to be done and sentences properly 'served'. Reporting to probation has a punishment element in the loss of liberty for that time slot (+ive) but 'parked' clients and reporting kiosks reduce this element to farce (-tive). DV and victims of physical violence especially would like to know the perp will not hurt them or others again, however understaffing and the draining away of the skills base is resulting in designated programmes not being run at all within some Orders lifetime (happening as we speak) - (a MASSIVE -tive). So, overall TR good for the clients and/or victims. Nope sorry, dont think so...

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Whilst I am no defender of these outsourcing shysters, I am of the firm opinion that the current sh*tstorm remains the fault of the MoJ and the birthday boy. The recklessly managed procurement process meant that information was poor, inadequate and a massive misrepresentation of reality. Sodexo have already admitted that they didn't know what they were getting themselves into and the chaos they are faced with is indicative of the poor preparation, lack of proper piloting and weak leadership from the ministry. The fact is Sodexo were never allowed to talk to the staff in the areas they were bidding for and the five star hotel they thought they were buying is a caravan in Skegness. Buyer beware. You have been compromised by more MoJ procurement fiascos.

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The criminal damage done to the service, as predicted by many, has created a situation where risk assessments are being skewed leading to arguments across the divide. With eyes now firmly off the ball, the chances of further sonnex-like situations increase. TR is tearing down the previous infrastructure of public protection.

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Time to play the blame game because it's far too late to do anything about changing it now. The top of the pyramid of fault is clearly firmly occupied by Cameron and Grayling. They'll be off soon to gold plated pastures new and good riddance. Grayling has single handedly destroyed the CJS across the board and will go down in infamy as the worst Lord Chancellor ever, and that's saying something as there have been a few bad ones.

Sitting immediately below them are Antonia Romero and Michael Spurr, their willing lackeys who can look forward to new years honours and a long and happy retirement. No doubt, when the books are written about how prisons, probation, the courts and legal aid were destroyed by this government they will employ the Nuremberg defence, they were only following orders. Below them are their army of willing civil servants, not one of whom had the courage to stand up and tell the people of this country that Grayling was playing fast and loose with public safety just to line his and his friends pockets with taxpayers cash. I bet he'll appear in the House of Lords with more than one lucrative non executive directorship before too long.

That's the politicians and their functionaries dealt with now let's move on to probation. Chief amongst the most responsible are the Trust Chiefs and Chairs along with gaggles of assistant chiefs and board members. With one notable and shining exception, the wonderful Joe Kuipers, the whole supine lot of them rolled over like the bunch of self-serving whimpering cowards they are. My board chair told me that if she publicly objected she'd be sacked and it was better to fight from within. Patronising bullshit then and patronising buckshot now. What if all of them had stood up to this madness and issued a back us or sack us manifesto? Could Grayling have sacked them all then? Well, yes he could but how would that have played politically and what message would it have given to the bidders?

Now, on to the unions. Unison's leadership should hang their heads in shame. After a huge majority for strike action in an indicative ballot they sat on their hands and did nothing to fight this. Presumably this was in the hope they'd hoover up members in the CRC's. Well tough luck chaps (and they are all chaps) cos the only people that'll be left in the CRC's will be recent psychology graduates on 20k a year who're only allowed to join employer-controlled staff associations. As for they're local leaders, what a shapeless bunch. They made excuses for their leaders and did little to exercise any influence in their 'democratic' (I use the word very loosely) structure.

Now for NAPO. The leadership reflect the membership, shapeless. They are more interested in preserving their precious professional integrity than preserving their jobs. Look how they walked into the Probation Institute. I bet Grayling pissed himself at that one. And finally, and this won't sit well with the blog readership, I blame every probation worker in England and Wales who failed miserably to fight for what they knew to be right. Who failed to take direct action at every opportunity. Who failed to take consistent persistent industrial action and who have ultimately let their communities, victims of crime and themselves down. Will the last person to leave the office please turn out the light. Xx

42 comments:

  1. Very interesting article here in the Guardian. Should all outsourcers of public services follow Sodexos ethical approach?
    (sorry if you've already read it).

    http://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2015/apr/02/private-companies-public-service-ethos-profits

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    1. I agree with those who regard Sodexo's so-called pledges as a PR stunt. I don't, for example, believe they are committed one iota to openness and transparency. If they were, the solution is simple: comply with freedom of information legislation – which is what public sector does.

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    2. The public service ethos – ethical values that drive public servants to improve society – has traditionally resided within the public sector alone. But now that an estimated half of public spending goes to outsourced companies, this is being challenged. Speaking on 24 March, Francis Maude, minister for the cabinet office, said he wanted a “public service ethos in the provision of public service”, irrespective of the sector. Speaking alongside him, Debbie White, chief executive of Sodexo UK and Ireland, unveiled her firm’s new public service pledge, describing it as an ethical manifesto for Sodexo’s public contracts.

      Sodexo’s 34,000 employees work across prisons, defence and healthcare, and many are former public-sector workers. White says the pledge is a recognition that running public services is a social as well as a commercial contract. Commitments include independent audits of government contracts, increased recruitment of apprentices and ex-offenders, paying the living wage for head office workers, and annual equal pay audits.

      This is, of course, also a PR exercise. Public trust in outsourcing is low following a number of high-profile scandals. “I think we’ve all got a role to play [in restoring public trust]”, says White. “We have seen a change in attention to the private sector … as a result of the G4S and Serco problems.”

      Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, went further. In a recent report he said there was a “crisis of confidence” caused by “contractors not appearing to treat the public sector fairly”and that there was a “clear need to reset the ground rules for both contractors and their departmental customers”.

      Can private-sector providers be trusted to voluntarily improve through such pledges? Reform, the thinktank, welcomes more transparency. Andrew Haldenby, director of Reform and former Conservative party adviser, believes pledges such as Sodexo’s are both ethically right and lead to better business performance.

      But the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) disagrees. Sodexo’s pledges “range from weak to utterly meaningless”, a spokesperson says, describing it as a publicity stunt from a company “which naturally wants to win more contracts from the government and public bodies.”

      Dave Johnson, national secretary for business, community and environment at trade union Unison, was more generous, calling it a “laudable first step”. But he says: “One contractor can’t do it on their own. This should be taken up and pursued through tighter procurement and commissioning regulations for everybody.”

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    3. Johnson says companies are compromised by the legal responsibility to create profit and deliver value to shareholders. PCS says obligations to shareholders are incompatible with the ethos of public service, where provision is determined by need, not money. “Private profit drives perverse incentives such as cherry-picking and undercutting,” its spokesperson says.

      White laughed off the suggestion and points out that Sodexo is 40% owned by its French founders. “We are not so short-term driven. The second point is that the government is spending taxpayers’ money and must ensure that they’re getting great service at the most appropriate cost. I think outsourcing has a very strong role to play in driving best practice.”

      While voluntary commitments help to raise the bar, Unison’s Johnson believes far more progress could be made through legislation. “In procurement regulations we have the opportunity to lay down moral, social, ethical and quality values,” he says. “It should be incorporated into procurement rules so that everybody bidding for that contract has to sign up to the very sorts of things Sodexo say they will do voluntarily ... [otherwise] it still leaves the bottom-feeders who will not sign up to something like this and will come in and underbid the more ethical ones. That’s what happens in a competitive market unless it is evenly and fairly regulated.”

      A Committee on Standards in Public Life report last year into public services also said commissioners should be clear about what they expect from suppliers to avoid contracts being won on price.

      The Social Value Act, Merlin standards for sub-contractors and new Cabinet Office guidance on transparency suggest a direction of travel for further regulation. However the National Audit Office points out that many of the standards expected of public services, such as integrity, do not easily translate into a contract specification.

      White argues that best practice should not be contractually or legislatively driven. “Relying on the contract as the answer to problems that we face [would mean] we are in quite a bad place,” she says. “Of course we will deliver against the contract. That is the minimum. But we want to have a different relationship with government around an open dialogue and partnership … our pledge is all about having a commitment beyond the contract.”

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  2. Will all these idiots please stop saying "driving". It's lazy, meaningless and says more about them than anything else. Learn some new vocabulary for fucks sake.

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    1. Driving you mad, eh? ;)

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    2. When they are not driving, they are deep diving or drilling down.

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    3. my absolute fave is "direction of travel"

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    4. Need to move on

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  3. They simply do not understand the whole ethos of public service do they? These idiots, Maude included, just continue to show their true colours. I was sooooo proud to be a public servant serving my community as a probation officer and it is all blown to the wind.
    I believe that the power to remove someone's liberty, either in custody or by complying with community penalties, MUST be only a function of the state. Furthermore,one that must never be outsourced, it too important. The very idea that others ( shareholders and senior managers of the companies on performance related pay) can £profit from crime and the victimisation of my fellow citizens is totally anathema. This is the principal of public service for me and to remove this kills altruism. Perhaps this is the moral high ground and perhaps it is so for a reason!
    A PO

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  4. The Editorial in the Colchester Gazette I mentioned yesterday is now on line - it may have gone to other Argent Group papers in Essex but by the fact it is trying to stop what has already happened as a consequence of "the spli" hints at the depth of ignorance among Leader writers among Regional news papers.

    http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/12864865.Echo_comment__Probation_Service_cuts_are_alarming/?action=success#comments

    I got involved on Twitter with the brilliant Unison Rep who contacted them in the first place she is worth following: -

    https://twitter.com/Andrew_S_Hatton/status/583953422505881601

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    1. This from the ECHO (ESSEX)?

      SWINGEING cuts in public services are nothing new.But they do raise some very serious questions.The news that Essex Probation Service has to cut 100 jobs across the county has led some people to raise concerns about public safety.Replacement arrangements have also yet to be revealed.The Probation Service plays a vital role in Essex, not only by monitoring offenders, but helping them to get back on the right track.Staff cover court cases to ensure judges have the best information available to them about how they can deal with a particular offender.They also monitor offenders after they have been dealt with by the courts to make sure they receive the correct support to help them abandon any drug habits which might lead them back into a life of crime.With jobs set to go, it rightfully raises questions about how the remaining staff will cope with not only their own workload, but that of their departing colleagues.The courts are not getting any less busy.Every day judges are dealing with a myriad of cases – anything from burglary to fraud.Assurances need to be given now, not only to those staff members who are about to lose their jobs, but those who are left behind.The public needs to know everything will be done to the same standard and, more importantly, how.

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    2. Responding to Anon at 13:06 here (I hope) is my edited response the Colchester issue of that newspaper published yesterday.

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CBrLqilW0AAXhYW.jpg:large

      It is rather better than what I emailed - especially the headline - what I sent was -

      " The Essex Probation Service you write of ceased operation on 31st May 2014.
      - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

      Dear Sir,

      I refer to your factually inaccurate editorial on All Fools Day.

      The question you pose at the end is about two years too late.

      Parliament chose to permit the former Probation Trusts, which were winning praise and prizes for the cuts in reoffending, to be disbanded and split so that there are two probation employing organisations functioning in every locality in England and Wales.

      The one that is facing massive redundancies does not directly serve the courts, but takes on the so called lower risk work, passed on by the local branch of the National Probation Service which does serve the courts directly. There is no requirement for staff at the Essex Community Rehabilitation Company to have any nationally approved trained staff, though trained staff are still required in the NPS.

      The decisions were taken by Parliament by February 2014, actually on the day the former Witham MP spoke briefly with me, when I called on her at the Houses of Parliament but she refused to discuss the detail of such issues as the future staffing that you are belatedly writing about.

      As far as am aware none of the Essex MPs were active in trying to prevent this increase of public danger forced on the public by the current and continuing coalition Government of Liberal Democrats and Conservatives. Most even voted to reject amendments to the very flawed Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014, which could have given MPs the opportunity to decide whether and how these major changes should be implemented. The legislation that enabled our current Government to introduce these dreadful changes was the 2007 Offender Management Act, introduced and implemented by the previous Labour Government.

      Unless there is a rapid change of heart by Government, which would involve breaking the newly let (1st Feb 2015) 10 year contracts, it seems we are stuck with this dreadful policy. Sadly, I suspect the staff did not realise the impact otherwise their two puny strikes may have been better supported and for longer than a day or so at a time.

      Incidentally The Essex CRC is a partnership between Nacro, who now style themselves, "the crime reduction charity" and Sodexo Justice Services, who are a subsidiary of "Sodexo (formerly Sodexho Alliance) a French food services and facilities management multinational corporation headquartered in Paris"

      Yours faithfully,

      Andrew S Hatton "

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  5. . I sometimes come on here and read what probation officers write about themselves. Almost my life, definitely my health, hope and trust was virtually destroyed by a probation officer et al. I always wonder how my experiences of probation and the opinions probation officers have of themselves can be so grotesquely different. People who have power over others should only be allowed to do so if they have the wisdom to match that power. I had to have 9 months of counselling to help me move on with my life. Has the counselling helped me move on with my life? No, not really. When I come on here and read what probation officers write about themselves, it makes me want to weep.......

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    1. Response to Anon at 16:08.

      Thanks for posting - I long ago (1975) realised to what an extent we are sometimes privileged and trusted with precious information and that our influence can have bad as well as good effects,

      I know I made some mistakes of judgement - some still trouble me today but I know also I made some interventions that enabled people to become independent functioning law abiding people and some that helped keep others away from vulnerable victims.

      I am glad that anon at 16:08 is able to remind us and I hope she or he can still achieve a better future.

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    2. I don't see much wisdom at work by generalising about probation workers. No one can go through life without suffering negative experiences at the hands of others from all walks of life, all colours and creeds. Unfortunately there is no natural correlation between wisdom and power, though it has appeal as an ideal.

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    3. Hello. I just wanted to thank Andrew S Hatton for hoping I achieve a better future. Well, I am very well on the way to achieving that better future. Despite having anxiety and trauma issues I am a winner and a survivor. I have been out of jail and off license now for precisely 1 year today. I am drug free and crime free. My main intent is bettering myself. My intent is the same now as it was all the way throughout my sentence. My response to Anonymous3 April 2015 at 17:12 who says I am generalising about probation officers is; I only have experience of one probation officer and that was the officer I wrote about in my post. I stated in my post that I was comparing my experience of that probation officer with what other probation officers write about themselves and what a massive difference there is. Therefore it is not a generalisation. To Anonymous3 April 2015 at 18:08, I just want to say I have never spat at, made allegations about, abused, lied about or behaved hostile towards my probation officer or any other prison worker for that matter. I am not responsible for that and I am not interested to hear that. I am only responsible for myself, not people I have never met and don’t want to meet. I used to be a hopeless and chronic drug addict. For a long time in prison I had very severe and painful problems. Yet I have transformed myself and my life. I will say that no probation officer or any other criminal justice worker in fact, have ever shown an interest in listening to my opinion or asking me in custody or out, how I stay clean and keep myself well. That is a tragedy. Criminal justice workers are too quick to talk about their qualifications and all that instead of how real and genuine change actually happens.……I had to fight against that probation officer and basically the whole prison system to be able to achieve the betterment I speak of……..Again, that is tragic……..

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    4. Thanks for posting and hope you continue to make progress and achieve all you want to.

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  6. To Anon 16:08 I have had good training to be a probation officer and came to my role in my late 30s with life experience and experience in related (useful) fields. I expected to work with resistant service users and did so. However it may interest you to know that I have experienced appalling treatment at the hands of service users too. Spat at, lied about, malicious allegations made in complaints process, blatant hostility at meetings - so much so I could not see him alone. This man, convicted of a serious crime, could not accept that a Probation Officer dared to try to work with him and used every trick available to him to prevent me from doing so. It happens and we get on with it - but it needed saying that we frequently take abuse in our roles too.

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  7. I see that the newly appointed PI board of directors is made up of ex trust senior Management including some who are now snr managers in CRCs) and accodemics! And they have the brass neck to write asking for £40 membership fee! Last you I agreed to management signing me up this year I won't renew even if my CRC offers to pay!

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    1. The probation institute is a fig leaf for the private companies. They would not waste time on it if they could not use it for their own ends. It is important that it never becomes a voice critical of TR and they can ensure that by manipulating it from within. What does the PI think of kiosks?

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  8. This blog is getting repetitive covering the same issues on a daily basis

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    1. Ex-Napo member3 April 2015 at 20:04

      Then by all means feel free to raise some new issues...

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    2. The alternative is to say 'its crap' once and then shut up. That's collusive. I will scream foul until I believe the operating model is credible.

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    3. If I were you I'd stop coming here for a while. Hopefully it will all have changed when you next return and be more to your liking.

      Fingers crossed X

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    4. Stay off this blog then.

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  9. @19:52 The same could be said about newspapers and politics, but people still read them everyday, just skip the bits you think are repetitive. The fact is the issues are still there everyday and haven't gone away, what do you suggest we do...ignore them?

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    1. No. Just bring something yourself that induces discussion and intellegent debate, no point in coming on and whinging that you don't like whatever other people are talking about or the days blog topic for the day.
      Moaning that you don't like what you're reading is just going to invite the response,
      "why don't you just go and read something that you do like"?
      The blogs a platform, provided by its author, for debate and discussion. There's no obligation to visit the site, and there's no obligation on the author or commonators to write or comment in any other way then they'd feel they'd like to.
      I don't like the Daily Mail, so guess what? I don't buy it, read it, or log on to its online sevices.
      As a result I don't moan about it or complain that its not providing me with the things I'd like to hear about.
      It's simples really!!

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    2. Sorry everyone. I'm gone. I didn't mean to upset anyone. I don't come across to well when blogging. All the best.

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    3. I presume you are also Anonymous3 April 2015 at 19:52

      I'm not in the service or directly associated with probation but get the sense that you may be. I can see that the feelings expressed on this site do not help the stress you may be feeling, but in the situation probation is in, this seems to be one place where people can detail their pain to friends. Please don't leave - Have your own say.

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  10. @Anon21:26 there is no need for you to go, just request you understand the strength of feeling still out there and against this hideous regime.

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  11. AND NOW

    -------------------------------

    FROM THE

    ____________________________

    BIOMETRIC UPDATE (NO LESS)

    ________________________________

    Biometrics technology to replace some UK probation officers

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    http://www.biometricupdate.com/201504/biometrics-technology-to-replace-some-uk-probation-officers

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    1. so it's official and 'out there' let's now just sit back and watch it all go belly up - even more than it already is !!

      btw: i'll be planting seeds in my offenders minds about not giving fingerprint/iris info to probation - that information could end up god knows where. I'll definitely be trying to sabotage at every opportunity as will other colleagues. Watch out Sodexo you've got a fight on your hands and maybe, just maybe individual actions can bring some of this tosh down unlike the wimpish attempts at striking.

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    2. Sadiq Khan is quick to speak against this in the Guardian article, what he continually fails to do, is tell us as taxpayers and not just staff losing our profession and jobs, is how he will stop it. Words are cheap, commitment and integrity not so.

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    3. April 3, 2015 -
      UK private probation operator Sodexo unveiled plans to introduce biometrics reporting kiosks for offenders to report in without having to physically meet with a probation officer, as part of a broader plan to reduce operational costs related to large-scale redundancies, according to a report by the Guardian.
      Sodexo, which operates six of the 21 newly privatized community rehabilitation companies in England and Wales, follows in the footsteps of several American jurisdictions that are currently using biometric reporting.

      The kiosks use fingerprint recognition technology to confirm the identities of offenders and allow them to report in, to provide and receive information, and to request a face-to-face meeting with a probation officer.

      Use of the biometric kiosks will be provided as a reward to those offenders who have achieved good compliance with the early stages of their supervision order or prison release licence.
      Sodexo will also implement a single, centralized administrative hub that enables operational staff to conduct face-to-face meetings with low-risk offenders via a call center, despite the majority of serious further offences being committed by offenders categorised as low-to-medium risk.

      In an email sent to employees on Friday, Martin Graham, CEO of the Sodexo CRC covering Norfolk and Suffolk, said they can expect to see a 34% staffing reduction.

      “I’m sure many of you will be shocked by such a figure but you need to remember that this figure is dependent on being able to deliver all the efficiency savings,” Graham wrote. “Whatever the final agreed figures, however, it is clear that we will need to make significant staff reductions over the next weeks and months. Some of these will probably have to be compulsory redundancies.”

      The total number of job losses for Sodexo is expected to hit the 700-plus mark.

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    4. Last week I emailed Sadiq Khan directly, asking what Labour's policy on TR is, should they come into power next month ... to date, I haven't had a reply.

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  12. Annon 21:26 , I'm annon 21:19.

    I didn't mean to sound harsh or reproachful. Just honest. The ship is sinking, and you spend your days wondering who's going to be the first causualties, who'll sink or swim, and if you're lucky you'll find yourself marooned on some desert island thats totally alien to you scratching out your survival in a world you don't belong to. If you're lucky??????
    Some days I wish I hadn't read this blog, I feel every commentators pain, fear and frustration. I don't like the content some days-it makes me feel unhappy.
    But its real.
    I'd much rather discuss the CJS in general terms without my personal concerns. Its not possible at the moment. Its not possible for many at the moment.
    So don't go, I'm sure you have a lot to contribute, but things are at the moment how they are.
    Don't worry about blogging either. Say what you feel and what you think.
    And don't worry about what response your comment might attract. Its a free world- and we all have our own opinions.

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    Replies
    1. I'm feeling and sharing every emotion you share above. The knife can't go much deeper and we have endured it for a long time now. We have a right to be angry

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    2. It's better to let your anger out (on here or anywhere else), then keep it all locked up inside.
      It's important to keep yourself safe, however angry, frustrated, or down in the dumps we get.
      Lifes what it is-shite for most- but it alwsys gets better somehow. It really always does!

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    3. Reply from Anonymous3 April 2015 at 22:15

      In many ways I agree with the above comments, but remember we have a vote.

      It may be the "best of the worst" but make sure the b****ers know what we care about.

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