Game Over

By nature, although probably a pessimist, in most situations I strive to look for the positive and that's generally been my approach to this blog, but I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that it's all over guys. The recent trumpeting of a professional register by the Probation Institute and the deafening silence from Napo in the face of a barrage of questions from members just serve to confirm what's probably been the situation for some time, probation is finished.

Despite having a huge amount of respect for the likes of Sue Hall, former CEO of West Yorkshire Probation Trust and Chair of the Chief's Association and now Director of the Probation Institute, she seems blissfully ignorant of grass-root feeling towards the PI. Ever since its launch jointly by the MoJ, Napo and probation employers at the height of the battle against TR, it's been viewed as nothing more than a Trojan Horse by many in the profession. Any attempt to suggest otherwise on this blog has meet with a resounding raspberry and all the indications are that this view persists - and there's a feeling the scheme is rubbish anyway:-  

It's a very confused register. For instance, an ex-client working as a peer mentor could join as an Associate Member for £10-40. Same goes for a volunteer or student. If either of these groups are employed by any organisation providing probation services but have no qualifications, for £40 they could become a Registered Member and add MPInst to their name. A qualified and employed probation officer has to pay £60 for the MPInst privilege which rises to £80 as an Advanced member if they declare a Masters degree. It's unclear where one has to be "employed" to meet the criteria of Category C MPInst, but managers also meet the Category D 'Advanced' criteria if they have 3 years management experience and a Masters degree but are not required to have a probation officer qualification. Managers of Category B who may not have probation experience also meet the Category D criteria if they have a Masters degree. For £100 nearly anyone can become a Fellow and use the letters FPInst, which is dependent on showing a contribution to the sector or expertise with two supporting referees.

Let's take Jim Brown as an example. He's a probation officer and wants to join the register. He pays £60 and becomes a Registered Member. He's not happy that the Sodexo managers that have barely seen a probation office are Advanced Members so he declares his Masters, pays an extra £20 and becomes an Advanced Member too. Not contented that the MPInst letters on his email signature are in use by volunteers and all of the PI linked UserVoice who paid £40 less. He decides to up his game, declare his blog identity and for a further £20 becomes a Fellow and updates his title with FPInst. He then realises that FPInst is more worthless than MPInst as it's been pimped out to not only current/former chief officers, but also academics, privateers, self-declared justice experts and others that have never stepped foot in a probation office but were not content with being Associate Members.

Even if we did need a professional register, this money grabbing format that was clearly designed to backslap our current/former leaders and romance the privateers, is definitely not the one! What says Napo?

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Love it! Just looked up the PI membership levels. If I'm reading it right, to be a professional member level C you need a professional qualification BUT for the higher level D you DO NOT need a professional qualification! I have many friends and associates with MBAs who have worked in various settings and it appears they can become a probation manager for 3 years then register at a higher level than me with my relevant degree, probation qualification, 15 years experience and continued professional development. Which other 'professional institute' would allow this?!

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I thought it was only dubious academic set-ups from which you could buy letters to put after your name. Seems not, as the Probation Institute is now in the marketplace. For your money you can suffix MPInst. I am not aware of any rules that govern this process. Anyone can set up a society, or whatever, and then charge a registration fee for the privilege of using what are called post-nominal letters. The PI needn't stop at letters, they could start flogging a coat of arms and then members could wear epaulettes and bits of gold braid. And there's always tattoos for the enthusiastic. Anyway, seems probation staff don't need any more letters in addition to what everyone already gets for free: JFDI.

--oo000oo--

I'm reliably informed that the NPS is currently putting 750 people through probation officer training, but there are nowhere near that number of vacancies likely within the Service and especially in the light of the impending budget cuts announced by the Chancellor. There are not likely to be any PO vacancies within CRC's because as we all know, redundancies are imminent and the role of PO will almost certainly disappear just as soon as the new owners can manage it. None of them understand probation, but they now make all the key decisions. It's utter madness.

In any event, as Saturday's Guest Blog 39 graphically outlined, even the infamous 'best of the best' NPS seems to be morphing into a bureaucratic nightmare, admirably confirmed by others on this site:-

Thank you for your guest blog. There you have it straight from the front line, a snap shot of what is undoubtedly replicated right across the country. I adopt many strategies in order to cope, but the best one is to keep my head down, in an attempt to avoid detection from above. I understand whilst this is effective for me, it is not always possible to adopt such a strategy. I too have seen my colleagues crying, being sick and then going off on long term sick. Amongst my colleagues there is still a sense of support and camaraderie and if I want anything I go to my colleagues first.

I too do not read any "communications" from central control. There is no time. I have one priority, my caseload. Paperwork, targets are a low priority. I will always help my colleagues and see people who come in for others. I ask myself above the coal face who is there for us? It feels like a void. Indeed if there can be "nothing" it almost feels like nothing.

NAPO I feel a loyalty to office reps and local officials, but it stops there. Again it feels like after them there is "nothing". Plenty of "communications", but PLEASE LISTEN NAPO, it feels like no one up there at the top table is actually doing anything to help us out down on the shop floor.

I have been in the service 20 years plus and feel exhausted with it all. I am a person that is super optimistic, but sadly I do not see this entire sorry situation improve anytime soon. I hope I will live to see the entire welfare state, health service, public transport and our service once again back where it belongs, entirely in the public sector. Until then I continue to fight against this rotten system wherever I can. See you in London on 20th June.

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NPS now have a system with process maps for every NPS process. All the relevant PIs are attached to each process. It looks good apart from there are about 300 processes to re-learn. Disciplinary threatened if you miss a step in a process.

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Yes - looks good so long as the (a) IT is working at all and (b) can load a page before timing out. Then there's the implicit assumption that each process map covers all eventualities. Additionally - I forget - does whatever workload measurement too in vogue this week have an allowance for the amount of time per day spent looking at the little Microsoft hourglass where the cursor used to be? If not, it needs to.

--oo000oo--

I think it's increasingly hard to disagree with the view often expressed on this blog that the Napo gameplan throughout TR has simply been to hang on to as much cash as possible in order to pay for staff redundancies and arrange a merger with another union. The leadership has been abysmal and structural deficiencies glaringly obvious to all but the Napo top table. They continue to fiddle as Rome burns as the saying goes. Membership is leaching weekly; legitimate questions from the membership go unanswered; check-off looms; cash gets divvied-up and the top table 'negotiate' with CRC owners over redundancies. Confidence is at all-time low, but they just carry on regardless at the top:-

I am completely fed up with NAPO. They have failed me and many more members. The best they can come up with is a survey. Everyone in our office was laughing. NAPO has absolutely no shame. It's fucking unbelievable. 

I have been a member for the past 9 years. I have never needed to call upon their help regarding disputes, thankfully. However, what I do expect is NAPO to represent my interest as a UNION. So far their whole strategy around TR has failed. NAPO are rapped up in secrecy i.e. Jonathan Ledger and we have a fucking union that is getting into bed with the Probation Institute. Has NAPO got any self respect or what? Disgraceful. Come Sept I have no intention of signing my direct debit mandate. I have paid them enough for what.... NOTHING.

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I agree with some comments made here, however I am anxious that all this NAPO bashing is doing us no favours. National NAPO are far from perfect. I'm a Vice-Chair on my local branch exec and we are all frustrated with NAPO nationally but slagging them off on a forum like this isn't helpful. We are the members, if we aren't happy with them lets do something about it and take back our union. We need to keep NAPO alive, I don't want to become part of PCS or god forbid Unison!! I want to be in a probation specific union. If we don't like how things are being run, lets get together and do something about it. As they say, talk is cheap! Our members in CRC and NPS are struggling, we need to be strong and unified. I can't carry on with this job the way it is, NAPO is the only way we can make improvements locally and nationally.

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Why do we need to keep the union that ballsed up the opposition to TR? Also, do you have any regard for admin colleagues (god forbid Unison!)?. 'Not helpful' is usually PC shorthand for 'you are telling the truth and it isn't what I want to hear'. Go back to the censored and manipulated Napo forums. This blog is not for the likes of you. God forbid!

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NAPO is not the only way and we don't need to keep NAPO alive. Don't flog a dead horse. Let's merge with Unison or PCS and be part of a proper union. Probation isn't big enough or important enough to stand alone. It's time to stand together as the wider public sector.

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In my view it's not even worth contemplating a palace coup at the AGM because who is competent and waiting in the wings to take the reigns? The cynic would say that member dissatisfaction is likely to result in a slow take-up for places at the AGM anyway and the possibility of inquoracy just plays into the hands of those at the top keen to see the status quo continue. 

It really pains me to say this, but I think Napo is finished because I see no sign of anyone emerging who is capable and strong enough to take on the General Secretary and instigate a root and branch revamp of internal structures from top to bottom. I mean look at this - just more of the same:-

OPEN LETTER FROM CHRIS PEARSON, NAPO MEMBER ESSEX BRANCH

June, 2015

Dear Branch Chair

I am writing to seek the support of your branch for nomination to the post of Vice-chair (with additional responsibility for finance). Our Union has been struggling against the most serious threat from a government that appears hell bent on putting the public as they drive ever onwards with their ‘public sector bad, private sector good’ mantra. 

As interim national Chair last year I was proud to take the fight against privatisation to the limit. Unfortunately, our small union just wasn’t able to take on the might of a juggernaut government determined to push through TR no matter the cost. Now more than ever our members need a union that will promote their interests in the most difficult of circumstances, defend public safety and ensure that jobs are secured for the future. 

This isn’t an easy time for Napo; organisationally, politically and financially the coming months and years are likely to be trying. This government has made clear its intention to assault unions through the limitation of facility time and the removal of check-off for subscriptions. I believe it is essential the union has an officer who:

• understands finances,
• will ensure that a deficit budget isn’t set (as has been again this year),
• will properly account to the NEC for all expenditure,
• has experience of managing budgets up to £millions,
• recognises the importance of having comprehensive and fit for purpose financial regulations,
• and will focus expenditure on protecting members’ futures

I joined Napo just weeks after starting as a Trainee Probation Officer, have held local branch positions and was a member of the National Executive Committee for a number of years. When the need arose last year I stepped up to take on the Chair’s role to steer the union at a critical time.

Our union needs strong leadership across the Officer group as we move into the new era. I offer such leadership, with experience of managing large finances. 

I would welcome a nomination from your branch.

Thanks

Chris Pearson

--oo000oo--

I really do sense a growing body of practitioners wanting to throw the towel in and it angers me immeasurably to have to agree with them. I can't see any hope of saving this once proud and honourable profession that shows every sign of imploding daily. This is not an untypical view:-

I am not concerned about TR anymore. They broke it. End of. Now I just have to engineer my departure for an employer who has some idea of what it is doing and a chance of actually achieving something of value. That used to be Probation. Then came Carter and then came chaos. Nothing to worry about. It is over. Probation, on both sides of the divide, is about to become a 'joke' service like the Border Agency, the Work Programme, Domiciliary Care Services, Court Translation Services, Local Authority Housing Departments (that offer no housing), NHS hospitals where people die of thirst or hunger.... you get the idea.

Anything outsourced is doomed to deteriorate. I cannot think of a single service where this has not happened (speak to the staff and service users, not the management or politicians). It's all gone to s*** because the politicians are corrupted by their own ambition. Nothing to worry about.

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Thanks you are so right, probation as we knew it has ceased, it is smashed beyond repair. Personally, I am working on my exit strategy. Public service as it used to be is consigned to the dustbin. MPs are the only people who believe themselves to be public servants now and look what a self serving shower they are, there's a gravy train and they and their cronies are the only ones riding it.

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The astonishing truth is that there is no one who we can trust to speak authoritatively for the profession, let alone be in a position to try and save it. It seems to be left to a very grumpy PO at the tail end of his career to provide a platform for others to record the lingering death for posterity. What a sad bloody state of affairs this has turned out to be colleagues.....