Pick of the Week 8

A bit late I know, but here's Sunday's round-up, delayed by our attention being diverted due to the fall-out from the referendum:- 

MOJ/NOMS. Read it and weep! You should be ashamed and humiliated for allowing this abysmal situation to occur. Why do you not act now whilst there is something left to salvage? Admit that this experiment has failed and remove the toxicity it has left behind. These private companies are not fit to run the CRC's. You have been severely negligent and have already allowed a brain drain and an integrity drain of frontline staff and managers now. This must be halted. It will never work. Things are getting worse literally every day. What more do we have to say to make you listen? Preserve what is already left, CRC staff who still care and believe, the managers with values who will be replaced by managers from Working Links and Sodexo etc. It will cost a whole lot more to put right if you leave it until the contracts expire. Stop the rot now!

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Differing CRC owners being arsey about accepting custodial transfers. Crown Court has allocated a case to our Area on the basis he was stopped on a motorway network in our area. He has absolutely no links to us. The area he should've been allocated to is insisting I keep hold of the case until all ROTLs completed and for me then to re-apply. Ridiculous! 

Loads of mistakes coming through from Courts, paperwork not being allocated with Child Protection or DV markers and so those cases being given to PSOs who upon reading CPS have to take them back to senior to be re-allocated but by this time they've been inducted and the clock has started ticking for the ISP. Court not notifying me of current orders who have been arrested on new matters and remanded meaning I've started breach proceedings un-necessarily, court terminating cases that are still LIVE! The list goes on and on. As a case carrying PSO it's a shambles.

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Risk-escalation 'ping-pong' between CRC and NPS. CRC applying to NPS for case transfer of risky case instead of recall. NPS not accepting and recommending CRC recalls asap. CRC wanting to shift responsibility to NPS and avoiding a failed case and potential risk of increased penalties to the CRC?

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How are CRC's with open plan offices coping with the CP groups? We have up to 60 max turning up on certain days, do they all pile in to open plan office? Or made to wait outside with the vans? Doesn't seem ideal at all. Wait for bad weather, reception may get busy!

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What really needs to happen is that the NPS & CRC's are shut down, it's back to real basics where a tailored individual programme for each person is developed based on what that person actually needs to stop them reoffending (as opposed to what "experts" think they need which is not the same thing) so you'd have to actually involve the offender in the development of the programme. People are far more likely to take ownership and comply if they are involved in a programme's development rather than being forced to do something some idiot has dreamt up and forced on them. Then you might just get the reoffending rate tumbling.

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Spare a thought please for colleagues in the NPS court team who have increasingly being asked to take on more responsibility for pieces of work that fundamentally misjudge the delicate balance with HMCTS and CRC. There is evidence that HMCTS are increasingly sidelining probation in courts due to their inability to respond flexibly to requests for assessments on the day, resulting in offenders being sentenced without reports. Not a surprise given that PSOs are being asked to take on a layer 1 assessments for medium trigger ROSH cases, as well as the RSR and CAS within record times, leading to delays and stress. Why bother with these assessments when, in the majority of cases CRC colleagues will not see the assessment post sentence. The split has also pitted PSO breach staff against CRC staff leading to numerous complaints across the board.

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Not long before they have to poach experienced PO's from CRC! Previous experience with high risk offenders, lifers, sex offenders? Likely to be a serious shortage of skilled and qualified probation officers over next 4 years in NPS!

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Whatever you call it, frontline staff who actually have the skills and experience to manage a highly complex group will soon be in very short supply. Private companies will find that they cannot replace them with unskilled staff whom they will hope to train up on a shoestring. And to the 'ACO' who says "these changes are happening', no doubt you would be more than happy seeing the service turn into a sweatshop with as few rights as possible, zero hours contracts and weak unions, all the better to exploit staff. But hey, that's progress! Off to the CRC staff briefing to see what the WL managers have to say about the organisation they know sweet FA about!

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Can this blog invite some significant TR advocate and explain what the hell their ambitions are and some evidence of their success. A good argument backed up by some solid evidence would surely make the malcontents like myself at least reconsider our position. C'mon England (and Wales)!!

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I'm currently off sick after finally being overwhelmed by TR stress! I feel so much better now but am worried about relapsing when I return to work. Nothing has changed and I know it's only going to get worse. How do I find a way to achieve a healthy balance when I have no control or stability at work? It's a dreadful situation I just wish it would all go away and leave me to do the job I'm good at, helping individuals to change their situation and have successful futures.

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Empathise a 100% with your situation. Was when r r you are 9 months ago. Ensure you are referred to Occupational Health, have recommendations for suitable support via EAP or GP referrals to community services. I received 1-1 CBT and anxiety management group. Ensure you have phased return and involve union rep to accompany you. Also a stress risk assessment. You may not be able to change the organisation, unfortunately, but may gain more control over your perceptions and work life balance. Take care, put your own needs and recovery first - it's just job, they can't do any worse to you. If you can't return, explore other viable options - all the best and hope you come through this all with belief in your ability to move forward.

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Wot "just a job!" Careful the Vocation Martyrs will be on your case. We are all marked by how many "extra miles" we are prepared to go, how much stress we can carry and how long we spend at the office telling each other how long we spend at the office. Until we fall off the perch and realise it cannot be done. Look after yourself, do your hours, try not to take all the crap home. In a month NOBODY WILL CARE about whatever you are doing now, not you, not your manager and not your client. 99% of the time we are wasting our time, the job is all about spotting the 1%.

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The above blog says it all really. No end in sight to this chaos. RSR not fit for purpose. Service users allocated to CRC that were previously high risk cases. Don't think Gove will do us any favours, ask the teachers what he did to them. Whatever the result of the referendum the decimation of public services will continue but the government will have a new excuse either because we stayed in or because we left the EU.

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The horrendous truth is out there. The American model tells us that there are people (businesses are made up of people) in the world that are perfectly prepared to operate a corrupt CJ system that imprisons people for profit. The approach of the US Justice system seems to be to pay private companies to incarcerate people thereby incentivising the CJS to imprison more people for longer and longer, especially if they are ethnic minorities. There is literature that refers to the use of prison labour in the US as 'the new slavery'. When you realise that these companies are THAT unscrupulous, you begin to recognise that all of the arguments against 'conflict of interest' and 'injustice' are futile. There are many that a satisfied with maintaining a thin veneer of respectability that allows them to cream off their profits. Once that is understood, the only option for the committed professional is to walk away.

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CRC's are screwed. In five years the average worker will be a person with an online counselling qualification on a three year contract topping out on 25k. You will be holding 100 cases and do as you are told with no autonomy. 25 days leave and no job security. The contracts will go to new providers every few years and you will all be TUPED regularly.

In the NPS it will be a PSO led job as more and more of the work is found to not require a PO. Already most reports are done in a hurry by people who know the least. Soon "low level sex offenders" can be supervised by PSO's. It will not be long before PO grade start to leave as the work is boring but relentless and stressful. As a PO in NPS I have two types of service user, boring and safe...OR distressing and terrifying, there are only so many rapists you can stand at once before it starts to bleed into your life "I hugged my son! Am I grooming him?" "Hmm how many people in this room are downloading images of abuse?" 

Frankly I don't need this in my head. NPS terms and conditions will decline as the "Industry benchmark" becomes the crap conditions in the CRC. Already I have gone 6 years without a substantive pay rise (A few scraps thrown at me a couple of years but never into my salary and so never into my pension)I don't expect to ever have one. In fact with the loss of car users allowance I am pushing £1000 poorer than I was in 2010 in cash terms. E3 is just going to lock in the stupidness. We are fucked, corporately, organisationally and personally.

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Consultation has always been problematic in my experiences with the former Trusts and now CRC and NPS albeit different issues. It doesn't matter whether you're CRC or NPS, consultation should have the same meaning but our employers all take a different view and attempt to circumnavigate consultation. We always get the fait accompli in the pretence of consulting on change. It's encouraging to see a branch pushing back on the employer to meet their contractual and legal obligations. The ship maybe sinking, but at least this branch is looking to save its crew and not leave them to drown.

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Attended the WL briefing few weeks ago. I don't think WL quite get their responsibility for public protection. Very worrying! I am all for empowering offenders in a positive way but their approach was all: 'what would the service user want' 'how can we serve them?' No mention of victims such as partners being assaulted! Is this REALLY what the government intended? NOMS AND MOJ you need to get involved and get the act together.

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So WL are doing a very good job at destroying BGSW CRC. The final blow comes with the closure of the purpose built HQ next to the courthouse in north Somerset! Just a few remaining staff rattling around in what used to be a hive of activity. Last remaining staff will be hived off to cheap digs no doubt saving WL more cash. No more training rooms and complete loss of identity for an increasingly fragmented service. WL still talking about their estates! What estates? Staff squashed up sharing increasingly cramped spaces and service users having to trail down to Bridgwater for groups from town like Clevedon! So called community hubs which actually mean a library with little or no private interview space. WL watch your targets plummet as staff fight over inadequate desk and interview space. A case of musical chairs but no winners!

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I feel exactly as you do. Going through this crazy mess and going from a purpose built office to a shoe box has only brought me closer to the service users who are pretty gobsmacked at what is going on! Sort of 'we are all in this shit together' so let us make the most of it. Most service users being very gracious about having to be interviewed in public when no office space, but a few are not happy and will probably lodge complaints.

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This is part of the reason why we are in the mess we are in. This article refers to 'Offender Managers'. No one knows what that means. Today I met a young man for the first time and completed the pile of forms, repeating over and over again his name and date of birth and both of us signing each individual document. I started by saying that throughout this paperwork, he would see me being referred to by various titles, Offender Manager, Supervising Officer, Responsible Officer; but they all mean me. And I am your Probation Officer.

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In the midst of this quagmire, in the face of the horrendous situation that dedicated probation staff and service users now find themselves in, this story of one remarkable man just inspires me to continue in my PO role. I've wanted to walk away - actually run like the clappers - from the job I loved. But probation is not just a job, it's a vocation and I will continue in the hope that some day soon the people up there in their ivory towers at NOMS realise the complete and utter devastation they have reeked on this amazing profession. Thank you Jim for publishing this story - it's given me the kick I needed to continue. Defiant, I refuse to let the bastards grind me down and will be a probation officer to the end. Stuff targets and stuff the trillions of directives that pour down the shoot daily. I'm here to help people turn their lives around.

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It has always been the big dilemma for anyone working in public service. Are we part of the problem or part of the solution? We do what we can but, because we do what we can, those who create and maintain the status quo can respond to criticism by pointing at us and saying 'look at what s/he is doing for the poor'. This is where the professional associations should come in; 'we do what we do but it is not enough and YOU POLITICIAN need to address this'. I can't help feeling, though, that the professional associations are now gagged by Government. We need people like Bob now more than ever.

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Colin Allars is jumping ship and moving to YJB with undignified haste - in July, none of the more usual 3 months notice/lead time on such senior posts here. Has he jumped in to a lifeboat, or was he pushed? Who will replace him? - maybe no-one, the post might just disappear again as it did when they introduced ROMs and moved Roger Hill out of his Probation figurehead job. Wouldn't hold my breath on any replacement being from a Probation background that's for sure. God forbid they draft in the likes of Yvonne Thomas, tempting them back from the private sector, though wouldn't surprise me.