Thursday 12 January 2017

A Forseeable Mistake

Continuing with our TR retrospective theme, just before Christmas an Editorial from December 2015 in the Independent was highlighted by a number of people on Twitter and I think it fits in rather nicely at this point in our deliberations:-   

Privatising probation services was a foreseeable mistake – and now we all stand to pay the price

When the Government flogged off 70 per cent of the probation service to the private sector earlier this year, the then Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, who was the driving force behind this change, insisted it was “great news”. The public, he said, would “finally benefit from the best of the private and voluntary sectors, working together with the public sector, to cut reoffending”. 

That assertion was widely contested, and with good reason. There is no sign of reoffending rates falling; the prisons minister, Andrew Selous, makes only the modest claim that the reforms are still “bedding in”. Meanwhile, as we report, part of the service may be taken back into state hands after Sodexo, the French firm running the South Yorkshire region, flunked a justice ministry audit. The report is a catalogue of shortcomings on Sodexo’s part, noting gaps in terms of safeguarding information, recording appointments, supervising offenders and more. It gave Sodexo until February to up its game, warning that its contract may be terminated. 

It would be easy to focus on the tragi-comic absurdity of choosing a company best known for supplying catering services to run a probation service but this would be to miss the point. The real problem with Mr Grayling’s changes is not which companies were chosen to run the probation service but the fact that it was privatised at all – without good reason, without pilot schemes and in the teeth of opposition not just from the unions but from almost every expert in the field. All the evidence points to this being privatisation of the worst type – driven by an obsession with free market principles and the belief that every department of national life can be turned into a money-spinner.

The sell-off might have been justified had the old probation service been a vastly expensive system of Byzantine complexity, but it was not. In 2013, the Ministry of Justice rated all 35 probation trusts in England and Wales as good or excellent. The old trusts also had the virtue of simplicity and clear lines of accountability, all of which have become blurred since Mr Grayling pressed on with divvying them up, handing 70 per cent to 21 private community rehabilitation companies, or CRCs, while keeping 30 per cent in state hands as the National Probation Service, the NPS. 

From the start there were concerns that the private contractors would be unprepared for the task. Even supporters of privatisation, such as the former prisons minister, Crispin Blunt, said Mr Grayling was “moving too fast” with a national rollout. The arbitrary 70-30 per cent division of assets has created a muddle, establishing two services delivering similar services where there had been one. CRC staff have complained that they are not able to see the files of offenders allocated to the NPS. Morale in the CRCs is dismal. No surprise there. One of Sodexo’s first announcements on getting the job in South Yorkshire was that it intended to axe hundreds of jobs. Union surveys show more than half of those working for CRCs are looking for new employment. 

The shadow Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, recently said Labour should renationalise the probation service by getting out of the contracts “as quickly as we financially and legally can”. This would be hard to do because Mr Grayling agreed lengthy contracts with the contractors that would be very costly to scrap. 

Almost everyone can see the damage that was done to the railways by privatisation. Because the work of the probation service affects only a minority of the population, there is far less interest in what has happened to it. This is unfortunate because if the probation service does not work we are all at risk in terms of rising crime. The current Justice Secretary, Michael Gove, is making a name for himself as a determined reformer of our broken prison system. He would do well to try to undo at least some of the damage that his predecessor inflicted on the probation service. 
I ran a department in the public sector prison service co-ordinating a wide range of support services for prisoners nearing release, varying from housing services, through mental health, education, employment and benefits to rehabilitation. We made wide use of volunteer groups and especially one to one mentoring. The system was complex, but cheap to run and effective. It worked in conjunction with the Probation Service to avoid duplication and to ensure public safety. It is now run by one of these CRC's, is completely ineffective and has become an excercise in box- ticking to ensure " contract compliance" , I.e  to get the money. The previous service had been widely praised as a good model for other prisons to follow, as we achieved a notable reduction in reoffending. Now, all gone to hell!
I ran a department in the public sector prison service co-ordinating a wide range of support services for prisoners nearing release, varying from housing services, through mental health, education, employment and benefits to rehabilitation. We made wide use of volunteer groups and especially one to one mentoring. The system was complex, but cheap to run and effective. It worked in conjunction with the Probation Service to avoid duplication and to ensure public safety. It is now run by one of these CRC's, is completely ineffective and has become an excercise in box- ticking to ensure " contract compliance" , I.e  to get the money. The previous service had been widely praised as a good model for other prisons to follow, as we achieved a notable reduction in reoffending. Now, all gone to hell!
I ran a department in the public sector prison service co-ordinating a wide range of support services for prisoners nearing release, varying from housing services, through mental health, education, employment and benefits to rehabilitation. We made wide use of volunteer groups and especially one to one mentoring. The system was complex, but cheap to run and effective. It worked in conjunction with the Probation Service to avoid duplication and to ensure public safety. It is now run by one of these CRC's, is completely ineffective and has become an excercise in box- ticking to ensure " contract compliance" , I.e  to get the money. The previous service had been widely praised as a good model for other prisons to follow, as we achieved a notable reduction in reoffending. Now, all gone to hell!
a department in the public sector prison service co-ordinating a wide range of support services for prisoners nearing release, varying from housing services, through mental health, education, employment and benefits to rehabilitation. We made wide use of volunteer groups and especially one to one mentoring. The system was complex, but cheap to run and effective. It worked in conjunction with the Probation Service to avoid duplication and to ensure public safety. It is now run by one of these CRC's, is completely ineffective and has become an excercise in box- ticking to ensure " contract compliance" , I.e  to get the money. The previous service had been widely praised as a good model for other prisons to follow, as we achieved a notable reduction in reoffending. Now, all gone to hell!
I ran a department in the public sector prison service co-ordinating a wide range of support services for prisoners nearing release, varying from housing services, through mental health, education, employment and benefits to rehabilitation. We made wide use of volunteer groups and especially one to one mentoring. The system was complex, but cheap to run and effective. It worked in conjunction with the Probation Service to avoid duplication and to ensure public safety. It is now run by one of these CRC's, is completely ineffective and has become an excercise in box- ticking to ensure " contract compliance" , I.e  to get the money. The previous service had been widely praised as a good model for other prisons to follow, as we achieved a notable reduction in reoffending. Now, all gone to hell!
I ran a department in the public sector prison service co-ordinating a wide range of support services for prisoners nearing release, varying from housing services, through mental health, education, employment and benefits to rehabilitation. We made wide use of volunteer groups and especially one to one mentoring. The system was complex, but cheap to run and effective. It worked in conjunction with the Probation Service to avoid duplication and to ensure public safety. It is now run by one of these CRC's, is completely ineffective and has become an excercise in box- ticking to ensure " contract compliance" , I.e  to get the money. The previous service had been widely praised as a good model for other prisons to follow, as we achieved a notable reduction in reoffending. Now, all gone to hell!

I ran a department in the public sector prison service co-ordinating a wide range of support services for prisoners nearing release, varying from housing services, through mental health, education, employment and benefits to rehabilitation. We made wide use of volunteer groups and especially one to one mentoring. The system was complex, but cheap to run and effective. It worked in conjunction with the Probation Service to avoid duplication and to ensure public safety. It is now run by one of these CRC's, is completely ineffective and has become an excercise in box- ticking to ensure " contract compliance" , I.e  to get the money. The previous service had been widely praised as a good model for other prisons to follow, as we achieved a notable reduction in reoffending. Now, all gone to hell!

15 comments:

  1. I don't read this blog as often as I used to as I no longer work in Probation. I will avoid detail but am working in another social work discipline which is unrelated to Probation (fortunately, my qualification pre-dated the DipPS so I am qualified, unlike many of my former colleagues). In simple terms, I do not like my new job. It is simply a means of making a living. I worked in Probation for 25 years and valued every minute of it. Leaving under the 'severance' scheme was a matter of deep regret for me personally and the decision was taken simply based on the fact that, a, I had been 'sifted' into a Sodexo CRC and, b, I could see where the model was going to take us and could not be party to it. Like most of us, I could see what was coming.

    Dipping into the blog this morning, there is no self-righteous glee at the fall from grace form the so called 'best in the business'. What I feel is a profound sadness that, like many of those forced out by the TR 'omnishambles', that I was forced to leave a career I loved at the whim of Grayling so that he and his MOJ cronies could screw the whole thing up, only to find, two years on, that the obvious shortcomings of the model were, as had been screamed aloud throughout this process, there for all to see.

    Speaking professionally, there are a range of issues that need to be looked at, not the least of which would be 'how the hell was this allowed to happen'. I just wanted to make a matter of record my sadness at the damage that this ridiculous process has done to the lives of the hundreds of committed professionals who had worked to create the 'gold star' service previously the envy of the world.

    The only way back in for me now is to apply for a post in the NPS which would mean a massive salary drop because my accrued salary rights before severance cannot be taken into account. That would mean a salary drop that I cannot sustain (and even which I feel aggrieved at having to consider).

    In short, I want to thank Chris Grayling and the sycophants that surround him for screwing up the professional lives of hundreds of Probation workers at all grades from admin to CEOs, not only screwing up the careers of your staff but massively undermining the ability of the state to address the almighty dog's breakfast that you have made of it.

    You had a duty of care to your employees and to the people of this country and you failed in it. Failed miserably.

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    Replies
    1. NO NO No you voluntarily severed so you made the wrong choice you could and should have stayed in kept together and fought but you chose the money. No sympathy for you as you left all your colleagues on the lurch as you ran.

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    2. Have you read the comment? Why so judgemental? That's unkind in my view. Individual's have choices to make and are entitled to make them.

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    3. I agree that the comment of Anon 16:53 is unkind. I believe there was very little input or guidance from the union when Sodexo was making people redundant. We have been through hell over the last few years. I was also sifted to crc against my will, whilst it is not a bed of roses on either side there may be little recognition of the devastating impact of being sifted has had on staff. Especially when within a few months the nps were taking on new unqualified staff and threats of redundancy hanging over people's heads.

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    4. The poster says no sympathy so it reads like it is meant.

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    5. The poster isn't asking for sympathy. It's an eloquent account of the unnecessary damage caused to a service which was working well, and with empathy express towards all those affected by it, whether they have left and suffer, or remain and suffer without. The response is unkind. I don't work with anyone who holds such bitter views and I don't believe the comment is genuine.

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    6. OP here. I fought. I went on strike every time. I went to every union meeting. I wrote to my MO. I did all that my union asked me to do and more. But, when the CRC was created, I was party to the proposed model being introduced by Sodexo and recognised that the battle I had been fighting was already lost. Had I stayed, I would have been compromised on a daily basis and could not operate in that environment. I made a choice that I would have preferred not be forced to make. I lost far more than I gained from it so no rubbing of hands here. My point was that I, and many of my colleagues were forced out because the powers that be wanted to introduce a new approach despite there being no evidence that the new approach would work - Grayling's hunch proved to be wrong. That new approach has proven to be deeply flawed and the insight offered by my colleagues and I dismissed far too readily.

      As for Anon at 16.53. You really need to consider the concept of 'voluntary' and link it to the idea of 'duress'. Your response is EXACTLY that of the new CRC employers. Freedom to choose is not the same as freedom of choice.

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    7. Whining many had the same scenario many now facing worse so.e are staying to fight you chose not to simple.

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    8. Taking money and walking away from the TR omni-shambles is no less dishonourable than taking money in the form of a salary whilst propping it up if you do not believe in it's efficacy. Many who walked did so because they recognised that the CRC approaches were not ethical, effective or defensible. We all took our positions as we saw fit. Those who remain are no more or less honourable than those who left.

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  2. " a range of issues that need to be looked at, not the least of which would be 'how the hell was this allowed to happen'. " ?

    Answer: - The UK parliament is not fit for purpose by not effectively voicing the grievances (word chosen carefully) of the populace, legislating effectively or holding the Government that it (effectively alone) appoints, properly to account.

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  3. I sit today with a hot water bottle and a mug of soup because the heating has broken and the MoJ will not allow people to use their own heater despite it being 'pat tested'. The problem will not be fixed for at least 4 weeks if we're lucky. I know of other offices where this is happening and is ongoing. This on top of all the other deteriorations and negligence to staff. I work in NPS, employed for 26 years with no prospect of retirement or early release and depression and resentment firmly getting hold of my soul.

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  4. Don't get the flu then because they'll get rid of u on sickness absence. You couldn't write it

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  5. "Leaving Prison
    The Untold
    Listen in pop-out player

    With unique access to Craig and the team working with him in Forest Bank, Producer Sue Mitchell records for six months before the October release date. Drug worker Paul Curran helps Craig navigate some of the issues behind his heroin and cocaine use and equips him with new ways of coping with the pressures he might face when he's free. He is now 36 and has been in and out of custody for most of his life, starting with an eight year sentence when he was just seventeen.

    Forest Bank, on the outskirts of Manchester, prides itself on the close links between the drug unit in the prison and the community team ready to take over on release. Craig's partner has had enough of raising three children on her own and wants him to finally get settled: some of the work involves family meetings as the couple discuss what life might be like. Another strong element rests with two former prisoners, themselves ex-addicts, who now work mentoring Craig and others as they detox on the wing and embark on therapy and group work."

    At present At present I cannot bring myself to listen to this - but others maybe interested, : -

    It is 28 minutes long and also available as a Podcast - presumably for the foreseeable future as no time limit is shown.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b087prhd

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  6. Have I missed something? A range of posts seem to have disappeared. I can't find any explanation or reason. Don't mind, would just like to know why. Have posters been jailed for badmouthing Grayling? Has JB been arrested? Has the blog been annexed? Or was I just in an opiate haze?

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  7. Low wages and no formal qualifications required. What are Sodexo thinking and what, if anything, do the unions have to say? http://www.sodexojobs.co.uk/jobs/job/IOMU-Team-Leader/20713

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