Napo Speaks Out

Taking a leaf out of the barristers book, I see Napo have chipped in with their pitch to prospective candidates. I'm going to say nothing:- 

Napo Manifesto Demands General Election 2017 

Napo – Trade Union and Professional Association for Probation and Family Court Staff. 

Napo is an independent non-affiliated trade union. 

It has been well documented that the justice system is in meltdown. 50% of the probation service was privatised in 2015 leading to ongoing failures by private providers and excessive job cuts. The family courts are now also at breaking point as workloads have become dangerously high and prisons are in chaos. This document sets out Napo’s demands for the 2017 election and what we want to see the new government take action on to save our justice system and its staff. 

End the public sector pay freeze 

Probation staff have suffered a six year pay freeze. An increase in public sector pay would also put pressure on private providers to review pay in order to keep them competitive.

Extend Youth Justice Boards to cover 18-21 year olds 

Youth Justice Boards have proven to be very successful at reducing reoffending rates. Extending them to work with this cohort of offenders would enable a smooth transition to probation, reduce reoffending and reduce the number going into custody. 

Full independent inquiry into Community Rehabilitation Companies 

The inquiry should review the contracts, performance and cost of private probation providers. Those shown to be failing should be brought back under public ownership using the power of the Golden Share. Accountability for service standards and local commissioning should be delegated to democratically accountable bodies, regulated and inspected by a national HMI Probation. There should be widespread consultation about the form this should take, with potential for pilots for Police and Crime Commissioners and Regional Mayors (e.g. in London where MOPAC are involved already in monitoring the CRC contract following the HMIP's report in December 2016). 

Promote Probation 

Half of the £1.3 million ear marked for building new prisons should be invested in probation. There needs to be increased dialogue between sentencers and all probation providers to help rebuild trust and confidence. Current government policy is very prison focused. We want to see a policy that sees prison as the last resort and focuses much more on community interventions. 

Reverse cuts to legal aid 

Specifically review the qualification thresholds for qualifying to improve the quality of justice and reduce the strain on professionals, especially in Family Courts. 

Increased funding for the Family Court Service 

The huge increases in cases particularly arising from greater focus upon child protection nationally is having a detrimental impact on service delivery. Cafcass is now at breaking point with many members working increasingly long hours to complete work. Review sentencing guidelines Prison sentences have gone up 27% despite a fall of 25% in sentences for serious crime. We need to develop a strong presumption against imposing short prison sentences. Increase problem solving courts to help reduce prison sentences being passed. 

Prison Reform 

A commitment to reduce prison population as reform cannot happen while prisons are overcrowded. Prison & Courts Bill does not go far enough. This should be reviewed with a greater involvement of prison and probation staff. Napo believes that there has not been enough thought or consultation into the proposal to increase the number of probation staff in prisons or the impact this will have on community resources or staff. 

Introduce a Licence to Practice for probation staff 

This is already under consideration in the MOJ and would provide protection for all staff and keep providers focused on training staff to the right level for the job they do. 

Workload crisis 

Workloads in both probation and family court are dangerously high. In probation this is exacerbated by staff shortages, ongoing job cuts and poor recruitment and retention. Probation staff in both the NPS and the privatised CRCs face enormous and increasing workload pressures with some staff carrying workloads of over twice the accepted safe level (i.e. ranges from 150% - 210% on the workload management tool measure) and many reporting caseloads of 80-90 clients. One member in a CRC told Napo, “I am constantly anxious and terrified that I'll miss something critical because I haven't seen someone or completed some task.” While another member working in the NPS told the union they had “..no time to do any offence focused work and are constantly firefighting.” 

In CAFCASS the workload has significantly increased causing stress and poor health to our members. It has a direct impact on the quality of work delivered and places the public at risk of harm.

--oo00oo--

I'll tag on edited highlights from Ian Lawrence's latest blog post:-

Napo's asks for this General Election

As we always have to make clear when approaching the mainstream political parties at General Elections, Napo is an independent Trade Union and Professional Association whose constitution prevents us aligning ourselves with any political party.

That said, we are entitled to ask important questions of those who seek to govern us and thats why we have finalised our 'Manifesto Asks' this week. This has gone across to the various political strategists in the hope that their responses will help our members to decide which party will do most to address the issues that matter.

As we say in our opening statemets, it has been well documented that the justice system is in meltdown with huge problems across its component parts. In probation we have the ongoing failure of the so-called rehabilitation revolution with many private providers in serious operational and financial difficulties, due to a combination of dodgy contracts and unsafe operating models and incompetent profiling of staffing needs. In the Family Court Service many of our members are at breaking point as workloads have become dangerously high. Prisons are in chaos (when have they not been) with levels of violence and self-harm seemingly beyond control and where, no matter how much money is thrown at the problem, staff are leaving in droves.

The full document can be seen here and we will publish any responses we receive.

PCCs have eyes on CRCs

As suggested in the manifesto demands, the notion that failing CRCs might be brought under the control of Police and Crime Commissioners or the increasing number of Metropolitan Mayors especially London is no longer a just fanciful concept.

Its clear from the intel reaching me that overtures are being made by a number of PCCs to explore if they might offer an escape route to CRC owners who may be at the end of their commercial tether or looking to find an honorable escape route.

There is nothing more substantial than that to report at the moment, but it introduces a new dynamic to the post-TR landscape which the new Secretary of State post-June the 8th would be wise to look at seriously.
Workload pressures and their impact are a huge issue for all members

I have just returned from a visit to Napo PBNI members in Belfast where Ranjit Singh and I also had a series of meetings with our sister union NIPSA, the Board's Chief Executive Cheryl Lamont and her senior management team Gillian Robinson and Paul Doran.

It was a pleasure and privilege to be able to spend valuable time discussing our members concerns and to explain our approach to the many problems that they face. These are not being helped by the current political uncertainties following the collapse of the Assembly and the parlous financial position which is in turn creating inertia in important decisions about paying up on the incremental progression that is a contractual entitlement for our members.

We will do all we can to find common cause with senior PBNI management to address this, and a joint approach will also be needed in finding a strategy to the alarming sickness absence figures that have just been reported across the workforce.

This will need sensitive and careful handling and some joint reserach into the underlying causes. The initial response from Cheryl and her team to our suggestion here has been very encouraging.

When enough is enough

As you will all know there have been a series of problems with the Shared Service division in terms of pay and pensions over a long period. One of the latest has been the diabolical mistreatment of PSO starters who have gone weeks without any sign of a salary payment.

Here's a typical example from one of our newest members as to what has been going on:

I started as a PSO in March and have still not received any pay. I have been contacting the recruitment services every day to find out when I will be paid but no one seems to know. At first there were delays with my security vetting but I've had all of this confirmed now and they keep saying I "should have received a call" but no one has been in contact. I received my offer of appointment contract and new starter form in April and returned this first thing in the morning. I am being told daily by SSCL that someone will "chase it up" and contact me within the day with an update but, again, I have received no contact so I am continuing to call daily to be told again that they will chase it up. I am going into my 8th week here and I do not have any money in my account - at the moment I am having to loan money from family members to get to work and pay for food and bills. I am not sure how much longer I am going to be able to do this for and I feel like I am not getting anywhere. I have tried escalating this repeatedly but with no result.

In Gravesend the other week we saw a remarkable show of solidarity for another member in similar circumstances when colleagues (including non-members I understand) spontaneously walked off the premises at lunchtime in abject disgust. I totally get where they were coming from and following this it was a relief to hear that the pay problem was resolved.