Another damning HMIP report on Working Links
Union claims Probation services in Gloucestershire are in crisis
The leader of the largest trade union representing Probation staff in England and Wales today claimed that service provision in Gloucestershire, part of the Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) owned by Aurelius/Working Links is in a state of chaos and represents a danger to public safety.
Ian Lawrence, General Secretary of Napo (the trade union for Probation and Family Court workers) said: “The release of yet another damning report from Her Majesty’s Inspector of Probation (HMIP), about inadequate service provision in Gloucestershire is further proof that our predictions prior to the privatisation of the probation service have proven to be correct. This must raise serious questions as to whether Aurelius/Working Links ought to be stripped of its contract and the supervision of its clients restored to public control.”
The HMIP report by Dame Glenys Stacey says that higher risk individuals within the management of the National Probation Service (NPS) were well served, but that the picture is altogether different for clients posing a medium and lower risk of harm in Gloucestershire who are managed by the Bristol, Gloucester, Somerset and Wiltshire Community Rehabilitation Company (BGSW CRC).
The inspectorates report highlights systemic failures in managing the risk of harm, applying measures to help offenders move away from crime, and inadequate delivery of Court sentences. The inspectorate also says that despite the ‘heroic’ efforts of staff, the service provided by the Aurelius/Working Links enterprise was nowhere near the standard expected.
The inspection looked at the quality of probation work carried out by the CRC and the NPS and assessed the effectiveness of work undertaken locally with people who have committed crimes. This was the second inspection of adult probation work under the control of a CRC owned by Working Links and the first covering the NPS South West & Central Division.
Ian Lawrence added: “This independent report is among the worst I have ever seen, but I am not all surprised. Napo and our sister unions have been in dispute for well over 18 months as we have tried desperately to get proper engagement with the employers who have refused to recognise the myriad problems that we have been raising and which have now been identified in the HMIP report. How this company has just been given another £4.5 million of taxpayer’s money is beyond belief.
Our members report the sheer exhaustion of trying to maintain an unsafe operational model which offers minimal face-to-face supervision of clients. There are also huge problems as a result of staff cuts of around 40%, resulting in high absence figures, massive caseloads and a damaging loss of morale. In short, our members are telling me that their employer is unfit for purpose.”
The union is calling for a full Parliamentary enquiry into the impact of the Transforming Rehabilitation programme implemented by former Secretary of State Chris Grayling in 2014, which allowed private companies to manage probation services.
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From the report:-
Foreword
We report here on our inspection of probation work in Gloucestershire.
According to published performance reports, the division of the National Probation Service (NPS) that includes Gloucestershire was not meeting all the targets, and on some measures results were lower than in other divisions. On the other hand, the Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) was performing well compared with other CRCs. However, we found a more nuanced picture on the ground.
When we looked at the quality of work undertaken, we found that the NPS in Gloucestershire was performing reasonably well in many respects. The court team was providing a good service, and cases were then allocated correctly. NPS case assessments were thorough, and plans realistic. The public were protected from harm. Those under supervision were seen often enough, with any failure to attend dealt with appropriately. But in the majority of the cases we reviewed, NPS efforts to rehabilitate offenders often came to little or nothing, either because the offender disengaged or because, in those cases where specific interventions were planned to help the offender turn away from crime, the interventions were not actually delivered.
We did not find such a coherent picture at the CRC. At the time of the inspection, Working Links had not been able to implement its plan (as set out in the contract bid) that a single responsible officer would support the offender throughout. Instead, offenders were being transferred between workers for operational reasons, and also as a result of painful staff reductions. Yet desistance literature emphasises the value of strong, meaningful relationships; our 2016 desistance thematic inspection (for youth) found the same, and practitioners know this from experience and professional studies.
What is more, the operating model was not even working as it should. The proposed Community Hubs are so promising, but at the time of the inspection they had not been established. The interventions team that was to deliver rehabilitation activity requirement days was not fully functioning either. The Operational Hub was not managing the proportion of cases expected. Unpaid work was not being provided as it should.
Caseloads were plainly unreasonable. As we have come to expect in such situations, managers and staff were making heroic efforts, sickness absence levels were high, and the quality of work was poor overall because staff were over-burdened and not given the professional support expected. The quality of assessment and planning was mixed, but in any event, plans were not being followed through anywhere near well enough and some offenders were not being seen often enough. As a result, the public were more at risk than necessary, and offenders who could turn their lives around were being denied the chance to do so.
This is not as government intended, and I hope that remedial action is taken by Working Links and by government.
Dame Glenys Stacey
HM Chief Inspector of Probation
August 2017
Staff working for not-working links have been saying things are pretty desperate in working links three CRC areas for many months. Now they have the proof in this inspectorate report. Yet only today a senior member of staff had the audacity to issue an all staff notice basically saying 'thanks for your hard work but you must do better'! Staff are completely demoralised ans this is what they get at the start of the working day and just before a major I.T outage on the WL's WIFI system, which means no skype calls either. I hope that NAPO are successful in their lobbying for a full government enquiry into effects of TR. Someone needs to step in now to support the remaining staff at WL before it gets any worse.
ReplyDeleteNobody will listen - staff have been banging their heads against walls long before June 2014 when the split occurred.
ReplyDeleteThere will be no front line staff left soon!
ReplyDeleteJudge slams probation for saying benefit cheat with MS can't do unpaid work
ReplyDeletehttp://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/judge-goldstone-probation-service-liverpool-13557104#ICID=ios_MENNewsApp_AppShare_Click_Other
A judge has accused the probation service of insulting people with disabilities after they said an accountant with MS was unable to carry out community service.
DeleteIn a strongly worded attack Judge Clement Goldstone, QC, said ‘wheelchair users are not second class citizens’.
Pierre Courtney, 55, had been found guilty of a £43,000 benefit fraud but a probation report said his physical condition meant he could not do community work.
Judge Goldstone, the recorder of Liverpool, disagreed saying Courtney was as ‘bright as a button’ and added: “It is an insult to many people with multiple sclerosis whose brain power is unimpaired to say because of their disability they are not fit for unpaid work.”
“I want this man to do unpaid work and I don’t accept that suitable work cannot be found.” Goldstone demanded probation officers in Cheshire make further inquiries and on Wednesday sentenced Courtney to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered him to carry out 180 hours unpaid work.
Judge Goldstone told Courtney that he was an intelligent man who should put his abilities to better use than defrauding the Department of Work and Pensions. He added: “I believe there are very few people in this world who are incapable of unpaid work as a means of repaying the debt they owe to society.
“It is very important that you and people who suffer from Multiple Sclerosis are allowed to have their self-esteem fully valued and appreciated.”
Courtney, who appeared in court in a wheelchair, had pleaded guilty to making a false statement to obtain benefit and failing to declare a change in circumstances involving a total of £42,307.
Kevin Slack, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that Courtney, of Salters Lane, Macclesfield, legitimately began claiming employment support allowance in the summer of 2010 but by the following January he had started working for Lancore Merchant Services as a self-employed accounting manager. He did not declare this to the DWP and in June that year he separated from his wife and moved into rented accommodation in Macclesfield where he began claiming housing benefit and council tax benefit.
Working links don't give a toss about the probation inspectorate report. Their stance is to blatantly ignore or disagree with the person tasked to make decisions regarding their performance or lack of. Rather than accept any culpability and explain how they will improve the situation they 'box clever' and give the usual spin about how great they are doing in certain areas of contract such as women's services. Providing a limited service such as Nelson Trust does not mean you are providing a great service for women, particularly when probation staff are cut to the bone and struggling to provide adequate support to any of their service users , be thst male or female. Their response to probation inspectorate is mirrored in their treatment of staff. Treat them with disdain, ignore their complaints or suggestions for how to improve the situation, reduce their authority, bury head in sand and keep taking the cash that MOJ seem happy to dole out at taxpayers expense. Probation Inspectorate should assume that if one corner of WL CRC is failing then it is likely the rot will have spread throughout the whole apple.I sincerely hope that PI will now prioritise this and send inspectors to all WL areas within Wales and South West to determine whether the entire area is underperforming. It would then be a question of what to do. In my view the only solution would be to either return the service to public ownership and re-unite with NPS or put someone else in charge of Working Links Justice who would oversee matters, make a full assesment of the situation and decide whether WL are fit to continue and enforce good practice. The other possibility is a full government enquiry into TR but how long would that take and can we wait? I think the second option would make the most sense but we would need Probation Inspectorate to get on board and inspect the whole WL Justice area to push this forward. Surely if they determine that the entire area is failing the MOJ would have to do something immediately? My belief is that were someone given the role of taking over WL Justice leadership they would quickly realise the extent of the problems and their inadequate management of the service. The MOJ need to realise that throwing money at the problem will not solve it as a compulsive gambler will keep feeding that machine whatever the odds and the debts will only increase. I believe the situation is actually much worse than it seems because there is a culture of secrecy in the whole organisation. There is little direction now. Middle managers are overworked and fire fighting. Supervision is a thing of the past. New in post admin staff are tasked with allocating all cases.There has been no mandatory risk management training for over 2 years. Offices are inadequate and temporary. Interview space is limited. Service users are having numerous changes of OM as staff leave or go off sick. Staff continue to leave or go on long term sick.caseloads are rising.recruitment and retention of staff ongoing problem. Employing agency staff at huge cost to plug the gaps. Morale at all time low. Caseloads rising. Increasing number of offenders remotely managed by phone contact rather than face to face. Could go on and on.
ReplyDelete