Monday 30 October 2017

Reaction To Panorama

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We welcome your reaction to tonight's Panorama expose of Probation. Remember this page is public. The private message device can also be used.

As is often the case with Panorama, it only scratches the surface in terms of acknowledging the levels of incompetence and self interest that was involved in the creation of the new structures. I only lost my career. Some people have lost a lot more.

It was a ill conceived reform that was rushed through by Chris Grayling, the then minister, without trialling, designed to save money and serve as Conservative political dogma. The changes have compromised probation and community rehabilitation companies making a previously difficult job almost impossible to supervise offenders adequately. Unfortunately, as a result, innocent people are and will be at risk of becoming collateral damage.

No surprises in the programme which seemed quite fair and accurate.

I think it got the message across about how we’ve all been shafted. No mention of Chris Grayling though. Also I would like to have known more about the NPS case featured as there were clearly indefensible decisions made but how overworked, inexperienced, unsupported was the officer involved?

There was a more detailed account of that dreadfully sad case in the Guardian.

I wasn't surprised by anything in the programme. I doubt it will change anything. I was made redundant last December and to be honest I am glad to be working in the private sector.

The programme was quite measured and got the message across. I do however struggle with the view that private equals bad. I work for a CRC and am the same qualified person I was before the split, trying hard to do a good job under difficult circumstances. Every day I see dedicated staff who work hard to support people, protect the public and reduce reoffending but because we are no longer NPS we are seen as somehow less qualified or less experienced.

Missing the point Xxxxxxxx.

Xxxxxxxx well said, its not the officers who are failing but being failed, along with the offenders and the public.

I don't think the officers are less qualified. They are just being required to perform impossible tasks as to the numbers they work with and still on the whole they deliver and at times deliver miracles.

I don't see it that way at all. When the split of NPS and the CRCs occurred, many fine and effective probation officers found themselves in the newly formed CRCs. A majority of former colleagues are working in CRCs and are labouring under excessive caseload and bureaucracy. A probation officer or probation service officer is only as good as the system they are working in allows them to be. This is true of the NPS and the CRCs.

Totally agree with this and this needs to end as we are all the same skilled colleagues at all levels that we were before this disastrous and shambolic split.

Well said Xxxxxxx.........No one listens to the staff trying to make this work....we didn't have a choice in any of this. I dare say we won't be listened to now either. I work in a very strong team but targets seem to take priority over everything else. I also believe that NPS are struggling as much or more than CRC....

Sadly this only scratches the service.

Breaks my heart to see our once gold star service in tatters.

The Program gave a clear view of the issues faced by staff in both the CRCs and NPS and the devastating impact on the public when probation services breakdown. Sadly the public only becomes aware of what probation does when it fails. Our successes are never acknowledged by the public or probation management. Probation staff in both sectors are currently working harder, with increased case loads, for less with no sign of a pay rise on the horizon for staff. Staff retention has become a major factor for the first time which is just making things worse all round. Chris Grayling should be brought before an appropriate parliamentary commission and made to respond to the parents of the victims identified in last nights programme!

Chris Graylings balls should be on a skewer!

And it's been going on for longer than the four years suggested by Ian Lawrence. AND - maybe if Ian Lawrence and Harry Fletcher and their cronies had defended staff against the attack on probation officers and their terms and conditions 10 years ago, privatisation might never have happened.

Because of the confidentiality around the cases, the successes could never be highlighted; in the same way as the outstanding NHS work that is being done. That enables the government to take pot shots from a great height x.

I have just watched the Panorama programme about Probation and it confirmed all I have heard and feared would happen when the reforms were first introduced. It is morally wrong that private companies, who are commercially driven and responsible to their shareholders for attaining profits, should be attempting to make those profits from the misfortune of others. Not only are they failing to achieve this but they are putting the public at serious risk.

All of us who worked for the Probation Service in the past warned the Government that this would happen and sadly we were right. Grayling would not listen nor would those in senior positions in the Ministry Of Justice. Highly experienced, dedicated professional officers have left the Service disillusioned and disgusted. Many others are struggling on, sick levels have risen, staff are being pushed to breaking point all to achieve a political ideology that has failed. If the idea was to improve standards, protect the public, reduce re-offending and save money then the Conservative Government has failed on every single count.

Thought the government got off light but it was a short programme which was a shame. Would like to see publicised somehow the whole history of the mishandling of the Probation service by successive Ministers since the Probation service became a national service when no one at the Home office attempted to address the different needs of each individual area. They then compounded the problems by using it as a political football, never listening to what those who knew what they were doing were saying what actually needed to be done (if that makes sense). Everytime a new minister or minion changed so did something in Probation, Community Sentences were the most messed about with and yet when they were at their best really successful in the work they were doing with offenders. Nobody minds change when its done for the best reasons, but when its done for political reasons only then you get disaster happening in the future. Those historical deficiencies in proper management have led to the terrible state of affairs of Probation and the rest of the criminal justice system.

The programme was far too short. I got out when Charles Clarke started as Home Secretary... it was untenable at that point. Did I miss it or was there nothing from NAPO? Or has it gone? It's appalling to see, even with that tiny snapshot. And yes, BBC avoid naming Grayling, no surprises there then.

From what we know Napo was instrumental in the programme being aired at least always courting the press to run a story.

This is such a true reflection of what is happening in our profession. Overworked, undermined and no support. I am aware things have to change, but I thought it was supposed to be for the better. It was so sad to see what has happened to the these individuals and to us as an organisation.

All the pit falls illustrated in the programme have been identified by the majority of us and we have been waiting for the Big Bang to take place. Chris Grayling would not listen before the split was rushed thru parliament and I hazard a guess that there will be unfortunately many more serious further offences in the future. The private companies will encourage officers to avoid breach and recalls because it costs money..... on the other hand the National Probation Service is just overlanded with the management of high and very high risk of harm offenders and on top of that have to find the time to deal/cope with the laborious and duplicate paper work. I am glad that I only have a few more months to go before full retirement.

They took a very stable and excellent public sector service that won awards and provided value for money and blew a massive hole in its heart..... the loss of experience and skill all round are the casualties as well as the public, communities and the offenders too! The new arrangements of managing those who receive a 12 months sentence or less in the community is a joke! The prisons need overhauling and should be responsible for rehabilitating offenders in preparation for their release... not wait until they are released! But we all know how under resourced the prisons are and the poor living standards .... oh yes, that too was a dismantled service that moved towards private contracts! Does this government not see a theme emerging and take public protection seriously. At the end of the day, this has to start with them and right now, they are swerving that responsibility with huge consequences. Wouldn't be a surprise if it comes out that Grayling is a shareholder!

I went to the CRC. When I was told by my (incompetent) SPO that my "performance" would be reviewed by what a computer said, not what effective support I could give to an offender, it was time to go. Sad day after 22 years.

I always thought it was Grayling's ill-thought out plan ...make very experienced probation professionals redundant, replace them with inexperienced staff at a cheaper cost ...give all the work back to the NPS ...result, chaos and stress amongst staff and service-users. This government is dabbling with the NHS and teachers in the same way x.

There are other things going on that this programme didn’t even touch on.... sad days.

Sadly, I think this programme just highlighted a few of the massive failings that are going on there. Hard working and committed staff are unfortunately fighting a loosing battle. They have got to do something about it but I fear they will not openly admit their mistake in privatising.

8 missed appointments; enough said!

20 comments:

  1. Which FB page or group is the source of these comments please? The ones I'm member of don't seem to have this amount of discussion.

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    1. Seriously? Is no one able to tell me which FB group this is from? I'm interested in joining those conversations, but perhaps I might also start to question whether it's a public group and whether the contributors have given permission for the comments to be duplicated here?

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    2. I think you will appreciate that in the current climate of fear, anonymity is as important as getting the message across to as many people as possible as to what's going on in our profession. Thanks for your understanding.

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  2. " if the idea was to improve standards, protect the public, reduce re-offending" etc. I for my part have been very slow in realising these were never the real aims of the changes in spite of what was claimed by the government at the time. But I am still thinking that the voting public expects that their taxes are used for those stated aims, and would be outraged if they understood how mis-spent our taxes are v/v criminal justice. How can this be shown to voters in such a way that they would appreciate what is really going on and how they are hoodwinked?

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    1. These lies about protecting the public, improving standards and reducing reoffending are still being perpetrated by our own managers, right down to my immediate CRC line manager. Every time we are asked to perform yet another long series of manoeuvres on the computer so that the company can be paid by the government for yet another empty gesture thie managers try to motivate us by the states glorious aims or shame us if we disagree that those things we are required to do will help. I don't know if the managers themselves believe what they are spouting, if they believe what their own managers are telling them, if they just state those things because they know their staff value those aims or what. But it makes me respect my managers less and less the more they lie.

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  3. Hmmm, it's all boo hoo poor me on the part of the probation officers with, as usual, absolutely no thought or consideration for the actual clients who have to try to turn their lives around under this mess with even less help and compassion and support than there was previously, which wasn't much at all if I'm honest. You seem to forget that absolutely anyone (yes even you) can end up in prison or convicted of a crime, sometimes even for something you didn't do (given how high the rate of miscarriages of justice are these days). And let's face it, all of us are more than capable of killing another human being in the right set of circumstances. And before anyone says that they wouldn't commit a crime, remember that the average person in this country commits approximately 32 crimes a year according to a recent study) so you probably are already, you just haven't been caught and prosecuted yet. You should stop and think about how you would want to be treated should you end up on probation and act accordingly. There for the grace of God etc. . . .

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    1. @Anin 08:33
      What you hear professionals bemoaning here is the very fact we are inhibited by managerialism, policy and government whim from offering the thought, consideration, support and compassion you expect.

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    2. Annon@ 8:33

      If you broke your leg and found yourself on a trolly in your local hospital corridor for 7 hours would you blame the doctors and nurses that work there, or those that impose the operational structures those staff are forced to work under?
      Would you resent those doctors and nurses for complaining about the conditions they have to work under? The impact such conditions have on their own personal well-being as well as the impact it has on their patients?
      There are many victims of TR. The general public, probation, staff, service users, and an array of third sector agencies. It's a shite system for everyone involved.
      But I think personalising it to those that have to deliver a very broken service, lets the architects of the system off the hook. Blame the machine makers, not the operators.
      I would have liked to see the panorama programme focus more on the consequences of TR for service users. It's been an utter f***ing disaster. But it was what it was.
      I think it a bit hard nosed really to complain that people in probation should be more concerned with someone else's problems then their own.
      Everyone's got problems.

      'Getafix

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  4. We dont know what the officers in the child's case did or did not do yet media lay blame directly at probation for non disclosure. Actually as no signs he was living with the victims this would be dependant on 1. self-disclosure from him in terms of children which he wouldnt as then a breach on child contact or intel and 2. disclosure is for another organisation probation passes the info to. yes if a marac ref was made would have been dealt with but in terms of disclosure another org has responsibiity for that.

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  5. Sadly, as predicted, the excellent journalism of Panorama has generated no meaningful action whatsoever. Just pockets of outrage, a couple of tabloid newspaper headlines & insiders saying "its not even scratching the surface."

    Where is Lidington? Where are the questions in Parliament? Why isn't Spurr hanging by his £20K bonus from a London lamppost? Why haven't Working Links/ Aurelius and MTCNovo been stripped of their contracts? Why haven't the CEOs been named & shamed? Grayling's old-chum-networks from his BBC/media days must be stretched to the limit to keep his name out of the frame.

    As ever, the self-serving architects & agents of this disastrous experiment in privatising public services get rewarded & protected, whilst the 'little people' lose their jobs, their liberty and their lives.

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    1. Maybe Interserve are on the way out. Watch out for asset stripping.

      https://www.consultancy.uk/news/14310/ailing-interserve-hires-oliver-wyman-pwc-and-ey

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    2. Oops!

      "Interserve’s hiring of Oliver Wyman follows on the back of sustained pressure from concerned lenders. Earlier in October, a consortium of the firm’s backers, including RBS and HSBC, recruited EY as economic advisors amid fears their debts would not be repaid. In response, Interserve also hired fellow Big Four accounting and consulting firm PwC as economic advisors, to negotiate with the lenders over the future restructuring of the debt.

      Following the appointment of the world’s largest consulting firm, Interserve CEO Debbie White said, “Despite our challenges, Interserve has a strong client base and many strengths as an organisation and I believe there is considerable potential for business improvement across the company.”

      However, the company also commented in a statement that, due to profit deterioration in its construction services, “We now believe there is a realistic prospect that we will not meet the net debt to EBITDA test contained in our financial covenants for 31st December 2017.”

      Weakened foundations
      The multinational support services and construction company based in the UK previously boasted a revenue of £3.2 billion in 2015, and a workforce of more than 80,000 people worldwide. The possibility of the group going belly up presents a major economic and political problem for Britain in particular, with the country’s government facing a £26 billion budgetary hole following the International Monetary Fund’s announcement in July that due to "weaker-than-expected activity" in the first three months of the year, the UK economy would only grow by 1.7%, compared to a previously anticipated 2%. However, while the government might be planning to curb departmental spending in the future, Interserve was recently boosted by news that it had secured a five-year facilities management deal worth £227 million with the Department for Work and Pensions, with the firm’s shares bouncing almost 17% as a result – having seen 80% of their value wiped out since the beginning of 2017.

      However, the vultures continue to circle, with hedge funds, having turned their attention of the Reading-based firm, having booked tens of millions of pounds in profits from the failure of Interserve’s rival Carillion. Now, as they seek to repeat their former successes, short-sellers have rushed to borrow the group’s stock in recent weeks to bet against its fortunes. At the end of the summer, less than 1% of Interserve’s shares were on loan, a figure that has climbed to over 12% since then, suggesting that the market is still anticipating the company’s demise in spite of its hiring of external expertise."

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    3. Or... £billions of public money is being used to temporarily support a bunch of lying, cheating fraudsters - who are out of their depth in debt - via facilities management contracts handed out by their friends in high places, e.g. MoJ, DWP.

      Meanwhile the really nasty opportunists will simply clean up and pocket £billions as they play 'beggar-your-neighbour' with Interserve stock.

      ***** Its public money giveaway time, just like the £billions given to the bankers *****

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    4. A wild & random thought - wonder if the culture of financial favouritism & predation is in any way linked to the prevalence of sexual favouritism & predation in so-called "high places"?

      C4 say they've seen the unredacted list of repeat offenders in Westminster that contains the names of at least 50% UK govt Ministers.

      Also interesting to see Soubry & Harman on C4 calling for the same broad powers of sanction against ANY power-based abuse.

      For many years I have likened the abuse of staff within organisations INCL Probation to either DV or sexual abuse, i.e. that it is motivated & perpetuated by the power differential (NOT by tits and bums and willies) & is 99.9% a male perpetrator against (predominantly. but not exclusively) a female victim.

      Might this revolt against sexual predators invoke a shift in the power base?

      Might that lead to the exposure & termination of inappropriate, non-viable government contracts?

      Could TR really be about to fall?

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    5. Gordon Brown (remember him?) was very much behind the fiscal policies which (1) bankrolled BlairCriminal & (2) contributed to the banking crisis, but seems keen to have his retrospective, revisionist views heard... has he hit a book due out for Xmas?

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  6. It sounds churlish (because it is) but, as an early victim of the TR train wreck, my thoughts are 'the harder the bastards fall, the better'. I have a new career elsewhere but, in my darker moments, I feel like the more of these chancers and civil serpents who are ruined by this the better.

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  7. Lots of stats published on deaths in custody, but here's some stats for deaths whilst on probation supervision. I didn't think they existed.

    http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/20-people-die-being-supervised-698867

    'Getafix

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    1. The glimpses I've had look damning but can't seem to get past digital surveys &/or advert redirections. Any chance it can be posted? Thanks.

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  8. A bit off point, apologies.

    We have been shafted yet again in NPS, yet another annual leave day list...this is the 4th one! The intention is to harmonise with Civil Servants. The same Civil Servants who enjoy the benefits of the Civil Service Pension Scheme. The only harmonisation that rakes place is when it financially benefits the employer... Never the employee. What on earth are you doing Ian Lawrence and NAPO. Yet another boat sailing down the pigging river! About time these NAPO dudes packed their bags, they collude with paymasters ... Furious

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  9. Again off point.

    Firstly, an early acknowledgement and fanfare for the inevitable five million hits that this blog will shortly have.

    Secondly, a reminder that the next critical point in our saga is upon us. The privatised Probation reoffending figures are upon us. To quote from 2016,

    '... when the reoffending figures are finally published, in all likelihood following the long term trend of reduction, then the case for TR ... will risk being largely accepted by the public and many politicians.'

    On the latter point we need to get ahead of the curve and quickly, with statistics the devil is in the detail! On the former, what a superb historical record for us all and warm congratulations.

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