Friday, 17 November 2017

Probation Jobs

On the last day of evidence submissions to the Justice Select Committee on the state of the Probation Service after TR, I don't think there could be a better indicator than taking a look at the jobs vacant situation. 

Since the TR omnishambles got going and made hundreds of highly-skilled practitioners surplus to requirements, a veritable cottage industry has sprung up of agencies desperately trying to entice qualified staff back into highly-paid temporary positions. This is because the NPS is desperately short of staff and despite much effort, the recent recruitment drive has failed to deliver anywhere near enough applicants. 

For some reason NPS seem mystified by this, but the answer might have something to do with what's on offer from agencies and helps explain the increasing numbers of experienced staff leaving each and every week, only to pop up again a short time later via an agency. This from Sanctuary Criminal Justice, but there are several others also available:-

NPS

Probation Officer: Grays, East Anglia - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: HMP Bure, East Anglia - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Ipswich, East Anglia - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Norwich, East Anglia - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Boston, East Midlands - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Grantham, East Midlands - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Northampton, East Midlands - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Queen Street, East Midlands - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Skegness, East Midlands - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Wellingborough, East Midlands - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Aylesbury,Home Counties - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: HMP Bedford, Home Counties - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Luton, Home Counties - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Milton Keynes, Home Counties - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Oxford, Home Counties - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Reading, Home Counties - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Watford. Home Counties - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Barkingside Magistrates Court, London - £29.01 p/h
Probation Officer: Brent, London - £29.01p/h
Probation Officer: Guildhall, London - £29.01 p/h
Probation Officer: Hackney, London - £29.01 p/h
Probation Officer: HMP Woolwich, London - £29.01 p/h
Probation Officer: Islington, London - £29.01 p/h
Probation Officer: Romford, London - £29.01 p/h
Probation Officer: Consett, Durham, North East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Durham, North East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: HMP Holme House, North East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: South Shields, North East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Chester, North West - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Moss Side, North West - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Salford, North West - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Skelmersdale, North West - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Oldham, North West - £26.19
Probation Officer: Harrogate, North Yorkshire - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Canterbury, South East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Chatham, South East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Folkestone, South East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: HMP Elmley, South East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: HMP Send, South East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: HMP Standford Hill, South East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: HMP Swaleside, South East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Maidstone, South East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Redhill, South East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Staines, South East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Tunbridge Wells, South East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Woking, South East - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Bath, South West - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: HMP Guys Marsh, South West - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Swindon, South West - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Yeovil, South West - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Doncaster, South Yorkshire - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Rotherham, South Yorkshire - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Cardiff, Wales - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Dyfed-Powys, Wales - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Newport, Wales - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Pontypridd, Wales - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Swansea, Wales - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Cannock, West Midlands - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: HMP Stafford, West Midlands - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Nuneaton, West Midlands - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: HMP Lindholme, West Yorkshire - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Leeds, West Yorkshire - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: HMP Preston, North West - £26.19 p/h
Probation Officer: Plymouth, South West - £26.19 p/h

CRC

Probation Officer: Hammersmith & Fulham, London - £27 p/h
Probation Officer: Ilford, London - £27 p/h
Probation Officer: Wandsworth, London - £27 p/h
Probation Officer: Westminster, London - £27 p/h
Probation Officer: Crawley, South East - £25 p/h
Probation Officer: Salisbury, South West - £25 p/h
Probation Officer: Slough, Home Counties - £27 p/h
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20 comments:

  1. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 08:11

    The NPS pays these enormous agency rates yet can't offer continuation of service and therefore tenable pay rates to vastly experienced Probation Officers currently stranded in floundering CRCs. Is blatantly propping up the private CRCs by freezing staff out of defecting to NPS really worth all this additional government expenditure on enriching employment agencies?

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  2. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 08:20

    Agreed, 08:11. So NPS paying equivalent of ~£50,000 pa to agency staff PLUS agency fees, but insistence that taking on PO's has to be at bottom of scale AFTER months of waiting for clearance.

    We really need to know who in Govt is benefitting financially from their shareholdings in CRCs & these agencies. It must be the only explanation for maintaining & financing such a ridiculous state of affairs.

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    1. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 08:49

      And agency fees are what? About the same again as the money paid to the agency PO? We're getting close to £100 000 per agency worker - that could pay for three POs with plenty of experience if they were offered continuity of service in coming over from CRCs (that were all part of the same organisation just a few short years ago). So we have the CRCs being given hundreds of millions in extra payments , and millions more being needlesly poured into private employment agencies to prop up the NPS while a pool of experienced and capable staff presently stranded in the floundering CRCs are deliberately excluded in order to maintain the fantasy that the CRCs are anything other than a massively expensive and ever more dangerous failure.

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    2. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 10:58

      Look at the lists on vacancies in the South west it looks like Working Links have 6. I was told that most POs are leaving Working links for the NPS and about 5 are leaving before Christmas. Pay is becoming irrelevant it is the reputation and organisational ability that is dysfunctional generating mass resignations.

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  3. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 10:04

    AS an SPO at the top of the scale, I was 'sifted' into a CRC and took redundancy for no other reason that I was not going to work for the kind of people that Sodexo were clearly going to be. The NPS was something I did consider prior to the split and I did try to get back across the divide before it was too late but failed to do so and left (for the record; I never regretted leaving the CRC as it was patently obvious that this was going to be a disaster. My only regret was that I was forced out by the TR debacle and that the service I had enjoyed working in for decades was being compromised so completely.

    Since that point, however, it subsequently became known that, were I to return to the NPS at any point in the future, I would have to start at the bottom of the scale and that my service to date would not amount to a hill of beans. It is that fact and that alone that prevents me from considering applying for the NPS. It is not the money, it is the principle. It is like being robbed and then being offered my own property back at a higher price than I originally paid for them. Simply put, they can kiss my ..........

    There is no acceptance of the abusive nature of what has been perpetrated on the workforce within the Probation Service over the last few years. No acknowledgement of the unfairness, the deception, the sleight of hand. Our only response is to turn out backs and it is heartening to see that the Probation Service and CRCs are experiencing recruitment and retention difficulties. It is a free market and they, the NPS and the CRCs are reaping what they have sown.

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    1. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 11:50

      There must be some legal action we could take against this, if NPS staff want to transfer to CRC's their terms and conditions are protected, NOT THAT ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD ATTEMPT THIS.

      Staff shafted to the CRC's continue to be stuffed again and again. It was wrong from the start and the Unions did diddly shit. I am in the CRC 33 years in and if I went into NPS I would loose 6 days leave and have to start at the bottom of the scale. We had no choice in this and the only choice we had was sign here or be out of job, BASTARDS.

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    2. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 12:01

      *shouts into an empty vessel*

      "NAPO - PO - PO - PO - PO - PO - Po - po - p - o..."

      *still no reply*

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 22:24

      NAPO SW branch in full dispute with ACAS on side and embroiled is the General secretary supporting assisting the branch working with members behind the scenes. I know this just because I have been updated by our branch officers and have been to meetings with the general secretary. The regions are combined in efforts to challenge working links and the Ian Lawrence is planning a series of union actions. Areas are planning indicative meetings I am told. I will be there to support Ian Lawrence and our local napo officials. Stop whining if your branch leadership failed you ours have stated many times the fight continues against injustice and plain theft.

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    4. Anonymous18 November 2017 at 07:32

      21st Century Solidarity:

      "Stop whining if your branch leadership failed you"

      Aye, our branch caused the loss of 3 days' leave, no pay rise for years, loss of vehicle user allowances, disintegration of role boundaries, payscales inspired by The Penrose Stairs & everything linked to T&Cs around TR incl EVR, contracts, hundreds of job losses, etc etc. (Tongue-firmly-in-cheek).

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    5. Anonymous18 November 2017 at 19:55

      Its not all about a singular grade all staff lost terms into NPS. CRCs are appalling also, Not enough POs took part and managed to strike to protect the role so what are you complaining for. POs did nothing about the mileage allowance what are you complaining for? Everyone who left the CRCs either by EVR they had that choice and the severance rip off they still volunteered for the money so they sold up cowardly the lot of them. Some on here have the bloody cheek to complain about that too. Shut up you took the money you left. No tongue in cheek here either they left and none of them forced the contractors to make any compulsory redundancies. Despite Napo advisories to do so.

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  4. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 10:32

    the salary scales are a massive problem in the CRCs. People are accepting jobs knowing the salary scale is £22k - £27k but have no idea until it's too late that it will take 15years at least to get to the top. Many are looking to escape as soon as they realise this fact. To give someone an annual increment that amounts to £120 pa is an absolute disgrace bad enough no cost of living rise. About 10yrs ago we'd get cost of living plus our increment but now nothing. If I didnt have the service in or not as old as I am, i and many like me would also be off I can guarantee you that.

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  5. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 11:46

    If it wasn't for the disastrous impact upon real peoples' lives, both employed & supervised, I'd be laughing like never before at the gargantuan pile of shit that MoJ/NOMS/HMPPS have heaped upon themselves. Sadly, as has been said many many times on this blog, those responsible:

    - Will not assume any responsibility for the financial & emotional catastrophe they have visited upon us
    - Have no shame
    - Are pocketing considerable sums of public money; whether as politicians, senior civil servants, consultants, agencies or CRCs.

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  6. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 12:40

    The only way I can see this mess being solved is to put the service back together and transfer everyone back in on existing terms and conditions.

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  7. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 13:08

    Ah but hang on, lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Credit where its due, some probation people did very nicely out of this, e.g. those who were given full EVR terms; especially those got full EVR & were subsequently employed by the CRC or NPS in newly created roles... not forgetting the large golden goodbyes to Chief Officers. And some have been able to take their voluntary severance & immediately register with agencies spending 6 months here, 2 months in the sun, 6 months there, a month's skiing, etc, etc - a nomadic workforce on SalaryPlus cherry-picking their locations.

    'End-to-end case management' at its best!!!

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    1. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 13:50

      Just a small point in response to your smartarse comments. I took severance because EVR was not an option in my area and I could see what was coming with the CRCs (Can't Really Cope?). The money I got was effectively used to fund the downsizing of my house and the payment of the mortgage whilst I sorted a load of things out financially that I would not have had to deal with had I not been 'let go'. The money literally ran out just as I was getting back on my feet. I now earn about £6k less than I did when I was with Probation but I am ok because the money I got in severance, a relatively large sum on paper, allowed me to 'regroup'. The sums of money that most people got were pitiful compared to what they would have earned had they been allowed to carry on with their careers unhindered. No new car. No foreign holiday. Just the life changes necessary when you are sideswiped.

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    2. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 14:40

      13:50, I suspect the last line of 13:08's post indicates s/he had their tongue in their cheek & their fingers crossed. At least, I read it as a piss-take. Might be wrong? Maybe they will clarify that?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 19:25

      13:08 poster here.

      Sorry for any confusion &/or distress, annoyance, etc 13:50.

      14:40 is correct in that I was having a go at the greedy bastards, whilst also recognising that some modern-day 'pragmatists' aren't unhappy with their lot.

      It was NOT a cheap shot at those who left with severance under sufferance.

      Hope this clarification helps remove some barbs.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 21:09

      When the Tory/Lib Dem coalition introduced the TR wrecking ball ; aided by a degree of very weak opposition,let loose the free market into the Probation Service and then unimpeded,allowed the carpetbaggers to do what they do best... Plunder! Who can then blame experienced POs playing them at their own game. If the market wants and needs their experience, pay for it; market rules apply. Loyalty within the CRCs, and I suspect also within the NPS: is now a very one way street. I can never condemn an agency PO.... at the very least they expose by their daily presence the utter madness of TR. A constant reminder to the overseers of the MoJ balance sheet of the act of sheer folly in putting ideology above everything......

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  8. Anonymous17 November 2017 at 13:24

    It’s just sickening. Well meaning staff are just being abused. As it stands, there is no way to challenge or change this.

    Staff are not kept informed with any decisions which hugely impact their job, their day to day work and even their personal life (location, pay, inappropriate demands daily).

    Senior management - either don’t care, have no compassion or are simply yes men / women. What they all display is a weakness. A morale weakness. A professional weakness. Weak management, all of them.

    MTC Novo - the company who introduced BIONIC. Believe It Or Not I Care. Laughable.

    Front line staff are regularly mistreated, uninformed and restricted but numerous barriers to do a decent job.

    Morale is at rock bottom. Staff now literally do the minimum to not create any notice from management.

    Sad thing is, the recent London Inspection will no doubt disclose an improvement. It always was a fix. Which will be confirmed when the report is released.

    Exit plan in full motion. When complete, all evidence of mismanagement, shoddy management, the abuse of power, the disgusting service now pretending to manage risk and protect he public - will be shared with news, papers, MP’s, Panorama.

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    1. Anonymous18 November 2017 at 16:25

      Sounds like their shady practises need to be exposed as you say and look forward to hearing all about it. Would rather be working in the pre TR days when no one had any need to spill the beans to the media but given that no one above PO level listens or cares there is little choice left to us. Sadly this is the only thing they respond to as it forces them to take action..at least temporarily and no cure for the terminal disease that TR has become. BIONIC..only a complete moron would come up with such a ridiculous term.

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