Our probation service is incredibly important.
Without probation staff, it’s easier to fall back into a life of crime. Communities are less safe than they should be. Unfortunately, probation is in danger thanks to one of Chris Grayling’s hare-brained privatisation schemes.
What happened?
In 2015, Grayling, who was then Justice Secretary, sold off 70% of our probation service to private companies. 35 publicly owned, local probation services were split up and sold off, turned into Community Rehabilitation Companies. The private companies cut costs to make a profit – and standards are falling. They’re now failing to meet 2/3rds of their targets
Ex-offenders are finding it harder to reintegrate back into society, and more of them are reoffending. Since privatisation, the number of people committing a serious further offence while under probation supervision has risen 20%. And now, Working Links, who owned three of the companies, has collapsed, leaving staff and service users in the lurch.
What can we do?
We need to bring privatisation to an end, and bring the CRCs back into public ownership. The contracts are ending in 2020 - two years earlier than planned. This is a perfect opportunity for the current Justice Minister David Gauke to bring them in house.
Sign the petition above to tell the government to bring probation into public ownership.
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There's a free conference to go to:-
Let’s Get Active - Time for Change
The 2019 Women in Napo Conference will take place on Friday 5th April in the NEU Head Office, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London, WC1H 9BD (just five minutes from Euston and Kings Cross/St Pancras mainline stations)
Confirmed speakers include:
- Sonia Crozier, Executive Director and Board Lead on Women
- Amy Rees, Director General HMPPS Probation
- Nicola Smith, Joint Head of Equality and Strategy at the TUC
- Diane Abbott MP, Shadow Home Secretary
- Sophie Linden, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime in London
- Claudia Webbe, former chair of Operation Trident, Islington Councillor, Labour Party National Executive Committee.
- Women’s Occupational Stress at Work run by visiting TUC Tutor, Susan Murray
- “Let’s get Active!”, Napo ACTIV8R campaign run by Napo Officers
- Nicola Harding, criminologist and feminist academic researching the impact of TR on women on probation.
Now FREE to members! Get your registration in early to avoid disappointment. Non-members can attend for a fee of £50. In the event of oversubscription priority will be given to members.
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Finally, there's a policy document from the Labour Party to read:-
Building an effective criminal justice system
Building an effective criminal justice system
https://www-mirror-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/criminals-monitored-probation-contractors-kill-14056637.amp?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCCAE%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fuk-news%2Fcriminals-monitored-probation-contractors-kill-14056637
ReplyDeletehttps://www-mirror-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/voice-mirror-lives-risk-over-14058841.amp?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCCAE%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fuk-news%2Fvoice-mirror-lives-risk-over-14058841
Criminals monitored by probation contractors have killed 225 in the four years since privatisation. There were 142 murders over the same time by higher risk offenders seen by the state-run probation service.
ReplyDeleteMP Liz Saville Roberts said: “There is an urgent need to bring probation back into the public sector.” Victims’ families have lashed the Tories’ failed probation privatisation, calling it "a disaster".
The grim toll soared to 71 last year from 42 in 2015, the year after bungling Chris Grayling ushered in the changes as Justice Secretary – a rise of 60%. The murders, by medium to low-risk offenders supervised by Community Rehabilitation Companies, far outnumber the 142 by high-risk criminals managed by the Government’s probation service over the same period.
Nadine Marshall, whose son Conner, 18, was one of the 225, said: “It beggars belief. There are 71 families in one year being affected. It’s truly horrific.”
Liz Saville Roberts of Plaid Cymru, who obtained the figures in a Parliamentary question, said: “There is an urgent need to bring probation back into the public sector. Under private companies standards have near collapsed.”
Harry Fletcher, of the Victims’ Rights Campaign, said: “Privatisation has been a disaster. Both victims and the community have been put at risk. It’s a scandal.”
Comment from yesterday:
ReplyDelete"Recent senior leadership conference for both NPS and CRC, David Gauke asked the room why nobody spoke up to warn the Gov that TR was a bad idea. Room apparently fell silent."
Have to say this anecdote chimes with my view of the "senior leadership" Probation has had to endure for some years now, i.e. spineless.
Gauke has a point. With a few notable exceptions the "senior leadership" happily expedited TR, sifted their staff & took the considerably generous shilling for their compliance. If they had made a stand together against Grayling, TR couldn't have happened. I think Gauke has called them out, & they've been found wanting.
However, they're all still in their jobs & they'll happily continue to do their master's bidding.
So no change there, except that Gauke has established his ownership & pissed up all their lamp-posts.
John Wiseman former Probation Trust Boss has tweeted about the strength of opposition from all of the 35 Probation Trusts.
Deletehttps://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/81767cc7-9829-4899-a5e3-fa714a3bc065.png
"As a former Chief of one of the 35 Probation Trusts at the time of TR I can absolutely vouch for the fact that all 35 advised against the splitting of OM between the NPS and the CRCs - but we were ignored!"
Deletethat is some quailty bullsh1t
DeleteSo if all 35 trusts strongly opposed TR, why didn't they stand together & say No! Why didn't they support the trades unions to fight it? Why did they just capitulate to & throw hundreds of staff overboard? But they all did very nicely out of it, one way or another.
DeleteAnd if "all 35 advised against the splitting of OM between the NPS & the CRCs", does that mean they were in favour of the creation of the CRCs?
Its about time we had some clarity & HONESTY about what really happened when Probation was quietly put to sleep.
Jake Phillips - @jakephillips (Reader in Criminology @ SHU. Generally tweet about probation, criminology, politics...):
Delete"If true, @DavidGauke might benefit from being reminded that probation officers actually **went on strike** in protest at the plans!!"
North East NPS, Stakeholder Engagement @NPSNESE replied:
"I think you have hit the nail on the head Jake...it isn’t true...that’s not what happened at all...and it was Rory Stewart not David Gauke...so totally incorrect..."
So even now we've no idea what the truth of anything is
MLK: ""In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
DeleteStraying but....
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/feb/27/interserves-biggest-shareholder-says-rescue-plan-is-terrible
Their woes continue, and I think personally they will be in administration by St Patricks day.
The largest shareholder in debt-laden Interserve has described new financial restructuring plans put forward by the government contractor as “terrible” and warned it is prepared to sue the company’s board and lenders if rescue talks fail and the company falls into administration.
DeleteInterserve, which employs 45,000 people in the UK, is at the centre of an increasingly acrimonious showdown over its future, just a year after fellow outsourcer Carillion collapsed into administration.
Interserve said the restructuring plan was “critical to our future”, warning it would run out of cash unless investors wave through the plan at a vote on 15 March.
The company has hundreds of public sector contracts, which include running the probation service, hospital cleaning and school meals.
On Wednesday it published full-year figures showing fresh annual losses of £111m, and details of the “critical” financial rescue package designed to slash its £632m debt pile.
The financial statements also revealed that Interserve expects to spend £76m on advice relating to its financial restructuring – a sum equivalent to about three times the firm’s stock market value.
Interserve’s largest shareholder Coltrane is understood to be angry about the sums spent by the company on advice and has expressed fierce opposition to its restructuring plans.
Under proposals drawn up by Interserve’s lenders, they would cancel £485m of debt in exchange for £435m of new stock. Shareholders would be left with just 5% of the company. They would have the right to buy new shares back from the lenders, but only up to 33.3%.
The lenders, which include hedge funds and banks, would also provide a £110m new debt facility that comes due in 2022, at interest rates understood to be a third of those attached to the company’s existing loans.
EY has been lined up to manage a pre-pack administration if the lenders lose the vote, which requires approval from investors holding 50% of the company to pass.
Coltrane and fellow shareholder Farringdon are thought to wield enough voting power between them to thwart the plan.
A source close to Coltrane, which has put forward alternative proposals based on a share issue that it has offered to guarantee, indicated that the US hedge fund was unlikely to accept Interserve’s latest plan.
Coltrane is understood to have appointed legal advisers to consider a lawsuit against the company and the lenders, should the firm collapse into administration.
Coltrane has also been angered by Interserve’s admission that it will have spent £76m on advice for its financial restructuring plans and the fact that directors have said they would not invest any of their own money buying the new shares.
“[The directors] are recommending a deal on which they personally are not taking up their rights. This is very rare and shows the plan is terrible.”
“The truth is out – this is all about creditors holding a gun to the company’s head with management itself not taking part.”
Chief executive Debbie White declined to say why she and fellow directors were not prepared to take up their rights to buy new shares with their own money.
She insisted that the company’s underlying performance was robust and said she would be seeking to convince shareholders including Coltrane that the debt-cutting plan was the best option for the business.
On Friday, Coltrane submitted a counter-proposal that would see lenders share more of the pain of the financial restructuring with shareholders.
DeleteColtrane’s plan would give only 65% of the company to creditors in exchange for £436m of debt, leaving shareholders with an improved 10% of the equity, plus the opportunity to participate in a 25% rights issue worth £75m. Coltrane would underwrite the rights issue.
The hedge fund is considering adjusting the proposal in the light of Interserve’s full-year results, which were issued alongside details of the debt-cutting plan. The results showed that Interserve has slashed its pretax losses from £244m to £111m. However, net debt has continued to rise, reaching £632m.
Interserve’s largest customer is the government. The Cabinet Office, which oversees public sector contracts, is understood to be supportive of the rescue plan.
19:04 I don't want to see staff in Interserve construction end up out of work ( as a lot of staff did with the Carrillion collapse ) but do want to see the back of them from the CRC's however my bone of contention is for our so called leaders who weren't for coming forward to denounce TR but appeared to welcome their new roles and salaries that came with the job - they're the ones I fear that we will remain stuck with along with their ridiculous ideologies of rolling out yet another shit unworkable model
ReplyDeleteStraying even further afield, but in the realms of Truth or Lies:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.c-span.org/video/?458125-1/michael-cohen-testifies-house-oversight-committee&vod
Watch it & treat it as an interview for a PAR.
What's your proposal?
It will all be ok 8n the end, NAPO are organising a petition. That’ll teach them what’s what!
ReplyDelete