NPS Staffing Crisis

The new Chief Inspector of Probation published a fairly positive report on NPS in the North East yesterday, but once again it highlighted the staffing crisis largely brought about by TR:-

North East probation service delivering innovative work, despite heavy workloads

A probation service in the North East of England has been commended for its strong leadership and the innovative way it supports individuals to move away from further offending. The North East Division of the National Probation Service (NPS) supervises almost 19,000 high-risk offenders across a large area that stretches from the Scottish border to The Wash in Lincolnshire.

HM Inspectorate of Probation conducted a routine inspection of the North East Division of the NPS and looked at 10 aspects of its work. The Inspectorate has given the Division an overall ‘Good’ rating, its second-highest mark.

Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “Leaders in the North East Division of the NPS have a clear vision and strategy to deliver a quality service, and this has been communicated well to staff and key stakeholders. However, the Division is not always able to achieve this ambition because of staff shortages and high workloads.”

There is a lack of qualified probation officers across England and Wales, and inspectors found significant shortages across this Division too. Restrictions to local recruitment have further hampered efforts to place newly qualified officers in the offices where they are most needed.

Mr Russell said: “Despite staff shortages and some heavy workloads, staff across the Division take the time to develop professional relationships with the individuals under their supervision. If individuals missed appointments or broke the rules of their orders, staff did excellent work to engage individuals again and get them back on track.”

Inspectors found the Division offers a comprehensive range of services to individuals to support their rehabilitation. Pioneering initiatives include ‘Project Beta’, a collaboration between HM Prison and Probation Service, Durham County Council and Darlington Borough Council. The project works with individuals who are leaving prisons across the North East to help ensure they enter stable accommodation on release to provide a foundation for beginning a life free from crime. Inspectors also noted a network of community hubs in Cleveland has supported women to move away from crime and reoffending.

The Division has also been proactive in addressing gaps in its services. Probation staff wanted to strengthen their work with sexual offenders so set up additional training and a library of resources. Staff can now work with this complex and challenging group of offenders with greater expertise and confidence.

Work with victims of serious crime was found to be of a good standard. The Division runs a statutory scheme that provides victims with updates on the perpetrator’s sentence and gives them an opportunity to contribute their views on release plans. Contact with victims was timely and supportive in nearly nine out of 10 inspected cases, and victims received clear communications throughout the course of the sentence. However, inspectors found a small number of victims were not contacted about the scheme; the Inspectorate is now encouraging the Division to make sure all eligible victims are approached.

Inspectors found the overall quality of work with individuals under supervision was generally good, but some aspects require improvement.

Mr Russell said: “The Division needs to take a more robust approach to risk management in order to keep potential and actual victims safe. In a third of inspected cases, the risk assessments did not contain enough information about who might be at risk of harm from the individual under supervision and the exact nature of that risk. For example, some assessments overlooked victims of previous offences.”

The Inspectorate has made seven recommendations to improve the quality of the Division’s work.

Mr Russell added: “There is much to commend in the innovative and proactive leadership of the North East division of the NPS. Taking the opportunity to learn from this inspection will enable the division to further improve its service delivery.”

--oo00oo--

A few weeks ago a question on Facebook sought to address the staffing problem and the responses might prove enlightening, not just to the MoJ as they beaver away in earnest on the new probation model, but also to those currently contemplating a career in this line of work:-

What would it take to convince you to return to probation or retain you as a member of frontline probation staff if you are thinking of rejoining or leaving? If you are temping what would encourage you to move from temping to permanent work? 

A parking space would be a start.

Ditto.

I would want more pay and manageable caseload but that's a pipe dream.

I was recently tempted back to a permanent PO post from agency, as they’ve agreed to give me extended leave (unpaid), to enable me to maintain flexibility to xxxxxx each year. I feel very lucky - have yet to see how the reduced income will impact though!

I’d like that. To spend more time xxxxxxxxx.

Definitely. Ill health and the privatisation made me re-evaluate life’s priorities .. go for what makes you happy and live your best life. x

Yes time to re-evaluate definitely.

Reduced stress helps! X

Yes. I get told by friends that stress can kill even. I’m XX. If I early retired this year I’d only get £XX a year pension. I’m looking into flexible retirement. I’m XX this year and no matter what pension is - at 60 I’m going to early retire.

I agree totally .. my plan is to retire early and move to Xxxxxxxx full-time, where the cost of living is much lower. xx

More official recognition, less of a blame culture and less aggressive intervention into private life - needing to seek managerial permission before needing to do virtually anything outside of work, excessive vetting, social media embargoes etc.

More manageable workloads. No more weekly emails saying this that or the other is missing or out of date. Not having to wait two months for an OHA. More facilities time for reps. A less draconian absence management policy.

To be honest nothing would tempt me to move from agency to permanent. I work part time- take a month off Xxxxxx and Xxxxxxx, as well as other shorter bits of leave - have a degree of independence and autonomy - which also allows me to work in different places. I’m mortgage free so have few financial commitments and retire in 2021! For others I would suggest a robust WMT, flexible hours and technology to work from home - parity re conditions - parking - reopening offices - ongoing training!

I forgot about the WMT- not fit for purpose.

I forgot about the no bullying!

Workload, by which I mean LESS assessments. OASys tells us nothing that we do not know in advance. What EXACTLY is SARA for? Why ARMS? Still more pay, lets get back what we lost since 2012. Less counting things, more time with people. If we have to be civil servants how about non contributory pension and retirement at 60?

My thoughts exactly. Don't forget VISOR! Another useless tool we don't need, we don't want!

Yeah, that too.

Oh and RSR! Fill out this form that tells us that serious re-offending is very rare. Well ain't that a surprise!

I’m a temp and no price to go permanent would be enough. X

I have been banging the ViSOR drum for years! Hopefully this will be the end of it once and for all.

Totally agree about SARA. Utterly pointless. 

Fingers crossed but I doubt it as it's about us doing the police's work for them, same as for the ARMS!

I never look at it

I have seen it and the bulk of the info on there is supplied by us anyway! It’s completely unnecessary and even if it was imperative, access should have been granted without vetting. I cannot explain how much upset and concern this caused amongst some of my colleagues.

I don’t look at SARA.

They are ALL pointless. OASYs takes hours. OGRS takes five minutes. Scores are always very close. Do an OGRS. Ask a question covering all the areas in OASYs Use those as the basis of a sentence plan done via the web. SORTED.

It seems to be widely agreed that SARA is useless.

Agree.

Is temping much more money?

Not really when you take in to account no annual leave or sickness pay. However, I prefer the autonomy - the feeling that if I’m unhappy there is a plethora of other jobs in the sector. I also think you have more authority when it comes to flexible working - I do condensed hours with Xxxxxxx’s off. I have done 2 spells permanent and 2 spells temping. I really would not consider permanent work again.

The RSR is not significantly different in what it looks at than what you get from an OGRS. The only time it is ever different is for sex offenders, when it increases the numbers.

My take from Court work. Can we ditch the EPF? Unless the person is out of area, this is a waste of time. If people are from out of area, let us just call it an Accredited Programme and the other area can figure out which, according to what they have. Could we get rid of RAR? Not an effective way of supervising anyone. It can result in someone receiving a minimal service even if their circumstances change and mean they need more support. The considerations when doing a report on someone should focus on *if* they need Probation intervention and what sort would help the most. There is no such thing as a catch-all, one-size-for-all intervention.

SARA? Well, it helps you remember what areas can be relevant to domestic abuse and its causes, but the practitioner is still the one deciding the risk.

What’s EPF?

Effective Proposal Framework, which must be done before doing the proposal on your reports, including before delivering any stand down reports.

Pay according to years experience and holidays to match. I know that’s not fair on permanent staff but it’s what I would push for on an individual basis. Anything less - no thanks. Temping has saved my mental health and enabled me to continue to work as an OM. At the end of the day, I’ve been able to carry on working on the job I love and serve the community.

My mental health is certainly suffering. I’m stressed re workload. Not fit for purpose WMT and how we are all being treated. And made to feel we are to blame for being stressed and not being able to manage that.

Nonsense emphasis on ‘resilience’.

Left for YOT - not sure anything would tempt me back, especially not as YOT matched my NPS salary and to return would put me back on bottom of NPS scale. Had forgotten what being appreciated for work effort was like as not had that for years in probation.

Sounds like you are much happier.

Well if a lot changed maybe you could be swayed.

Odd. As a seconded PO in Xxxxxxxx YOT l was treated with contempt. As were all the staff. So happy to have a way back.

This is second time in YOT as had previous secondment to different YOT. Welcomed and valued by both. Current YOT has just taken on ex-probation officers with others having been seconded to that YOT.

So how about career progression? Training etc. Those who are PSOs would you like to train to be a PO with no loss of pay or maybe a bit on top? How about the creation of Senior Practitioner posts on the same points as SPOs? Management training for POs? Transfer without penalty? If we don’t ask we won’t get.

Some good ideas there, especially the Sr Practitioner posts.

I’m a big supporter of SP roles as we are not all cut out or want to be managers but certainly know our onions. I also think that not developing the PSO role to enable movement is a travesty.

I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than be a manager. But senior practitioner role sounds an excellent idea.

All social workers have senior practitioners posts and when I started as a P.O. the only route in was with a social work qualification.

Yes all of the above! We need more emphasis on progression through OM skills not management. So if u have done a counselling course - that ought to lead somewhere rather than nowhere. I’m not interested in management, I see that as a separate career. Or, make managers carry a caseload to make it more integrated.

It’s so so sad we won’t be able to do a stint in programmes now. I want group work skills! I want skills in rehabilitation. I want to be coached in rehab skills and have people actually interested in how I work in supervision. I know how to risk manage, but the real practise improvement - no one seems to care.

Sorry to rant - but when inspectors look at our cases they care what happens in sessions. Managers don’t really. We all know that that is the point of our work. Practitioners have to scrabble around digging up old worksheets from 20 years ago to actually structure their sessions. We ought to have ready access to these as well as a comprehensive partnerships directory which is updated on a six monthly basis in every office. Also: every new case needs to be brought before a weekly allocation meeting so they can get partnership appointments booked in from the word go. I know this is not strictly speaking about career progression but I’m just putting an idea out.

Trouble is, all of this gets in the way of doing assessments.

I'd say that as far as I’m aware it does in the NPS but in London CRC and TV there is at least, in recent times, a genuine concern about trying to improve quality at the coal face after most staff made clear their dissatisfaction with command and control targets obsessed approaches. I’d have liked the sort of innovation now being rolled out to have happened sooner but contract times have been shortened and reliable systems take time to develop and roll out. However, I really don’t want the good progress in certain areas - particularly in advances in tools and technologies - to be lost as progress has been hard won and involved many dedicated practitioners. Some of the best stuff has just started to gain some traction not least due to a change in senior management direction but also it is evident that the green shoots of what we might want are evident and mostly welcomed and I’m relatively hard to convince. I would like NPS colleagues to benefit from the best of what has been developed and available. There is an opportunity to improve things across the board.

What both NPS and CRC desperately need are well trained staff both PSOs, POs, SPO and hopefully SPs and certainly something suitably creative in respect of PSOs who all need to feel positive about their employers, leaders, and newly motivated to do the job they were trained to do in the way that is best not directed by faceless bureaucrats.

As a PSO I’d have appreciated the opportunity to train as a PO - as did many highly qualified PSOs in my region - but when we were told we’d have to pay for our own ‘top up’ modules none of us had odd 2 grand to spare.

Exactly. Many would do it but not at their own expense.

I’m doing it now at my own expense but gaining the modules via an Xxxxxxx from Xxxxxxx Uni, hence a huge student loan. At least this way I’ll get a Masters at which point I’ll walk out of Probation. I think what was so difficult for us CRC PSOs was the knowledge that NPS PSOs don’t face the same financial penalty. I really must leave this group - I sound like a moaning old git, and I’m not! I’m very peaceful but this second kick in the teeth for programmes has just destroyed my love for this job.

You don’t sound like that. I’m really angry about it.

My CRC has management training, CPD, innovation, opportunity to have input in how the organisation ran, Associate Tutors roles for operational staff who wanted a chance to deliver programmes and brush up on rehabilitation skills and CA's who wanted skills and experience to apply for operations roles, to lead or work on projects ..... I hope these innovations don't get lost in the move and that the new NPS takes forward all of the positives from both current NPS and CRCs. However, Programmes Rule!

Easier application process rather than civil service competencies that bear no resemblance to the actual job!!

So true. Excellent point.

Better pay, free parking and flexible working and I would consider coming back

Better pay, flexible working including working from home at times and free parking, plus team building.

Easier application process.

As PSO with ten plus years experience it’s frustrating that you have to have a degree to firstly apply for PQUiP. It seems that experience and consistent good/outstanding appraisals doesn’t mean much!

Less hours.

Competent and trained management without a bias of who you are mates with. Work progression routes and personal development. Investment in staff.

Generic case loads like there was back in circa 2003-2007 so there's a mixture of different types of cases - makes the job more emotionally/mentally sustainable.

Guaranteed pay increase every year. And the money owed from the pay freeze. Not too much to ask is it?!

Unfortunately the reality of modern day NPS is not conducive to such cosy discussions. Any such suggestions are usually ignored. Civil Service if that is what is coming is not a panacea. It is very much top down command and control. There is little scope for discussion mostly because purse strings are held tightly at the very top.

For a friend of mine who wanted to get into general office admin work (band 2) they laughed at the wages and told me not for that - would rather stay doing retail on 45 hours a week and get 15k more per year.

For me the only thing would be to put wages up by at least 15% (I know it's gotta be a followed process) but I will be honest I have had enough of it. The only reason I'm still here is the pay cheque at the end of the month. And yes I am looking elsewhere. There are lots of issues and not enough solutions.

Essential car user allowance.

A welfare support system that supported people rather than punish them. Services that I could refer people into. Quality housing, drug and mental health support that is not so cash strapped that most "Assessments" come down to "how do we deny this poor bastard any help". 

Less, no sorry, NO obsession with public safety. There is a part of the Criminal Justice system which should prioritise the good that a person can do rather than the bad which they have. Where better than the Probation Service.

An obsession with getting alongside people rather than alongside a computer to fill in another assessment. Some distance from the Prison Service and the Justice Ministry to allow us space to breath and be the Service we were and can be again.

Some or all of that would mean that I could enjoy my last 10 years in the service, rather than spend every birthday trying to calculate if I can survive THIS year on a reduced pension or do I have to stick it out longer. Not a lot to ask is it?

Less targets and being allowed to get on with the job and doing the work that matters, work with clients.

Being able to work from home is a huge bonus. Flexible working. Having fabulous colleagues and managers.

I am glad that senior managers are finally starting to recognise these issues. They never seemed too bothered about retaining staff, which has had a catastrophic effect. Hopefully they are realising that their methods of control and direction are not working, and that there should be more ‘carrot’ than ‘stick’! For me they need to offer more creative and flexible working options, we have the IT to support that now. They need to look at particular offices or areas that struggle to recruit and retain and consider the issues and how to encourage people to want to work there. A senior practitioner role is an excellent idea, otherwise there are limited career progression opportunities for those not interested in management. Make improvements to OASys/all the assessments that we have to do, to avoid constant duplication of information. The focus should be on working with people, having the time to do meaningful work with them instead of prioritising ‘targets’.

The way it used to be. Working with a smile on your face. Reduced blame culture manageable time frames. Having your own secretary who felt valued and personal to you and colleagues. Parking - enough staff to share the workload - managers who were not guided by performance targets - professional autonomy - and overall respect from employers - but from what I hear that’s going to be a hard one to achieve when it all gets lumped back together. When I heard the news I sort of did a little flip. But as this goes on and I hear the rumblings from the jungle commonly known as the ministry of magic! Well I’m not filled with enthusiasm and glee.

I left in 2016. After the split there seemed to be a move to reduce everything to the 'quickest' or 'most efficient' way of doing things to the point where the value in doing them at all was lost. We used to stand up for ourselves - if a Court asked for a PSR on a DV case with an unrealistic turnaround then (if we knew a thorough risk assessment couldn't be done in that time) we as professionals would say no and we'd be backed up in doing so. I think we need a clear culture of who we are and what we do and we need senior officers to also know that too and who will stick up for the service when needed (I'm still saying we even 3 years after leaving!). I think probation is going to need to prove itself - be clear about its values and what it stands for and what as a profession it offers - before many would go back. That will take time.

Also, having left, you soon realise quite how bad the pay and career progression is in probation. It's a fairly flat structure with not many opportunities. I left as a PO and would need to go back in as well above SPO grade to make it worth my while. It was never about the money, but the jobs you guys do, you deserve more that's for sure.