Additional Guidance in light of the most recent Government Covid 19 Guidance
Caseload Considerations
- The majority of offenders can be supervised by telephone/ Whatsapp/Skype (video messaging should be used wherever possible).
- Given that telephone/ Whatsapp/Skype supervision is inferior to face to face contact, it is a requirement that contact frequency for each offender doubles for those who are being supervised via this means.
- Face to face contact should be retained for the following groups:
- TACT offenders
- Offenders without recourse to a phone
- Prison leavers reporting for their initial appointment (subsequent appointments can be done via telephone/ Whatsapp/Skype where appropriate)
- For other high and very high risk of harm assessed offenders Doorstep visits should be the first consideration as a risk management strategy (it is recognised that this will not be appropriate in all cases). In order to keep staff safe this will involve a visit by car to the offender’s address and a telephone call being conducted from outside the property. (one of the additions to the guidance will be to always do ‘doorstep’ visits in pairs and where necessary with a police colleague). The will allow staff to have sight of the offender at the address whilst also facilitating a discussion. It is expected that this occurs once every four weeks for each offender assessed as presenting a high or very high risk of causing serious harm as a minimum this frequency should be specifically discussed with SPOs and the rationale recorded appropriately. For those offenders presenting a medium risk of serious harm or below, these should be used on a discretionary basis but no less than once every 3 months. Please note these are exceptional measures, that will be reviewed in 3 weeks time, in line with the message given by the Prime Minister on 23rd March.
- Every risk management plan and sentence plan will need to be reviewed quickly to reflect the new supervision regime. Those plans associated with offenders presenting the highest risk should be prioritised for completion. All plans for medium risk of serious harm and above will need to be endorsed by an SPO. Whilst this will be automated for high and very high risk of serious harm cases, a manual review and Delius entry will need to be made for medium risk of serious harm cases. Specific attention should be paid to medium risk of harm cases where there are Safeguarding or Domestic Violence concerns present.
- PDUs should arrange daily calls with Police and Local Authority Social Services Departments to review relevant call outs or intelligence from the past 24 hours. It is suggested that these calls should be with local agency MAPPA leads.
- Where cases are managed on a multi-agency basis, ongoing contact with partner agencies should be maintained.
Estate Considerations
- Where possible, Probation Offices should be closed in order to support social distancing. It is likely that each office will not be able to close entirely, rather, judgements will need to be made about which day an office should open to receive those requiring face to face contact.
- Senior Probation Officers will need to review the list of offenders requiring face to face contact in conjunction with their PDU Head and make a judgement about how many days per week the office will need to be open. In order to minimise the number of offices open, PDU Heads will need to review options including whether offenders can report to alternative offices. The availability of public transport will be an important consideration in making this decision.
- When an office is closed, a sign should be placed on the door advising of the next day the office is open and providing a duty telephone number for emergency contact. The duty number can be shared between officers through use of the call forwarding function.
- The extent to which administrative functions can be completed virtually will vary between PDUs.
- Business Managers will need to conduct a review of administrative functions and identify which cannot be completed virtually e.g. the production of enforcement packs for uploading to Court Store requires a printer and scanner in some Divisions.
- Where administrative functions require office hardware that is unavailable at home, arrangements will need to be made for access to offices to perform these tasks.
Does anyone know what the up to date advice is for Approved Premises staff?
ReplyDeleteThere can be no face to face contact. Furthermore, attending probation appointments is not on the PM’s list of permitted journeys. Napo and Unions must keep to arguing for zero face to face reporting. Face to face contact is a threat to life.
ReplyDeleteWhere is this advice from and when was it issued?
ReplyDeleteFollow the link! About an hour ago.
Deletehttps://www.thompsonstradeunion.law/news/news-releases/employment-matters/briefing-on-employer-and-employees-responsibilities-in-the-wake-of-coronavirus-covid-19
ReplyDeleteBRIEFING ON EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEES' RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE WAKE OF CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)
17 March 2020
THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO) OFFICIALLY DECLARED CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19 THE OFFICIAL NAME OF THE VIRUS) A PANDEMIC ON 11 MARCH 2020.
The risks and uncertainties of coronavirus (COVID-19) are having a profound impact on all of our daily lives. Government guidance on travel and what the public at large can do is updated on a daily basis.
In these uncertain times we consider below the implications of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the workplace. We set out the key statutory duties on employers and employees and attach some frequently asked questions. There will inevitably be more questions as the situation develops and we will endeavour to keep these updated.
WHAT ARE THE EMPLOYER’S DUTIES?
The general duty to maintain health and safety
Employers are under a duty to ensure “so far as is reasonably practicable” the health, safety and welfare at work of all their employees. This includes providing a safe system of work and the provision of information and training and supervision as is necessary to ensure the health and safety at work of employees.
The duty on employers is not just limited to employees. It also applies to workers, including contract workers, as well as clients, customers and visitors to the workplace.
Employers are required to carry out a “suitable and sufficient” risk assessment to identify the risks to the health and safety and take “reasonably practicable” steps to eliminate or reduce that risk. Employers must consult employees in good time on health and safety matters including what the risks at work are, the steps taken to manage and control those risks and how information and training will be provided.
Employers should therefore identify in consultation with elected health and safety representatives, (or the workforce if there are no elected health and safety representatives), if coronavirus (COVID-19) presents a risk in the workplace. Where there is a risk (which is likely) the employer should take steps to prevent the risk. A record of the risk assessment should be kept where the employer employs five or more employees and reviewed as matters change.
The measures it is “reasonably practicable” for an employer to take depends on the risk taking into account a particular job or workplace as compared to the time, cost and physical difficulty of taking measures to avoid or reduce the risk. The risk must be a real risk as opposed to a hypothetical risk. In cases where the risk is small it may not be reasonably practicable for the employer to take a measure which would be difficult and or too costly. On the other hand if the preventative measure can be taken without much difficulty it is likely to be reasonably practicable for the employer to take it.
In summary employers should:
Assess the risks at work of coronavirus (COVID-19)
Implement preventive measures, where risks are identified Inform staff of the risks and preventative measures taken and
Monitor and review the situation in consultation with employees and appropriate health and safety reps.
Thanks for this advice JB how exceptional you are providing the right information to those in need of knowledge when I think what it costs to be a member of any union Napo whatever but none of them have had the sense to issue the Thompsons bulletin well done. JB is doing the work Thanks you.
DeleteSomeone should send this to the NAPO H&S Official so that she knows what should be done.
DeleteAnon 14:00 Very kind but the blog runs on people contributing either privately or anonymously - I just pull a few levers and push a few buttons....
Delete@14:31 - that would be like Ghostbusters' crossing the streams:
DeleteEgon: Don’t cross the streams.
Peter: Why?
Egon: It would be bad.
Peter: I’m fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean “bad”?
Egon: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Raymond: Total protonic reversal.
Peter: That’s bad. Okay. Alright, important safety tip, thanks Egon.
Probation colleagues: you have just been collectively thrown under the Neoplan Jumbocruiser - an articulated double-deck multi-axle city coach built by Neoplan Bus GmbH between 1975 and 1992.
ReplyDeleteIt is in the Guinness World Records as the world's largest bus.
By email:-
ReplyDelete"The most recently issued 'guidance' for probation service staff which specifies face-to-face contact with those under supervisions must take place & the undertaking of home visits - which can involve two or three people sharing a vehicle! Perhaps in London that might mean a taxi? Or public transport?
There is no mention of how to manage the health risks of the face-to-face contacts vis-a-vis PPE, sanitiser, cleaning of interview rooms - nor who will undertake those tasks. I fear for my former probation colleagues, their families & those they are supervising."
It takes two buses to get to the probation office from where I live. That's four buses to attended a face to face interview if I was required to do so.
DeleteI'd refuse to attend flat and simple. I'm not prepared to put either myself and others at risk, and the consequences of refusing to attend would be met with an argument that I was doing exactly what the Government was telling me to do. Service users don't have any obligation to help the probation service remain functional, particularly if there's a risk to their own life.
As for two probation staff and a police officer turning up on my doorstep?
Firstly that's a lot of resources to stand on someone's doorstep to make a phone call.
Secondly, if a policeman and two probation officers were to turn up at my doorstep, talking to me by telephone in full view of my neighbours and members of my local community, then they're not going to be well met. For some that situation might even put certain individuals at serious risk of harm.
As much as I really want everyone to remain safe and well, I find the advice given here pretty shocking.
'Getafix
The current and varying guidance is not safe and is breaching government and WHO guidance.
DeleteRegarding the cleaning of interview rooms, door handles, etc. Staff should not be doing this themselves. You need training and the right equipment to do this properly.
Taxis are not safe.
Public transport is not safe.
Sharing vehicles is not safe.
Home visits are not safe.
Sharing offices is not safe.
“For other high and very high risk of harm assessed offenders Doorstep visits should be the first consideration as a risk management strategy (it is recognised that this will not be appropriate in all cases). In order to keep staff safe this will involve a visit by car to the offender’s address and a telephone call being conducted from outside the property. (one of the additions to the guidance will be to always do ‘doorstep’ visits in pairs and where necessary with a police colleague).“
ReplyDeleteHave the police agreed to this?
Is this suggesting 3 separate cars or one for all?
If 1 car for all this breaches social distancing!
If 3 cars then a lot of probation offices should prepare to be stopped by the police on a daily basis which breaches social distancing!
Badly thought out ideas here.
“Where administrative functions require office hardware that is unavailable at home, arrangements will need to be made for access to offices to perform these tasks.”
ReplyDeleteSending administrators (many who are older) into probation offices breaches social distancing. Why not deliver printers, envelopes and stamps to their homes?
“Offenders without recourse to a phone”
ReplyDeleteWhy not issue them phones, which would work out cheaper than bus tickets in the long run?
“Prison leavers reporting for their initial appointment (subsequent appointments can be done via telephone/ Whatsapp/Skype where appropriate)”
ReplyDeleteThis does not observe social distancing. Released prisoners will very likely have come in contact with the virus in prison. Why can’t a first appointment be a telephone appointment? Probation phone numbers are on licences and discharge grants allow the cost of a phone call.
JUST tag the LOT and all over to Private sector for a while.
Delete“For other high and very high risk of harm assessed offenders Doorstep visits should be the first consideration as a risk management strategy”
ReplyDeleteRisk management of who? If a Probation worker is required to travel from home to a probation office, then across a city on busy public transport or in a car with a colleague, perhaps being stopped by police numerous times on the way, spreading or catching the virus as they go, to stand on an offenders doorstep to make a 5 minute phone call, who will probably then come out to greet them, how is this a risk management strategy?
Coronavirus: Sadiq Khan warns 'stop Tube travel or more will die'
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-52017910
After making the above few ‘analytical’ comments I need to take lie down. If this is to be the ‘exceptional’ strategy then I conclude that we truly are led by a bunch of reckless covidiots !
ReplyDeleteIf we are not an important enough ‘essential’ service to receive the required protective equipment, cleaning, buildings, vehicles, supplies (and access to supermarkets) as emergency services do, why then are we being ask to put ourselves at risk?
That is such a valid point. Don't usually get any of the benefits associated with keyworker nor the overtime rate prison officers do but when it suits them we are the same and must step up as a team. They treat their employees like dirt then expect them to risk their health while they senior managers communicate by telephone conferences and endless unclear emails barking orders.
DeleteOur LMC's were closed today in CRC at 12pm until further notice and will be looked at on a day to day basis. All reporting to be done via telephone contact. RO's working from home and small presence in HUB.
ReplyDeletePrison stating that POs have to go on the wings and face to face contact for what are considered priority tasks at this time.
ReplyDeleteThe number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in prisons in England and Wales has more than trebled overnight, MPs have been told, as all jails have been placed under a restricted regime that will further limit inmates’ time out of cells.
DeleteVisits to prisons in England and Wales have been suspended following the prime minister’s “lockdown” announcement last night and the estate is operating on an “exceptional delivery model”, the head of the prison service told the justice committee.
Jo Farrar, chief executive of HM Prison & Probation Service, told the committee 13 inmates in nine prisons had confirmed Covid-19 infections, compared to four confirmed yesterday. An additional 12 prison staff are confirmed to have the disease.
Farrar said the exceptional delivery model meant that inmates will have to spend more time in their cells, although prisoners will be able to come out for meals, phone-calls and showers. Gyms are closed and exercise will only take place outside, Farrar said.
Due to the restrictions placed on visits, the Prison Service was increasing access to phones for inmates who did not have them. Farrar said 60% already have phones in their cells, mobile phones will be provided to some of those who do not have in-cell access.
As of yesterday, there had been confirmed cases in Birmingham, High Down, in Surrey, Manchester (Strangeways) and Oakwood, in Wolverhampton.
In a sparsely populated Grimond Room in Portcullis House, Robert Buckland told a skeleton justice committee:
Strategically there are two things: one, the need to save lives and to protect the vulnerable but two to maintain order and public protection and there in our prison service and our prison system those two issues come together in a very challenging way.
I have to get that balance right in order to make sure the public are protected and that risk is managed and minimising the effects of this virus within the estate.
Italy yesterday - 63927 6077 : today - 69176 6820
ReplyDeleteUK yesterday - 6650 335 : today - 8077 422
I've just received the following text:
ReplyDeleteGOV.UK CORONAVIRUS ALERT New rules in force now: you must stay at home. More info & Exemptions at gov.uk/coronavirus Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.
I'm guessing many others have also received the same message.
I'm not subject to supervision, but if I was what should I do?
Do what my probation officer instructs? Or obey a direct instruction from the Government?
'Getafix
I think our managers have been forced into an embarrassing u turn in the face of a likely revolt from front line staff.
ReplyDeleteThey are sitting at home with their feet up ordering us to keep the wheels turning.
It was stated earlier that the WHO declared this to be a pandemic on 11th. March. Today, 24th March, I have had countless contradictory e mails from the headless chickens claiming to rule the roost.
Heads should roll over this and a lot of supposed leaders will find that they no longer have the confidence of their staff.
Some of them -perhaps the majority,- need to go and take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror.
Hands up. Who came up with the home visits strategy?
ReplyDeleteName them and shame them.
NAPO
DeleteJust on channel 4 "over 4,300 prison and probation staff self isolating" I'm one of them
ReplyDeleteThis is the first stop and the GOTO place for information debate and news well in advance of what appears to be a union trying to catch up on this blog. Is there any merit in the unions supporting these pages to learn from what the workers are saying now that any meeting in branches are not likely?
ReplyDeleteAnon 20:46 Sadly, no but they all read it which is probably the most important thing. It must be for others at another time to reflect on how things might have been done differently or better.
DeleteJim, whilst you set this blog up for other very good reasons, for which I applaud you for, you are now, in my opinion, the forum for real time info sharing which you could never have anticipated. As a CQSW PO I hold you in the highest regard and hope you and your family are safe and well. Respect brother.
ReplyDeleteMushroom - Thanks. The internet information revolution has transformed the way in which many aspects of life operate and has democratised publishing and information sharing. All sensible institutions have had to adapt and accept that the old methods of trying to restrict information and control it no longer works or applies. Just as in nature, where vacuums are abhorred, something will spring up to fill the void and the amazing thing is the tools to do that are now ubiquitous and can be operated from any sofa. If it resonates with people as truthful and trustworthy it flourishes and unites people, if not it withers. I've always felt these attributes are the very essence of 'probation' and therefore worth fighting to keep alive.
DeleteI have just come off a call from a colleague seconded to a local prison and my concerns for colleagues and SUs have dramatically increased. Jim can I ask that you ask colleagues in prisons what they are being told,what they are hearing and more specifically what is happening around MSL (minimum staffing levels)
ReplyDeleteAs small teams in prisons if colleagues off self isolating can leave one or none basically, no direction as to prison coms included in that. No admin structure to support homeworking in place and told expected on the wing for oasys for releases teleconf vlinks and issuing public protection docs, basically business as usual bar supervision. No hand sanitiser equipment and told the wings are being cleaned
DeleteIt looks like cat A prisons are better able to manage the outbreak due to single cells etc but it has been suggested that suspected cases are being downgraded by OCA to cat C to facilitate transfer to local cat Cs to try to keep the cat A estate safe.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/london-coronavirus-2-inmates-wandsworth-17974048.amp
DeleteSome might say not trying to say keepi g the cat A prisoners safe, rather keeping lid on the cat A estate.
ReplyDelete2 new cases in hmp Wandsworth
ReplyDeleteJails in England and Wales have been put on immediate lockdown with all visits cancelled, according to the union which represents prison officers.
ReplyDeleteThe POA said it “praised the decision of the Secretary of State for Justice and the Director of Public Sector Prisons for their decision to place prisons in England and Wales on immediate lockdown”.
According to the union, restrictions inside jails will mean:
- Inmates generally being locked up but allowed to access showers, phones and exercise - with social distancing restrictions in place
- Prisoners who carry out kitchen, cleaning and laundry work can continue
- No social visits
In a statement, the POA also claimed prisoners due at court “will be discharged to attend unless the courts service advise us otherwise”.
In a tweet, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said: "We have suspended all prison visits in England and Wales for today. This is while we ensure safe and secure functioning of our prisons while enforcing social distancing. If you have a visit booked today, please do not attend."
Meanwhile, the University and College Union (UCU) has called for face-to-face prison education to be suspended, raising concerns about workers' safety.
A small-scale poll conducted by the union found that 63% of prison education staff said hand washing facilities are inadequate, while 64% said classrooms are not cleaned between lessons and 93% said they are expected to share equipment, such as pens and keyboards, with other staff and prisoners.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: "Education has a vital role to play in prisons, but we must ensure the safety of staff and prisoners first and foremost, and do everything possible to limit the spread of the coronavirus. We want to work with the prison service to look at ways to get alternative learning materials to prisoners, but the face-to-face teaching must end for now.
"It is unacceptable that prison education staff are being asked to share equipment, work in dirty classrooms and undertake extra duties."
https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/18330542.haverigg-prison-put-lockdown/
At least someone has a union that represents their concerns rather than leaping into bed with dangerous practices.
And now Hancock is the voice, I fucking despaire
ReplyDeleteHMPPS webpage has been updated again:
ReplyDelete"Prison visits are temporarily suspended following instructions for people to stay at home.
Staying at home is how we reduce the number of people needing hospital treatment at any one time, so we can protect the NHS’s ability to cope and save more lives."