C19 - Update 25-03-2020 (bulletin 3)
Following substantial contact from members yesterday the general guidance on operations has been updated on our webpage, this is the HMPPS EDM (Exceptional Delivery Model) that all Probation providers (NPS and CRCs) are expected to follow. There will also be EDMs for APs, Courts, Electronic Monitoring and Probation in prisons. Each Division and CRC will then produce their specific EDM based on the HMPPS guidance and this will be signed off by the centre. Already we have made representations about one CRC owner’s EDM not being properly in line with the HMPPS guidance and we will continue to monitor and act on these to ensure that CRCs and NPS divisions are all working in line with the national model.
Clearly this process takes time and not all of the EDMs have been signed off yet. If any members are in a position where they feel they are being asked to work in a way that does not meet the HMPPS general model they should first take it up locally with their managers and seek support from local reps who can escalate to the national team if necessary. Over the past two days we have seen many issues resolved thanks to the proactive and persistent approach of our local reps who have managed to pull back attempts (however well-meaning) to pre-empt guidance or introduce different versions. As soon as we have any updates we will post them to the webpage so please check it regularly.
NPS staff working in prisons
We are still awaiting the specific EDM for this, and have made Senior leaders aware of the significant impact the delay is having on members. We expect the EDM to be with us by the end of the week, but in the meantime members should not be seeing any clients face to face except in the most urgent and extreme of circumstances and then only when social distancing protocols can be observed. Prison regimes should all now be in lockdown which should help in this. Staff based in prisons can, if they need to because of an underlying health issue, work at home and this can be agreed by their line manager. We have heard from some members that there is tension between the decisions being made by Probation managers (in line with NPS guidance) and the very real urgency for Prison management to make the establishment as safe as it can be in the face of a staffing crisis. We have made it clear to HMPPS Senior Leaders that this is unacceptable and that staff working in prisons remain employees of the NPS or CRC and not the prison.
Suspension of most disciplinary, grievance and attendance management cases in NPS
We have secured agreement that, during this crisis, all of these cases will be suspended (so no hearings or investigations will be taking place) until we return to “business as usual”. The only exception will be some gross misconduct cases and those cases where it is decided, very exceptionally, that to not proceed would cause too many difficulties. New allegations of gross misconduct where suspension is unavoidable will proceed to suspension and then a decision will be made in line with the above whether to proceed with the case or not. HMPPS will issue an instruction on this in the next day or two and we will share it once we have it.
"We are still awaiting the specific EDM for this, and have made Senior leaders aware of the significant impact the delay is having on members. We expect the EDM to be with us by the end of the week, but in the meantime members should not be seeing any clients face to face except in the most urgent and extreme of circumstances and then only when social distancing protocols can be observed."
ReplyDeleteJust like the tests, & the PPE, & the self-employed... waiting, waiting, waiting.
And thereby compromising the stay-at-home, social distancing, interrupt the spread tactic.
Fucking covidiots.
Jim, this may seem a naieve question but do you post these "latest from NAPO" or does someone else. I understand perfectly if it is you, and why you might do it, but as a relatively new blogger I just thought I'd ask the question.
ReplyDeleteYes I post them!
DeleteMushroom post less. Thanks JB this latest Ian Lawrence stupidity is magic. He claim secured agreement no cases against agreed then undoes it by except the gross misconducts. What an idiot. They won't be able to be treated fairly as no appeal period could operate under lock down. This general secretary is real duffer. Suspend all proceedings means all cases to act properly. Basic stuff. Also he couldn't have negotiated that the employers just cannot bring the players together during social distance and beside has he not understood we are all in a national crisis. Who does he think he is conning now. His time is coming to an end stop lying to members.
Deletevery unfair treatment - case managers expected to work 5 days per week from home - no payment for our utilities that we'll be using because the office is shut. My contract doesn't say my place of work is 'home'. Told I have to work 7hrs per day with 10min breaks from computer. This is not right - progs and upw staff sit at home doing nothing for the same money and we're penalised. I don't mind working from home but there should be some reduction in hours to compensate.
ReplyDelete... and Band 2 and 3 AP staff are in direct contact with residents who aren't supposed to go out for more than an hour a day. Probably limited PPE, if any. Lowest paid staff with most contact with many of the highest risk cases. Very little comment on the demands on those colleagues.
DeleteI agree, if we are being expected to work from home will there be compensation to cover the cost of utilities?
DeleteI can assure you programmes staff are not sitting at home doing nothing. We're staying in touch with group members and working with them over the phone so they aren't left hanging halfway through the work they were doing. Some have already been directed to case management and I assume once the closing down a group safely has happened the rest will too.
DeleteHaha course you are.
DeleteThank you for your overwhelmimg support for your colleagues 00.54. Very respectful. Excuse me I have some thumbs to twiddle. But first I have to write 8 reports and make phone calls to some very unsupported individuals who feel like their world's ending. Toodle pip.
DeleteNever have these lyrics felt so apt " This is the end, beautiful friend
ReplyDeleteThis is the end, my only friend
The end of our elaborate plans
The end of ev'rything that stands
The end
No safety or surprise
The end
I'll never look into your eyes again
Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need of
some strangers hand
In a desperate land
Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain
There's danger on the edge of town
Ride the king's highway
Weird scenes inside the goldmine
Ride the highway West baby
Ride the snake
Ride the snake
To the lake
To the lake
The ancient lake baby
The snake is long
Seven miles
Ride the snake
He's old
And his skin is cold
The west is the best
The west is the best
Get here and we'll do the rest
The blue bus is calling us
The blue bus is calling us
Driver, where you taking us?
The killer awoke before dawn
He put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived
And then he paid a visit to his brother
And then he walked on down the hall
And he came to a door
And he looked inside
Father?
Yes son
I want to kill you
Mother, I want to...
Come on, baby, take a chance with us
Come on, baby, take a chance with us
Come on, baby, take a chance with us
And meet me at the back of the blue bus
This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend
The end
It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me-aca
Cheers Jim, you have reassured me, cheers. Whilst we are sort of chatting, where the hell do you get your strength and resiance from. I don't know if we have ever met but my hat has been thrown off the rooftop, we all eventually leave this mortal coil but rest assured you will leave a bigger legacy than I. Respect!
ReplyDeleteIt's a team effort. The technology makes it all so simple. Twitter provides leads. Email arrives. Unmoderated comments appear. I pull some levers, press a few buttons all because I passionately believe in the probation ethos and am determined to see it survive. Fortunately, it would seem I'm not alone in this desire. Respect to you!
DeleteThe lyrics cited were the theme music from the film "Apocolipse now" which was based on Joseph Contrad's Heart of Darkness. Both explore the concepts of power and the susceptibility of humans who obtain power. I only wish many of the donkeys that lead us had read it, I doubt it because they will have been to busy looking at leadership manuals
ReplyDeleteAh Jim, you responded as I was typing, silly old CQSW dinasour that I am but very glad that you are now a Jedi of tech
ReplyDeleteMushroom, Jim... another CQSW here and my raison d'etre so far as work is concerned has never been more tested! When this madness is over, I need to have a hard think about what next!
ReplyDeleteHello can I ask if the guidance around us reviewing ALL OASYS and RMP could be discussed ? This feels like unnecessary work when we can add professional judgements on NDelius... this is not effective use of our time
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to our noble profession Jim, actually you and I both know. It was incremental, a slow encroachment, a shift from advise assist and befriend to enforcement enforcement enforcement, a new entry model fo POs etc. I am still not sure who is better placed - old school who enjoyed the challenges of risk management and professional judgement, or the new IT savvy types who meet targets. This is going to sound very ageist but a more gentle and thoughtful merging would have been better for all. I was given some very good advice on my first day of my probationary year "get to know your clients, really get to know them, and their families, and if you invest in that you will rarely need to breach" Those words have been the cornerstones of my practise ever since, and in the current climate will prove my long dead colleague and friend to have been so very right.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, I remember a colleague telling me when I was allocated my first lifer... "slow down, just talk... about anything about the offence for at least two years as it will take that long for them to get their head around their sentence". It was true. We spend so little time now getting to really know the person as opposed to the offence, we need to understand both to have any hope of effecting change.
Delete... anything but the offence...
DeleteWith you 21.06 very much so
ReplyDeleteI am very angry told by a prison manager that the prison I work in has no cases to justify working on the wings face to face but a prisoner has died in a prison where we have transfers in from. Sad for the prisoner and his family and not detracting from that but do not like being made to feel like I'm inflating the risk when this just shows its not about no cases identified its whose been exposed and the links with others
ReplyDeleteI have come close as the attitude I am refusing unnecessarily can cause a divide with prison colleagues. Unless any changes there had been no lock down with transfers so God knows the risk associated with those transferred from prisons and not tested beforehand
ReplyDeleteFor the record I am a male, so my rant should not be assumed to be "unhinged feminist"
ReplyDeleteJim, our prison colleagues are scared, they are trying to maintain professional integrity and personal safety within a landscape that is literally changing daily for them. They need to detail their accounts to you otherwise post mortum FOI will be overwhelmed. Your blog may be cited in future litigation, you are the record
ReplyDeleteThe lyrics you refer to are jim morrison of the doors. Stay positve and think how children are coping. They are putting rainbow pictures up in windows.
ReplyDeleteNapo is unclear whether PPE will be provided to probation staff. Has Napo assessed all functioning probation offices to determine whether 2 metre social distancing is possible and in place in both offender and staff areas. Even supermarkets are trying protect their staff ! Maybe probation NPS and CRC) could learn something from them !
ReplyDelete“Indeed, Lidl, Morrisons, Aldi, Iceland and Sainsbury's have all installed protective screens for staff, while Waitrose has ordered screens and visors for its workers.
You'll see staff wearing gloves and plenty of hand-sanitisers near tills and other areas.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52022240
01:33am Potential coronavirus drug granted status worth millions in tax breaks
ReplyDeleteThe pharmaceutical giant that makes a promising coronavirus drug has registered it as a rare disease treatment with US regulators, a status that can potentially be worth millions in tax breaks and competition-free sales.
The Food and Drug Administration granted the status on Monday, according to the agency's website. If approved for coronavirus, Gilead Sciences would receive seven years of exclusive US marketing for the drug and tax credits on its research and development costs.
Gilead did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Associated Press.
The non-profit Public Citizen group said in a statement that the US government should be "urgently concerned" with the affordability of remdesivir.
The drug interferes with virus reproduction and has shown some promise in lab and animal studies against other coronaviruses that cause similar diseases, Mers and Sars It was also used briefly in some Ebola patients in Congo.
8 probation staff have tested positive in prisons for the virus, psychologists not coming in, oral hearings suspended, education impacted, why are we treated differently than other civilian staff who perform essential tasks. I'm not bothered about the cash but out of interest does anyone know if prison staff are included in the 150 pounds for going in during this. We sure as hell don't get the same overtime rates so if we are the same as operational staff and should do our duty and pull together which has been expressed in the prison I work in then convenient we are not treated the same when it suits them
ReplyDeleteYep - its more complicated but in effect its £150 for the frontline & £1500 for managerial staff.
DeleteOh right thanks for everyone then community and prison staff irrespective of the massive gap. Managers don't do front line so not sure why that is. Hmmmm.
Delete