23 March 2020
Subject: Napo Members Covid -19 Napo's Position and Advice
Dear Napo Members
Many of you have contacted Napo requesting guidance regarding the current Covid-19 situation as you can imagine Napo’s priority is the health and safety of probation staff whilst ensuring that arrangements that impact on our work do not result in more work and complications later on down the line. MTC have been keeping both Napo and UNISON in the loop in both London and Thames Valley and have so far taken a robust line regarding safety of staff whilst trying to keep pace with the changing situation. You will appreciate this has been a challenge for them with new announcements daily from central government and a complex and changing landscape.
As you know probation staff are designated key workers by the government. ‘A key worker is a public sector or private sector employee who is considered to provide an essential service.’ MTC and other probation service providers have been in constant communication with their client that, we know as HMPPS/MoJ, about what constitutes an acceptable operating model during the crisis.
It is a fact that what MTC may propose may not be acceptable to their client particularly if it is not a good fit with the clients plans in respect of the NPS and prison service. I am reassured by Napo’s General Secretary and MTC management that all CRC’s are having this conversation at the various command levels and will no doubt continue to do so in the coming weeks and months. I will not repeat the company’s view here as every one of you will have access to the intranet and will see the various updates from the centre including a message from MTC MD David Hood on MTC FUSE. I do not for one minute doubt the sincerity of David’s message. Some services have already been suspended or part suspended, however, the situation does appear to be deteriorating and unlikely to improve for some time.
However, I feel duty bound to say that it is my view, as Napo London Branch Co-Chair and Health and Safety Convener, that I have serious reservations about the NPS Exceptional Reporting Strategy that is scheduled to be implemented next week. If implemented this will result in a number of offices closing across London and the establishment of area reporting facilities where high risk SUs will be required to report to probation staff. These staff will rely on the self-reporting of viral contact/infection by SUs, washing their hands, and an air gap of 2m for protection with no PPE.
I am advised that the National Unions have today made strong representations that these plans should be revisited and I will be advising the Co-Chair of Napo London Branch NPS of this view later today, making clear that the assessed risk to staff is simply too high. Without going into detail here I am concerned about any plan that involves face to face work taking place putting frontline staff at risk. I am also skeptical about any measure that requires staff and SUs to travel further than they would normally be required to do so. My view is that instead of the NPS plan local offices should be kept open with a minimal number of staff using them if absolutely necessary and required. It should be acknowledged that these staff are potentially at risk from each other and should maintain safe distances. No SUs should attend those offices for face to face meetings. The ideal at present is that all staff should be facilitated to work from home to avoid exposure to or transmission of the virus as anything short of this adds to existing risk.
It is also noted that those of you who have been travelling in to probation offices will have inevitably found that offices are not designed or equipped to follow the governments guidance (NHS, PHE) regarding hand sanitisation and maintaining safe distances and some may already have been infected. For example the need to operate secure doors to lead SUs from shared waiting rooms to interview areas that are often small, inadequately cleaned, and/or poorly ventilated. Probation offices as we know become unclean and unhygienic very quickly. We know for instance that reception glass and surfaces that face waiting areas are often saliva spattered and in this kind of situation would need to be cleaned after every SU with a strong disinfectant cleaning solution by someone wearing PPE. This type of cleaning is not a job for our dedicated customer service staff or for that matter any of our staff who are not trained in specialist cleaning.
The uncomfortable truth is that in most cases our workplaces whether offices or project placements are not very clean and in some cases do not even provide adequate safe hand washing facilities despite matters being reported. It is also the case that a number of our service users do not have personal access to adequate washing and cleaning facilities. As we know SUs often live in overcrowded living conditions and do their best to survive on low incomes that can seriously impact on their general health and resistance to disease – even under normal circumstances. This places both staff and SUs at risk of transmitting the virus to each other and to others.
In the meantime it remains for me to re-state Napo’s current position as clearly and as simply as possible. Napo General Secretary Ian Lawrence has made Napo’s views very clear to Gold Command. The position is that we do not believe that members should be required to have any face to face contact with service users and that this should rather be carried out by phone or text messaging or by other electronic means. Napo believes that anything short of zero contact will inevitably place staff at foreseeable risk. If staff are not seeing SUs then it seems logical that the default position should be to undertake work from the relative safety of home that will avoid travel and contact with others.
This is a difficult and worrying time for us all particularly when those we know and care about are at risk of contracting a potentially fatal disease and when we are told that our precious NHS will be placed under unprecedented pressures that have seen better resourced healthcare systems struggle. We are doing our bit by keeping our essential part of the criminal justice system going. Napo will continue to do our bit to encourage and support the employers to do all that is possible to look after the health and safety of employees and urge the HMPPS/MoJ to do the right thing quickly and not place any probation staff at risk.
Napo can only give advice about your health and safety but ultimately every member has a responsibility of care for both themselves and towards others. The employer also has a duty of care to you and also to SU’s. In the present health crisis face to face contact with SUs in probation offices, or out on project placements, in Napo’s view is not reasonable, safe or practicable. Should anyone decide to take Napo’s advice and subsequently be required to see service users face to face, or be required to instruct others to see or work directly with SUs face to face during this crisis, this will certainly not be considered reasonable by Napo for reasons of safety. If any member having decided to refuse to see a SU or to instruct anyone else to see a SU face to face, is then informed that they will face disciplinary action because they have refused to see a service user face to face, or instruct anyone else to see a SU face to face, then they should contact me at Napo as soon as possible for advice. You should of course otherwise maintain suitable contact with your SUs and colleagues during this time and if you are a manager member carry out your duties as best you can and if you choose to follow Napo’s advice, this will be short of instructing others to see SUs face to face.
Please feel free to share this with your colleagues and contact me if you have any questions.
Regards
David A Raho
Dear Napo Members
Many of you have contacted Napo requesting guidance regarding the current Covid-19 situation as you can imagine Napo’s priority is the health and safety of probation staff whilst ensuring that arrangements that impact on our work do not result in more work and complications later on down the line. MTC have been keeping both Napo and UNISON in the loop in both London and Thames Valley and have so far taken a robust line regarding safety of staff whilst trying to keep pace with the changing situation. You will appreciate this has been a challenge for them with new announcements daily from central government and a complex and changing landscape.
As you know probation staff are designated key workers by the government. ‘A key worker is a public sector or private sector employee who is considered to provide an essential service.’ MTC and other probation service providers have been in constant communication with their client that, we know as HMPPS/MoJ, about what constitutes an acceptable operating model during the crisis.
It is a fact that what MTC may propose may not be acceptable to their client particularly if it is not a good fit with the clients plans in respect of the NPS and prison service. I am reassured by Napo’s General Secretary and MTC management that all CRC’s are having this conversation at the various command levels and will no doubt continue to do so in the coming weeks and months. I will not repeat the company’s view here as every one of you will have access to the intranet and will see the various updates from the centre including a message from MTC MD David Hood on MTC FUSE. I do not for one minute doubt the sincerity of David’s message. Some services have already been suspended or part suspended, however, the situation does appear to be deteriorating and unlikely to improve for some time.
However, I feel duty bound to say that it is my view, as Napo London Branch Co-Chair and Health and Safety Convener, that I have serious reservations about the NPS Exceptional Reporting Strategy that is scheduled to be implemented next week. If implemented this will result in a number of offices closing across London and the establishment of area reporting facilities where high risk SUs will be required to report to probation staff. These staff will rely on the self-reporting of viral contact/infection by SUs, washing their hands, and an air gap of 2m for protection with no PPE.
I am advised that the National Unions have today made strong representations that these plans should be revisited and I will be advising the Co-Chair of Napo London Branch NPS of this view later today, making clear that the assessed risk to staff is simply too high. Without going into detail here I am concerned about any plan that involves face to face work taking place putting frontline staff at risk. I am also skeptical about any measure that requires staff and SUs to travel further than they would normally be required to do so. My view is that instead of the NPS plan local offices should be kept open with a minimal number of staff using them if absolutely necessary and required. It should be acknowledged that these staff are potentially at risk from each other and should maintain safe distances. No SUs should attend those offices for face to face meetings. The ideal at present is that all staff should be facilitated to work from home to avoid exposure to or transmission of the virus as anything short of this adds to existing risk.
It is also noted that those of you who have been travelling in to probation offices will have inevitably found that offices are not designed or equipped to follow the governments guidance (NHS, PHE) regarding hand sanitisation and maintaining safe distances and some may already have been infected. For example the need to operate secure doors to lead SUs from shared waiting rooms to interview areas that are often small, inadequately cleaned, and/or poorly ventilated. Probation offices as we know become unclean and unhygienic very quickly. We know for instance that reception glass and surfaces that face waiting areas are often saliva spattered and in this kind of situation would need to be cleaned after every SU with a strong disinfectant cleaning solution by someone wearing PPE. This type of cleaning is not a job for our dedicated customer service staff or for that matter any of our staff who are not trained in specialist cleaning.
The uncomfortable truth is that in most cases our workplaces whether offices or project placements are not very clean and in some cases do not even provide adequate safe hand washing facilities despite matters being reported. It is also the case that a number of our service users do not have personal access to adequate washing and cleaning facilities. As we know SUs often live in overcrowded living conditions and do their best to survive on low incomes that can seriously impact on their general health and resistance to disease – even under normal circumstances. This places both staff and SUs at risk of transmitting the virus to each other and to others.
In the meantime it remains for me to re-state Napo’s current position as clearly and as simply as possible. Napo General Secretary Ian Lawrence has made Napo’s views very clear to Gold Command. The position is that we do not believe that members should be required to have any face to face contact with service users and that this should rather be carried out by phone or text messaging or by other electronic means. Napo believes that anything short of zero contact will inevitably place staff at foreseeable risk. If staff are not seeing SUs then it seems logical that the default position should be to undertake work from the relative safety of home that will avoid travel and contact with others.
This is a difficult and worrying time for us all particularly when those we know and care about are at risk of contracting a potentially fatal disease and when we are told that our precious NHS will be placed under unprecedented pressures that have seen better resourced healthcare systems struggle. We are doing our bit by keeping our essential part of the criminal justice system going. Napo will continue to do our bit to encourage and support the employers to do all that is possible to look after the health and safety of employees and urge the HMPPS/MoJ to do the right thing quickly and not place any probation staff at risk.
Napo can only give advice about your health and safety but ultimately every member has a responsibility of care for both themselves and towards others. The employer also has a duty of care to you and also to SU’s. In the present health crisis face to face contact with SUs in probation offices, or out on project placements, in Napo’s view is not reasonable, safe or practicable. Should anyone decide to take Napo’s advice and subsequently be required to see service users face to face, or be required to instruct others to see or work directly with SUs face to face during this crisis, this will certainly not be considered reasonable by Napo for reasons of safety. If any member having decided to refuse to see a SU or to instruct anyone else to see a SU face to face, is then informed that they will face disciplinary action because they have refused to see a service user face to face, or instruct anyone else to see a SU face to face, then they should contact me at Napo as soon as possible for advice. You should of course otherwise maintain suitable contact with your SUs and colleagues during this time and if you are a manager member carry out your duties as best you can and if you choose to follow Napo’s advice, this will be short of instructing others to see SUs face to face.
Please feel free to share this with your colleagues and contact me if you have any questions.
Regards
David A Raho
"NPS Exceptional Reporting Strategy is scheduled to be implemented next week. "
ReplyDeleteAssuming this is written today, next week will be too late.
As a result of Boris’ lockdown there will now be no reporting of any offenders to probation offices. The focus will now be on what telephone reporting should entail, what questions to ask, etc. Probation workers will have the option to work in select offices, payments for those opting to do AP or other work that puts them at risk, and all should be permitted to work from home.
DeleteIs that now the official position of NPS/HMPPS?
DeleteIf so it renders all of the ERS (or EDM or whatever its called) useless.
Yet another vastly expensive waste of public money by the misguided, hapless bullies who define themselves as 'excellent leaders'.
From Facebook:-
ReplyDeletePeter Halsall - Speaking as London Napo NPS H&S Convenor, I totally agree with you David Raho. My advice to NPS members follows the above. Please keep yourself safe and don't blindly follow what you're being told through a sense of duty or misplaced trust in the organisation. The NPS and the Govt have a duty of care to all of us. Again feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
David Raho - Thanks Peter. When have you ever known me to blindly follow anyone? I’ll give credit where it is due and tell it how I see it. Always have done always will. One of the biggest worries staff in the CRC have about being assimilated by the government controlled probation service is that the freedom to think innovate and act relatively unfettered may be lost or subsumed.
Completely wrong and your obviously not in a CRC. We have no room to do anything other than deliver target get the facts right raho what a daft thing to claim.
DeleteAnon 07:45 I think that's exactly the point he's making!
Deletehmmm, I read Raho's comments in the same way 07:45 read them.
DeleteIf 07:45 is speaking from the perspective of being NPS then I would agree with you, Jim.
I suspect 07:45 is in a CRC & contesting Raho's apparent claim that CRCs offer "freedom to think innovate and act relatively unfettered", which will be lost once NPS take back control.
Might be wrong...
It is true that some individuals at the front-line in the CRCs don't have much room to do anything but drudge work and tick boxes as professional autonomy is the first casualty of bureaucracy However, the CRCs as organisations currently have relative freedom to innovate as long as HMPPS approves major changes to their operating models but it is feared that this will not be for long as there is no money and the HMPPS have the imagination of a standard house brick and about the same motivation to change. The pseudo civil servant populated and tightly controlled NPS do not have any room at all either collectively or individually to be creative and whose current Directors see innovation as a threat to be feared and stamped out or if not throttled at birth. Be careful what you wish for. I for one want a modern probation service free from the shackles of civil servant shame.
Delete