Napo Annual Report 2019/20 Part 3

Trade Union Organisation Network

1. The 2019 November NEC agreed to reform all committees into networks, bar the ones that are “Constitutional”, such as Cafcass Negotiating Committee and the Family Court Committee (these nominations are dealt with by the Family Court Section separately), Probation Negotiating Committee, Probation Journal Editorial Board, Equal Rights Committee and Steering Committee (Steering Committee nominations are linked to National Officers’ nominations separately too). So the Trade Union Organisation Committee (TUO) became a network. This means that anyone who was a member of the Committee as first elected just before the 2019 AGM will now be able to remain a continuous member of the network unless they indicate they would no longer like to be a member of it and any other members have been invited to join the network. 

2. AGM Resolution – Global Climate and Ecological Emergency. There was one resolution allocated to the network. This centred around: “Napo can help to reduce the use of plastic in society through its commitment to, wherever possible, purchasing Napo promotional products made from sustainable materials which cause little or no damage to the environment.” 

3. This resolution was duly noted as a crucial one and Napo will continue to commit to buying promotional materials from an ethically responsible company sourcing sustainable ones. 

4. Organising and Recruitment. The ‘Active8’ campaign continues. The aim of the this is to promote member engagement within Napo and for this in turn to lead to greater member involvement and increased levels of activism at both branch and national level. 

5. To encourage recruitment activity at branch level the ‘Recruit A Friend’ campaign will also continue. To support branches raising the visibility of Napo in the workplace a range of promotional resources have been purchased and distributed to branches to use at appropriate events or when required. 

6. Plans are also underway, in these ‘virtual times’ to launch a recruitment initiative starting in Cafcass with a ‘Why I Joined’ video’. Due to Covid – likely to be audio files. And the aim is to get the employers to promote it too. If successful, we would like to roll it out in probation too. 

7. We are also looking at a series of professional webinars to set us aside from the other ‘general unions’. They will be free for members and with a nominal fee for non-members to look at and we can target those staff registering with a message ‘see what you could get for free if you join’. 

8. Branch restructuring. Following the Branch Chairs’ meeting held on 9th June and the NEC meeting on 18th June, it was agreed to proceed with the merging of branches according to the newly developed NPS regions following the decision by the Ministry of Justice to bring all probation work back into the NPS. A branch merger kit has been developed to help branches with the process and will be circulated to branches soon. 

9. Constitutional Amendments. Following the June NEC approving the branch restructuring, a special NEC meeting was held on 30th July to agree a set of constitutional amendments to go forward to the coming AGM. The amendments replace Appendix B with the list of current branches and make changes necessary to accommodate the reduced number of branches from 23 to 14. 

10. They also to make changes to Section 13 General Meetings, Section 14 Annual General Meeting, Section 21 Branches and Section 22 Workplace Meetings to allow for the business of the Association and its branches to be conducted with greater flexibility i.e. to include remote/electronic meetings and hybrid meetings as well as physical meetings. The restrictions imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic demonstrated both the need for this flexibility and the advantages in terms of enabling greater inclusivity and accessibility. The aim of these amendments were both to build in resilience to deal with future such events and also to increase membership participation in the decision making process of the Association. 

11. In addition, it also addresses inconsistencies in terminology etc. which have arisen over time as various constitutional amendments have been adopted. 

12. Education programme / Reps’ training. Our reps’ training delivery was paused due to lockdown but even before those restrictions were put in place we recognised the need to review where we had got to, the feedback from 46 attendees and facilitators and where we needed to put our focus going forward. 

13. Almost all branches have done module 1 of the training and around half have done module 2. None have yet done module 3, which is the development of the branch plan although there is a practice for this in module 1. 

14. Evaluations have been positive and there is real value for branches and reps from the training. We did however realised we need to review the material to keep it current and there are ways that the course can be delivered differently using a mix of face to face and other methods. We also needed to work out how to deliver some element of training remotely while restrictions remain in place to be properly inclusive and keep everyone safe. 

15. The Training Plan. Ranjit Singh, Acting AGS, and Megan Elliott, National Representative, are reviewing the material for module 2 and adapting it for virtual delivery so that the remaining branches can complete it. A budget bid will be submitted for 2021 to cover this and the delivery of mop up session combining all modules for new reps and the delivery will begin in January. 

16. Module 3 needs to be delivered to all of the branches who have completed module 1. The material is being reviewed by Katie Lomas, National Chair and Annoesjka Valent, National Official, to make it suitable for the Link Officer and Official to work through with the reps during a virtual meeting. This can be done as part of the branch development work that Link Officers and Officials do. 

17. Napo Cymru had their training planned with modules 1, 2 and 3 combined (because of the geographical challenges for their branch). This was cancelled due to lockdown. It is planned that they will do module 2 remotely as soon as the material is ready and will do modules 1 and 3 combined later in the year. This will effectively be a pilot for both a different order for module delivery and the newly adapted material. 

18. Remaining branches that have not yet completed module 1 will then do the combined module 1 and 3 session. This is being adapted to include some material for pre-course learning, a one-day face to face session with a virtual alternative and some post-course learning. 

19. Contingency for new reps where needed. If there are branches that need reps to be trained urgently (for example where there are gaps in rep availability) any volunteers should be directed to TUC online reps training (available now) and GFTU reps training (once this restarts). This means they will be able to represent members with support from fellow reps and Link Officer and Officials. They should then complete the Napo training at the next opportunity. 

20. The Forum (for members grades 1-3). After a long absence of regular meetings, Annoesjka Valent, Link Official, and Keith Stokeld, Link Officer, with input from Cynthia Griffith, Administrator, as well as Ceris Handley, a former Chair of the Forum, a new meeting was set up. This took place on 23 July via Zoom. Decisions were taken on the strategy for the development and promotion of the Forum to staff from grades 1 – 3. At the heart of the Forum are its aims to provide a friendly atmosphere for members to raise and discuss concerns of admin and PSO staff. 

21. It was acknowledged the pandemic had led to the cancellation of the Forum conference scheduled for the 12th June 2020 in Sheffield, and that this arrangement was itself a rescheduling of last years (2019) cancelled Forum Conference. 

22. It was accepted that for the foreseeable future activities and meetings involving the Forum would be conducted remotely, starting with the one held in July. 

23. Members of the forum formulated a plan for the rest of the year which was designed to build on the standard agenda used for past Forum meetings including, how often and under what guise future Forum events should take place. 

24. In addition to ensuring the core elements remain the focus such as the issues of role boundaries, pay and workloads, members were invited to consider how a wider brief could be pursued through the advantages offered through a virtual format. 

25. In an effort to attract greater participation of members the Forum is planning to host a professional slot as well as lead a session on a topical subject. These would form part of the agenda and have an invited speaker. They would be open to Forum members and other interested parties who are considering joining in Napo’s activities. 

26. It was also recognised that the virtual format gave those wishing to access the Forum a wider opportunity to take part in meetings or join for the parts they wished to link into. And it allowed for additional shorter meetings to stimulate debate and set the scene for the Forum conference that would be held in 2021. 

27. Among the themes proposed for the forum meetings prior to the conference were: 

• Why should I ask someone in my grade to join Napo? 

• Are unions relevant in today’s society? 

• Should I be able to say no when asked to undertake work with sex offenders and high risk cases? 

• What will reunification mean for me and what is the agenda for dealing with the change? 

Because October is Black History Month we may be able to build on work undertaken then and further the Black Lives Matter campaign with an event on: “Does White Silence mean more Black Violence”.  

28. AGM Fringe meeting. Currently Helena Gosling is lined up as a speaker for the Forum Fringe meeting. Helena has written an ICCJ on “What can we learn from Learning Together” which is available on the Napo website. Anyone who can recall the London Bridge attacks will remember those who intervened to save lives were hailed as heroes. They were attending a learning event in November 2019. The narrative changed when it became known they were exoffenders. Helena Gosling has written an easy read in the June addition of the Probation Journal entitled “We are more than one story: Embracing creativity and compassion through Learning Together”. 

29. In the article Helena sets out how the initiative she is a part of “promotes learning between people who, ordinarily, would never meet or have the opportunity to learn from one another” 

30. The intention would be through this workshop to learn more about creating the respective narratives in our own lives and those we work with. Using the experience of the opportunity provided for those from challenging backgrounds to learn alongside others who have also been discriminated against. 

31. Forum Conference. Planning on this will start later in the year with members being encouraged to consider taking part in the working group to develop the theme and make up of next year’s event. Some of the ideas for the 2019 conference of the impact of Transforming Rehabilitation may still be relevant. These included a focus on the impact of Neo Liberal thinking on role boundaries and the capacity of those from grades 1 – 3 to carry out their role. 

32. Along with the impact this has had on the move from a people orientated service to one of commodities and products. It may well be an opportune moment to revise the arguments in line with the announcement for the reunification of Probation. 

33. This may allow others who contributed to the special edition of the Probation Journal from March 2019 “5 years on from TR” to be a key note speaker or run workshops on their respective themes. 

34. Other themes under consideration are about Putting P back into HMPPS or taking Probation out of Prison. 

35. This could be the basis for a wide ranging discussion and the chance to still invite contributions from academics and practitioners as well as union officials. 

36. The conference planned for next year will take place on 23 June 2021 with the format yet to be decided but members grade 1-3 are invited to join in the discussion on it. 

37. National Reps Panel. Since April 2020 Ranjit Singh has taken up post as Acting Assistant General Secretary and has therefore taken over responsibility for National Representatives Panel and Referrals from this date.  

38. Membership of the National Representatives (Nat Reps) Panel is as follows: Jeremy Cameron, Eriks Puce, Les King, Urfan Amar, Mick Hooson, Megan Elliott, Anne King and John Drewicz. 

39. At the time of writing (31 July 2020) the Nat Reps panel has picked up 56 cases since the 1 August 2019. 

40. Equalities Statement. The Constitutional Changes that will be put forward by the NEC will allow for more hybrid meetings allowing for more inclusivity by members to branch meetings and AGM. 

Report on the Implementing Anti-Racism Policy; work to promote an inclusive union – by Branches. 

Thank you to the following branches that sent a return: 

• Essex Branch 

• Kent, Surrey & Sussex Branch