Only a few weeks until the big change and there's an ominous lack of chatter, even on the Facebook page to a suggestion it be renamed and people campaign for a service with greater independence and less government control. The conspicuous lack of interest is both telling and hugely depressing. So, in that context, three pieces of information that may be of interest, but having said that, I can find no reference to the source of this posted anonymously yesterday:-
Couldn't find anything on napo web site, but unison's seems to be much more accessible."PROBATION REFORM PROGRAMME: VOLUNTARY REDUNDANCY SCHEME
1. This Scheme will apply to voluntary redundancy (VR/voluntary severance (VS) exits made by the NPS (and DF providers in respect of any CRC staff that transfer to them) as part of the transition to the Unified Model in 2021.
2. The Scheme will be in place for two years, starting 25th June 2021 and will apply to employees who were CRC staff and who transferred under the June 2021 transfers and who leave NPS/DF employment before 25th June 2023.
3. The provisions will apply in all cases of VR/VS arising as a direct consequence of the Probation Reform Programme and will remain in operation till 25th June 2023.
4. The decision in respect of individual applications on whether to award voluntary redundancy/voluntary severance is at HMPPS (NPS) discretion and will include consideration of, amongst other things, the exigencies of the service, organisational issues and business needs.
5. Exit payments will be made in accordance with all statutory provisions in place at their date of payment."
Have you got 15 years' service? Tempted to quit? Seems you're eligible for a £67,500 payout. Even 10 years' service lands you £45,000. Beats the disgraceful, pitiful insult that was the £20,000-ish severance paid to staff with up to 20 years' service by the CRCs back in 2015/16.
--oo00oo--
STATEMENT TO MEMBERS ISSUED IN CONNECTION WITH NAPO’S ANNUAL RETURN FOR PERIOD ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020 AS REQUIRED BY SECTION 32A OF TRADE UNION AND LABOUR RELATIONS (CONSOLIDATION) ACT 1992
Income and Expenditure
The total income of the union for the period was £1,221,918. This amount included payments of £1,157,000 in respect of membership of the union. The union’s total expenditure for the period was £1,672,029. The union does not maintain a political fund.
Salary paid to and other benefits provided to the General Secretary, President and members of the Executive
The current General Secretary of the union was paid £85,044 in respect of salary and £5,044 in respect of Pension.
--oo00oo--
Welcome to our latest bulletin, reporting on key updates and progress across our three probation programmes – reform, workforce and recovery. June 26 is a huge milestone for us this year when we welcome CRC colleagues and come together as one new unified probation service.
Last week HMIP published their thematic report into our work across probation in preparing for unification, which was positive about our readiness for June. This followed a review between October 2020 and February 2021 that covered our regions, regional probation directors, members of the programme team and external stakeholders.
Once we have completed these structural changes, our focus will turn to the implementation of our Target Operating Model published in February and delivering excellent probation services - more on this from Jim Barton below.
I also wanted to highlight the recently published Justice Select Committee (JSC) report on the “Future of the Probation Service”. The JSC took written then oral evidence from a range of witnesses from July – December 2020. The report is supportive of our unification plans and outlines a number of recommendations around assurance, which we will now be taking forward.
We continue to progress well with our organisational recovery and resuming the services we had to temporarily pause in response to the pandemic wherever it has been safe to do so. As the UK Government and Welsh Government ease restrictions, we have been regularly reviewing our plans and adapting to changing circumstances. Ian Barrow provides an update on our recovery progress along with an update on our Workforce programme below.
With our continued focus on providing those leaving prison with the support needed to stop them reoffending and protect communities, Hannah Meyer, Executive Director, Reducing Reoffending, Partnerships and Accommodation, provides an update on some of the important work underway in this cross-Government programme.
Finally, I would like to thank staff across the probation service for their adaptability and ongoing commitment as we move forward and start to see a semblance of normality. There is still a long way to go, but I am confident that with the exceptional teams we have in place, we will meet the challenges, implement our exciting reforms and continue to deliver our essential services to protect the public, reduce reoffending and change lives.
2. Update from Jim Barton, SRO, Probation Reform Programme
As Amy mentions, our focus remains on delivering our much-needed reforms from 26 June, when we will welcome NPS and CRC staff to our new, strong unified service, and begin working closer together to protect the public and help people lead law-abiding and positive lives.
We are focused on ensuring those joining the service in our 11 new probation regions across England and one in Wales experience a smooth transition. This applies equally to staff who will work directly within the new service and those in our Commissioned Rehabilitative Service providers. While many people will be doing the same role, in the same location and with the same manager from 26 June, some will experience a change in role, team, job title or job description. To support people through this change, we have set up a role alignment process to align professional qualifications for those joining our new service from CRCs, where their roles require them to do so.
The process of transferring the technology for staff at CRC parent organisations is in full swing, with increasing numbers now having access to the full range of Ministry of Justice online tools and resources as they take delivery of their new laptops and smartphones.
From 26 June, Accredited Programmes, Structured Interventions, Unpaid Work and Senior Attendance Centres will be delivered in house by our new probation service as before, with only a few small changes taking effect.
Probation practitioners will have a suite of interventions available to them, with Accredited Programmes and Structured Interventions delivered by our interventions teams, Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) delivered through the Dynamic Framework and Approved Toolkits delivered by probation practitioners. For interventions delivered via the Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR), probation practitioners will allocate RAR days post sentence and select and sequence interventions that address the most significant areas of need linked to offending behaviour.
Unpaid Work will continue to be delivered as predominantly a punishment. From 26 June, staff sourcing Unpaid Work work placements will ensure sufficient high quality, local placements are obtained which meets the needs of individual service users. Senior Attendance Centres will continue to be delivered in their current locations.
From 26 June, the Interventions design team will work with the regions and their local interventions teams to plan for transition to the new end state operating models for Accredited Programmes, Structured Interventions, Unpaid Work and Senior Attendance Centres.
The process and timeframes for probation practitioners to complete the Unpaid Work assessment and screening are currently being reviewed and an update will be provided.
We have continued to commission a range of services (CRS) and award contracts to specialist external providers to meet key areas of rehabilitative services: Accommodation; Employment, Training and Education; Personal Wellbeing; and Women’s Services. The contracted providers of these commissioned rehabilitative services will work closely with probation practitioners and community interventions teams to ensure that the best outcomes are achieved for people on probation.
Finally, as part of the programme’s community engagement and recruitment initiative, a number of colleagues have been working with Year 10 students from School 21 on the Real World Project (“RWP”), which matches students with employers to work on a real life project over the course of a term. School 21 is a state-funded pioneering free school in Stratford, East London, for children from all backgrounds and programme colleagues have been working with students on a solution to the problem of ‘How can probation improve engagement of 18-25 year olds on Community Orders?’ The group have worked hard to understand the issue and generate possible solutions. The group have settled on a proposal which it is hoped may feed into broader thinking on how probation might develop lived experience mentoring. The RWP work has helped raise awareness with young people about the work of the probation services, in the hope that they may one day want to come and join us. It is part of a larger piece of work under way in in the programme, improving the way we work with 18-25 year olds managed by probation.
I remain incredibly proud of the quality and pace of the work from colleagues across the programme as we ready ourselves for 26 June to create a unified probation service that keeps the public safe, supports victims of crime and gives the right rehabilitative support to address the often-complex causes of offending.
3. Update from Ian Barrow, SRO, Workforce Programme
A huge amount of work continues as we meet each of our commitments set out in the Probation Workforce Strategy. This includes the first National Probation Service Recruitment and Retention Strategy which was launched at the beginning of April following extensive engagement from colleagues and stakeholders across HMPPS.
The strategy details our approach and commitment to recruitment and retention over the next three years. In June we will transition to the new unified delivery model, and this strategy provides clarity on our priorities and reassurance of continuity throughout this period and for the future.
We have also just launched our Probation Workforce Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (EDIB) Action Plan. Our unified probation service is about more than structural changes, it is about our staff and enabling them to deliver an excellent professional service. The EDIB Action Plan sets out a 12-month plan focussing on four key areas:
4. Update from Ian Barrow, SRO, Recovery Programme
We continue to make progress with our Probation recovery as set out in our plan wherever it is safe to do so for staff and people on probation and appropriate for local circumstances. We continue to work closely with Trade Union colleagues nationally and locally to ensure ongoing engagement with our recovery work. We have reviewed the recent announcements by both the UK and Welsh Governments on national recovery plans to ensure we remain in line with government and public health guidance.
We intend to introduce lateral flow home testing arrangements for our staff in the coming weeks and aim to have most, if not all of our sites delivering testing by the beginning of May, following the successful roll-out to date. Home testing kits will shortly be provided for staff, enabling them to test themselves at home and report their results.
Delivery of Unpaid Work continues to improve. The reopening of non-essential shops and stores on 12 April, as per the national roadmap, allows us to review and where appropriate re-start indoor unpaid work placements which we hope will result in a further positive upturn in the delivery of Unpaid Work as community groups and charity shops begin to operate once again. The number of people attending placements will be guided by risk assessments for individual sites.
Preparations for restarting face-to-face Accredited Programmes group work are well underway with both NPS and CRC considering resuming small groups (2-3 participants) and where circumstances permit, standard delivery (4- 12 participants). Regional Probation Directors and CRCs will take decisions around delivery levels, based on local circumstances.
Finally, I’d like to thank everyone throughout the probation system for all the hard work that has gone into supporting recovery activity.
5. Update from Hannah Meyer – Executive Director, Reducing Reoffending, Partnerships and Accommodation
Work on the Reducing Reoffending Delivery Programme is now well underway. The Cross-Government Programme seeks to cut crime and reduce reoffending by providing more support to prison leavers to find a home, a job and treatment for any substance misuses issues. People who leave prison without this vital support are more likely to reoffend.
In January, the Government announced a £220m package to cut crime, including £50m to get more prison leavers into stable accommodation and £80m to give more support to offenders with addiction problems.
A new Community Accommodation Service has been set up, bringing together Approved Premises and Bail and Support Services with a new service for prison leavers without stable accommodation. The new service is being developed in five regions and will provide basic, transitional housing which will deliver accommodation for prison leavers at risk of homelessness for up to three months. While there, people will get help to find a permanent home so there is less reason for them to turn back to crime.
We are also working closely with sixteen prisons to reduce reoffending and improve outcomes for prisoners and prison leavers across four key reducing reoffending pathways: education, health, employment and accommodation. Specifically, this will include rapidly designing and testing several new specialist roles. Recruitment for these roles has been launched and we expect the first candidates to begin to take up their posts in the coming weeks.
The Approved Premises Expansion Programme (APEX) is progressing well. An extra 200 new spaces are being created in APs by 2023, providing stable accommodation to prison leavers. APs help lower the risk of reoffending and, in turn, reduce crime rates.
Most notably, Eden House in Bristol is due to open during the summer. It will be the first new AP to open in nearly 30 years and will be for women returning to the community after serving time in prison. It will have capacity for up to 26 women, seeking to reduce their risk to the public and helping them to find permanent homes and work.
Probation Changes Bulletin - Issue 10 - May 2021
1. Introduction from Amy Rees, Director General of Probation and WalesWelcome to our latest bulletin, reporting on key updates and progress across our three probation programmes – reform, workforce and recovery. June 26 is a huge milestone for us this year when we welcome CRC colleagues and come together as one new unified probation service.
Last week HMIP published their thematic report into our work across probation in preparing for unification, which was positive about our readiness for June. This followed a review between October 2020 and February 2021 that covered our regions, regional probation directors, members of the programme team and external stakeholders.
Once we have completed these structural changes, our focus will turn to the implementation of our Target Operating Model published in February and delivering excellent probation services - more on this from Jim Barton below.
I also wanted to highlight the recently published Justice Select Committee (JSC) report on the “Future of the Probation Service”. The JSC took written then oral evidence from a range of witnesses from July – December 2020. The report is supportive of our unification plans and outlines a number of recommendations around assurance, which we will now be taking forward.
We continue to progress well with our organisational recovery and resuming the services we had to temporarily pause in response to the pandemic wherever it has been safe to do so. As the UK Government and Welsh Government ease restrictions, we have been regularly reviewing our plans and adapting to changing circumstances. Ian Barrow provides an update on our recovery progress along with an update on our Workforce programme below.
With our continued focus on providing those leaving prison with the support needed to stop them reoffending and protect communities, Hannah Meyer, Executive Director, Reducing Reoffending, Partnerships and Accommodation, provides an update on some of the important work underway in this cross-Government programme.
Finally, I would like to thank staff across the probation service for their adaptability and ongoing commitment as we move forward and start to see a semblance of normality. There is still a long way to go, but I am confident that with the exceptional teams we have in place, we will meet the challenges, implement our exciting reforms and continue to deliver our essential services to protect the public, reduce reoffending and change lives.
2. Update from Jim Barton, SRO, Probation Reform Programme
As Amy mentions, our focus remains on delivering our much-needed reforms from 26 June, when we will welcome NPS and CRC staff to our new, strong unified service, and begin working closer together to protect the public and help people lead law-abiding and positive lives.
We are focused on ensuring those joining the service in our 11 new probation regions across England and one in Wales experience a smooth transition. This applies equally to staff who will work directly within the new service and those in our Commissioned Rehabilitative Service providers. While many people will be doing the same role, in the same location and with the same manager from 26 June, some will experience a change in role, team, job title or job description. To support people through this change, we have set up a role alignment process to align professional qualifications for those joining our new service from CRCs, where their roles require them to do so.
The process of transferring the technology for staff at CRC parent organisations is in full swing, with increasing numbers now having access to the full range of Ministry of Justice online tools and resources as they take delivery of their new laptops and smartphones.
From 26 June, Accredited Programmes, Structured Interventions, Unpaid Work and Senior Attendance Centres will be delivered in house by our new probation service as before, with only a few small changes taking effect.
Probation practitioners will have a suite of interventions available to them, with Accredited Programmes and Structured Interventions delivered by our interventions teams, Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) delivered through the Dynamic Framework and Approved Toolkits delivered by probation practitioners. For interventions delivered via the Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR), probation practitioners will allocate RAR days post sentence and select and sequence interventions that address the most significant areas of need linked to offending behaviour.
Unpaid Work will continue to be delivered as predominantly a punishment. From 26 June, staff sourcing Unpaid Work work placements will ensure sufficient high quality, local placements are obtained which meets the needs of individual service users. Senior Attendance Centres will continue to be delivered in their current locations.
From 26 June, the Interventions design team will work with the regions and their local interventions teams to plan for transition to the new end state operating models for Accredited Programmes, Structured Interventions, Unpaid Work and Senior Attendance Centres.
The process and timeframes for probation practitioners to complete the Unpaid Work assessment and screening are currently being reviewed and an update will be provided.
We have continued to commission a range of services (CRS) and award contracts to specialist external providers to meet key areas of rehabilitative services: Accommodation; Employment, Training and Education; Personal Wellbeing; and Women’s Services. The contracted providers of these commissioned rehabilitative services will work closely with probation practitioners and community interventions teams to ensure that the best outcomes are achieved for people on probation.
Finally, as part of the programme’s community engagement and recruitment initiative, a number of colleagues have been working with Year 10 students from School 21 on the Real World Project (“RWP”), which matches students with employers to work on a real life project over the course of a term. School 21 is a state-funded pioneering free school in Stratford, East London, for children from all backgrounds and programme colleagues have been working with students on a solution to the problem of ‘How can probation improve engagement of 18-25 year olds on Community Orders?’ The group have worked hard to understand the issue and generate possible solutions. The group have settled on a proposal which it is hoped may feed into broader thinking on how probation might develop lived experience mentoring. The RWP work has helped raise awareness with young people about the work of the probation services, in the hope that they may one day want to come and join us. It is part of a larger piece of work under way in in the programme, improving the way we work with 18-25 year olds managed by probation.
I remain incredibly proud of the quality and pace of the work from colleagues across the programme as we ready ourselves for 26 June to create a unified probation service that keeps the public safe, supports victims of crime and gives the right rehabilitative support to address the often-complex causes of offending.
3. Update from Ian Barrow, SRO, Workforce Programme
A huge amount of work continues as we meet each of our commitments set out in the Probation Workforce Strategy. This includes the first National Probation Service Recruitment and Retention Strategy which was launched at the beginning of April following extensive engagement from colleagues and stakeholders across HMPPS.
The strategy details our approach and commitment to recruitment and retention over the next three years. In June we will transition to the new unified delivery model, and this strategy provides clarity on our priorities and reassurance of continuity throughout this period and for the future.
We have also just launched our Probation Workforce Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (EDIB) Action Plan. Our unified probation service is about more than structural changes, it is about our staff and enabling them to deliver an excellent professional service. The EDIB Action Plan sets out a 12-month plan focussing on four key areas:
- Attracting and retaining a diverse workforce that better reflects the diversity of our society and people on probation
- Creating an environment that values equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging
- Embedding equalities, diversity and inclusion into our policies, processes and governance to support all staff in reaching their potential
- Building an inclusive culture through effective leadership and management
4. Update from Ian Barrow, SRO, Recovery Programme
We continue to make progress with our Probation recovery as set out in our plan wherever it is safe to do so for staff and people on probation and appropriate for local circumstances. We continue to work closely with Trade Union colleagues nationally and locally to ensure ongoing engagement with our recovery work. We have reviewed the recent announcements by both the UK and Welsh Governments on national recovery plans to ensure we remain in line with government and public health guidance.
We intend to introduce lateral flow home testing arrangements for our staff in the coming weeks and aim to have most, if not all of our sites delivering testing by the beginning of May, following the successful roll-out to date. Home testing kits will shortly be provided for staff, enabling them to test themselves at home and report their results.
Delivery of Unpaid Work continues to improve. The reopening of non-essential shops and stores on 12 April, as per the national roadmap, allows us to review and where appropriate re-start indoor unpaid work placements which we hope will result in a further positive upturn in the delivery of Unpaid Work as community groups and charity shops begin to operate once again. The number of people attending placements will be guided by risk assessments for individual sites.
Preparations for restarting face-to-face Accredited Programmes group work are well underway with both NPS and CRC considering resuming small groups (2-3 participants) and where circumstances permit, standard delivery (4- 12 participants). Regional Probation Directors and CRCs will take decisions around delivery levels, based on local circumstances.
Finally, I’d like to thank everyone throughout the probation system for all the hard work that has gone into supporting recovery activity.
5. Update from Hannah Meyer – Executive Director, Reducing Reoffending, Partnerships and Accommodation
Work on the Reducing Reoffending Delivery Programme is now well underway. The Cross-Government Programme seeks to cut crime and reduce reoffending by providing more support to prison leavers to find a home, a job and treatment for any substance misuses issues. People who leave prison without this vital support are more likely to reoffend.
In January, the Government announced a £220m package to cut crime, including £50m to get more prison leavers into stable accommodation and £80m to give more support to offenders with addiction problems.
A new Community Accommodation Service has been set up, bringing together Approved Premises and Bail and Support Services with a new service for prison leavers without stable accommodation. The new service is being developed in five regions and will provide basic, transitional housing which will deliver accommodation for prison leavers at risk of homelessness for up to three months. While there, people will get help to find a permanent home so there is less reason for them to turn back to crime.
We are also working closely with sixteen prisons to reduce reoffending and improve outcomes for prisoners and prison leavers across four key reducing reoffending pathways: education, health, employment and accommodation. Specifically, this will include rapidly designing and testing several new specialist roles. Recruitment for these roles has been launched and we expect the first candidates to begin to take up their posts in the coming weeks.
The Approved Premises Expansion Programme (APEX) is progressing well. An extra 200 new spaces are being created in APs by 2023, providing stable accommodation to prison leavers. APs help lower the risk of reoffending and, in turn, reduce crime rates.
Most notably, Eden House in Bristol is due to open during the summer. It will be the first new AP to open in nearly 30 years and will be for women returning to the community after serving time in prison. It will have capacity for up to 26 women, seeking to reduce their risk to the public and helping them to find permanent homes and work.
type "unison probation redundancy" into a well known search engine... the unison docs will be available there:
ReplyDelete"OFFICIAL SENSITIVE Probation Reform Programme (PRP ...
www.unison.org.uk › VR-and-VS-Scheme-Terms
DOC
This document outlines the two-year (effective 25/6/21) Voluntary Redundancy (VR) /Voluntary Severance (VS) scheme / terms for CRC staff that transfer to either ...
INFORMATION ON THE CRC TO DYNAMIC FRAMEWORK ...
www.unison.org.uk › content › uploads › 2021/03
DOC
An enhanced voluntary redundancy/voluntary severance package for any ... UNISON and the other probation unions will be deemed to be recognised by the ...
CONSULTATION ON PROPOSED STAFF TRANSFER AND ...
www.unison.org.uk › content › uploads › 2020/09
DOC
UNISON believes that the staff transfer and protection proposals represent the best ... A two year no compulsory redundancy guarantee post-transfer for both NPS and ... CRC; Former Probation Trust (s) and their predecessors (e.g. Probation ..."
INFORMATION ON THE CRC TO DYNAMIC FRAMEWORK PROVIDER (DFP)
ReplyDeleteTRANSFER DUE TO TAKE PLACE ON 26 JUNE 2021
1. INTRODUCTION
Below you will find a summary of the Staff Transfer and Protections Agreement terms which will apply to you if you are a directly employed CRC member of staff who is due to transfer on 26 June 2021 to one of the new Dynamic Framework Providers (DFPs).
Please note that this guidance does not apply to you if work for a CRC parent company, sub-contractor or supply chain company – please follow separate link on main page....
Only a few weeks to go....
ReplyDeletePresumably, offices have been prepared and checked and someone has has been busy making sure that the IT systems are all compatable and ready to function on day one?
Presumably, any staff that may be required to relocate have been identified and informed?
Presumably?
'Getafix
Presume away, Getafix. Its a bit chaotic and people will be harmed and alarmed along the way. It's very rushed, and in reality not that badly managed if it was an emergency move from one stable situation to another. Why is it so urgent? If the staff involved believed that the moves were part of a path to a better future for themselves and their profession, pragmatic, cheerful and motivated adaptation would follow. Instead we have numbed dispirited #hiddenheroes shuffling into the next phase of change, hardly having drawn breath after the last trashing, and while we remain shackled to the civil service it's pretty grim
ReplyDeletePearly Gates
Quite Pg you only have to read the direction you will have a new role job description title and pay. Hear are all non agreed or consulted contracted variations no doubt Napo sold out and rejection. No adequate protections it is take it or evr which may work for some.
DeleteResponding to "Anonymous27 May 2021 at 23:08"
DeleteWhy rushed it was announced by the then Lord Chancellor on on the "16th May 2019"
https://www.davidgauke.com/content/probation-service
As the devastation continues, a quick off-piste example of how desperate 'the establishment' are to discredit & disenfranchise those working with the more complex elements of society. It has echoes of how the Probation Service (past tense) was rubbished, belittled & bullied, but with no public outcry or celebrity support:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/28/ban-kids-company-trustees-cost-taxpayers-8m-camila-batmanghelidjh
Dismantling the Probation Service, however, cost the taxpayer £billions - all of which has been hidden, hushed up or denied a public airing on the grounds of "commercial sensitivity".
Taxpayers face a legal bill for at least £8m as a result of the official receiver’s disastrous attempt to ban the Kids Company founder Camila Batmanghelidjh and seven fellow charity trustees from holding senior jobs, it has emerged.
DeleteThe bill follows a three-and-a-half-year legal case, in which a court threw out claims by the official receiver that Batmanghelidjh and former trustees of the charity failed properly to oversee Kids Company, causing it to collapse in July 2015.
The size of the bill – coupled with the judge’s exoneration of Batmanghelidjh and scathing comments about the official receiver’s handling of the case – have led to questions on whether the case should have gone ahead.
Rupert Butler of Leverets, the barrister who represented Batmanghelidjh, said that while it was right for the official receiver to investigate the charity, it had failed to change tack when it became clear that there was no serious case to answer. “The impression was left that he had to justify the expense of the investigation by pursuing the directors.”
Butler accused the official receiver of buying into a “lazy, baseless, caricature – a cartoon-image of Camila and this charity as a feckless joyride for the undeserving poor – that he should have realised … was categorically untrue”. He called for the National Audit Office to investigate the government’s handling of the case.
The government, in conjunction with the Insolvency Service, determined that it was in the public interest to seek director disqualification orders against Kids Company trustees and Batmanghelidijh in 2017. The secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy at the time was Greg Clark.
The official receiver hoped that the trial would result in lengthy bans for the charity board. Instead, the judge praised Batmanghelidjh and the trustees as “a group of highly impressive and dedicated individuals”, adding: “The public needs no protection from these trustees.”
In her judgment in February, Mrs Justice Falk was also scathing of the official receiver’s handling of the case, criticising the lack of balance and objectivity in its presentation, and condemning the costly and “oppressive” deployment of thousands pages of evidence, much of which was irrelevant and never used in the trial.
The case, which culminated in a 10-week trial in December, involved four teams of barristers and counsel, including two QCs, deployed in support of Batmanghelidjh and the trustees. Documents seen by the Guardian show that interim legal costs awarded to the defendants by the judge amount to £6.4m, but could go even higher.
The official receiver has also had to meet the £738,000 cost of a bespoke electronic platform to share documents at the trial. It has declined to say what its overall costs are relating to the bringing of the action and preparing the case over a three-year period, though legal costs for the trial alone are estimated to be £400,000.
The Insolvency Service said it was not in a position to reveal the official receiver’s costs in the proceedings “due to commercial sensitivities”.