Hidden away in the dark recesses of the internet and only recently come to light thanks to a Facebook group, here we have a bit of Napo nostalgia from the heady campaigning days prior to privatisation. It was Napo at the London TUC demonstration 'A Future that Works' 20th October 2012. I was there - were you?
Sunday 28 November 2021
Friday 26 November 2021
Latest From Napo 229
Email to members this afternoon:-
PROBATION PAY UPDATE
As expected, these discussions have been especially difficult and probably would not have taken place at all were it not for the resolve shown by members across the three Probation unions which brought the employer back to the table.
At a meeting of the National Executive Committee this week, (also attended by members of the Napo Probation Negotiating Committee), serious anger was expressed that the government have ignored the claims of our members yet again. They have refused to release new money to your employer and are using the vindictive and politically motivated public sector pay freeze as an excuse. This itself has been put in place to mask their disastrous handling of the Covid pandemic.
While the government has announced that the pay freeze will end with effect from next April it does not help our members whatsoever, as the pay remit for Probation in 2021/2022 only allows for a derisory increase in pay of £250 for those any staff on a pay point under £24k.
Next steps
As you would expect, your negotiators have made it clear to the employer that the final pay offer, which we will circulate to members along with ballot material next week, represents an unacceptable position.
After a full and frank debate on the outcome of the pay talks, the NEC overwhelmingly agreed that balloting for industrial action at this stage would not be in our member’s best interests. Instead, they decided that we should be asking members to reject the offer and endorse our intention to join with our sister unions in lodging a formal Trade Dispute. This means that industrial action would remain an option subject to progress in future negotiations.
This will be part of an ongoing campaign to secure a Multi-Year-Pay deal for the Probation Service with effect from 1st April 2022. Among other things this will need to deliver: revalorisation of pay points, an end to pay band overlaps and the creation of a new salary structure that addresses the huge pay gap between our members and the salaries of workers in comparable public-facing professions outside of the Probation Service.
We have been told by the Probation Minister, the Director General and senior management, that this is a top priority, and that they are committed to delivering such a deal. Members will be expecting them to deliver on this promise once the pay freeze has been lifted.
Future Protest Action
Meanwhile we are also planning a campaign of joint protest action to support this campaign and further details about how members can take part in this will follow in due course.
Unions demand the delivery of contractual entitlements
Over the last few weeks we have regularly demanded payment of three outstanding contractual issues, namely incremental pay progression to those who are eligible to receive it, the AP Residential Worker back pay and the agreement from the 2020 Pay award that would see staff at Pay Band 1 assimilated into Pay Band 2.
The employer has committed to write to us early next week, and it is our expectation that there will be some positive news in respect of the above which is a direct result of union pressure.
Please look out for more news on pay over the next week and any consultative meetings for members which may be organised early next month.
Ian Lawrence General Secretary
PROBATION PAY UPDATE
- Unions reject final 2021/2022 pay offer
- Members to be asked to endorse a Trade Dispute and retain option of future industrial action over pay.
- Unions to plan protest action as part of the pay campaign.
- Demand made to Employer to implement Incremental Progression and AP Residential Worker back pay in December salaries.
As expected, these discussions have been especially difficult and probably would not have taken place at all were it not for the resolve shown by members across the three Probation unions which brought the employer back to the table.
At a meeting of the National Executive Committee this week, (also attended by members of the Napo Probation Negotiating Committee), serious anger was expressed that the government have ignored the claims of our members yet again. They have refused to release new money to your employer and are using the vindictive and politically motivated public sector pay freeze as an excuse. This itself has been put in place to mask their disastrous handling of the Covid pandemic.
While the government has announced that the pay freeze will end with effect from next April it does not help our members whatsoever, as the pay remit for Probation in 2021/2022 only allows for a derisory increase in pay of £250 for those any staff on a pay point under £24k.
Next steps
As you would expect, your negotiators have made it clear to the employer that the final pay offer, which we will circulate to members along with ballot material next week, represents an unacceptable position.
After a full and frank debate on the outcome of the pay talks, the NEC overwhelmingly agreed that balloting for industrial action at this stage would not be in our member’s best interests. Instead, they decided that we should be asking members to reject the offer and endorse our intention to join with our sister unions in lodging a formal Trade Dispute. This means that industrial action would remain an option subject to progress in future negotiations.
This will be part of an ongoing campaign to secure a Multi-Year-Pay deal for the Probation Service with effect from 1st April 2022. Among other things this will need to deliver: revalorisation of pay points, an end to pay band overlaps and the creation of a new salary structure that addresses the huge pay gap between our members and the salaries of workers in comparable public-facing professions outside of the Probation Service.
We have been told by the Probation Minister, the Director General and senior management, that this is a top priority, and that they are committed to delivering such a deal. Members will be expecting them to deliver on this promise once the pay freeze has been lifted.
Future Protest Action
Meanwhile we are also planning a campaign of joint protest action to support this campaign and further details about how members can take part in this will follow in due course.
Unions demand the delivery of contractual entitlements
Over the last few weeks we have regularly demanded payment of three outstanding contractual issues, namely incremental pay progression to those who are eligible to receive it, the AP Residential Worker back pay and the agreement from the 2020 Pay award that would see staff at Pay Band 1 assimilated into Pay Band 2.
The employer has committed to write to us early next week, and it is our expectation that there will be some positive news in respect of the above which is a direct result of union pressure.
Please look out for more news on pay over the next week and any consultative meetings for members which may be organised early next month.
Ian Lawrence General Secretary
Katie Lomas National Chair
Saturday 20 November 2021
Guest Blog 84
Reflections
Well, for a multitude of reasons it has taken some time to reflect on the circumstances and nature of my own departure from the National Probation Service after many faithful years of service.
Departing my main grade PO role earlier this year (I opted for early retirement) I then commenced a new, part time job a few days later. However, I feel the need to confirm that I qualified as a Probation Officer and completed my degree after attending face to face lectures. I also benefited from lively but healthy debates and guidance from established, long serving Probation officers (like Paul Senior) who documented and accurately forecast the dismantling of a Gold Star Service.
During my years of service I have worked across several regions, a handful of offices and a few Approved Premises. I have successfully delivered groups that included ETS, Think First, SOTP and IDAP. I have ‘acted up’ (SPO) and was always without hesitation willing to cover colleagues and the service at inter-agency meetings, gaps created by staff sickness and a Service inability to provided adequate report writers. A regular at L3 MAPPA I have over many years held and managed some very interesting cases! I was always considered to be a very safe pair of hands.
I spent some time developing an IOM team and actively worked within a proactive team before that. Back in the day, writing a detailed and meaningful Standard Delivery Report ‘on a weekly basis’ was a core skill, as was the ability to navigate the murky world of IPP sentences and the ever-changing face of Parole reports. I have had cases audited in numerous inspections and the feedback received was always complimentary and to the best of my knowledge rarely critical. But then, we were always given time to sanitise and prepare cases in advance of any inspection.
Over the years, I had the misfortune of becoming involved in 3 SFO’s, the first concluded that the ‘Offender Manager’ had done everything in their power to manage risk and they could not fault my work or that of the Service. My second interrogation was not as forgiving and I was criticized for not completing an OASys on time and the RMP was not in the correct format. The reviewing Officer made a point of telling me (prior to a 3 hour interview) that he would find something and bless him, he did! Regrettably he never explained how the RMP format or timeliness would have prevented further offending?
Well, for a multitude of reasons it has taken some time to reflect on the circumstances and nature of my own departure from the National Probation Service after many faithful years of service.
Departing my main grade PO role earlier this year (I opted for early retirement) I then commenced a new, part time job a few days later. However, I feel the need to confirm that I qualified as a Probation Officer and completed my degree after attending face to face lectures. I also benefited from lively but healthy debates and guidance from established, long serving Probation officers (like Paul Senior) who documented and accurately forecast the dismantling of a Gold Star Service.
During my years of service I have worked across several regions, a handful of offices and a few Approved Premises. I have successfully delivered groups that included ETS, Think First, SOTP and IDAP. I have ‘acted up’ (SPO) and was always without hesitation willing to cover colleagues and the service at inter-agency meetings, gaps created by staff sickness and a Service inability to provided adequate report writers. A regular at L3 MAPPA I have over many years held and managed some very interesting cases! I was always considered to be a very safe pair of hands.
I spent some time developing an IOM team and actively worked within a proactive team before that. Back in the day, writing a detailed and meaningful Standard Delivery Report ‘on a weekly basis’ was a core skill, as was the ability to navigate the murky world of IPP sentences and the ever-changing face of Parole reports. I have had cases audited in numerous inspections and the feedback received was always complimentary and to the best of my knowledge rarely critical. But then, we were always given time to sanitise and prepare cases in advance of any inspection.
Over the years, I had the misfortune of becoming involved in 3 SFO’s, the first concluded that the ‘Offender Manager’ had done everything in their power to manage risk and they could not fault my work or that of the Service. My second interrogation was not as forgiving and I was criticized for not completing an OASys on time and the RMP was not in the correct format. The reviewing Officer made a point of telling me (prior to a 3 hour interview) that he would find something and bless him, he did! Regrettably he never explained how the RMP format or timeliness would have prevented further offending?
My third SFO occurred about 6 months before I left the service. At the time, I calmly advised it was not an SFO because the ‘allegations’ made were so thin the matter would never meet a charging threshold and as a consequence it could never get to Court. As predicted the SFO was abandoned approximately 2 weeks before my departure and I never got the opportunity to say ‘Told You So’. However, the Service left the sword of Damocles hanging above me for almost 6 months, that decision in itself contributed to my departure.
So what was the point of this brief narrative? Well, having taken time to reflect and recharge my batteries, I am happy to confirm that upon my departure from the National Probation Service, I am satisfied that I had experience in abundance, I was a bloody good officer, I was truly a safe pair of hands that never turned work away or took ‘sick leave’ because things got difficult. I met deadline after deadline, I maintained the quality of my work despite the best efforts of the faceless bureaucrats and bean counters whose only aim was to deskill and privatise the role. The Service allowed me to 'burn out', they allowed me to believe I was failing and not meeting the 'new' exacting standards' being pumped out.
I realized the angst, sadness and fatigue I experienced at the very end of my Probation Journey was not of my making. I can now say I am proud of what I achieved. The Service is now desperately trying to train new officers and yet they have never considered why they have lost so much experience. The Service should hang its head in shame for driving the dedicated few out of the role. Was that deliberate or was it simple mismanagement I cannot decide. However, I can say that the accelerated promotion of newly qualified and less experienced officers through the ranks will inevitably create problems further down the line. I have not seen any evidence to suggest retention of staff was ever a real goal? Experienced Officers at the top of their pay grade can become quite expensive to maintain and newly qualified Officers are much cheaper?
Am I missed? Well, the Service didn’t come crashing down after my departure; however the good-will shown to the Probation Service (by me) continued and was arguably ‘expected’. I had to brief officers regarding impending Oral Hearings, the content of Parole Reports and even some case handovers almost 6 weeks after leaving the Service. All done in my own time, however, I was glad to offer my views because in every case we were discussing a third party, an individual who often remained in custody, my integrity demanded that all available information be shared.
So was I missed at all? Some service users expressed anxiety and concern at my departure. Some colleagues also expressed their concerns at the loss of experience within the Office; I suspect my line manager struggled to allocate those extra difficult cases for a day or two. However, life goes on, the Service has inevitably found other willing work horses and in reality my time was an insignificance to such a great Public Service.
I still have to ask how the service will manage staff that experience direct threats, intimidation, knives being pulled in interview? How do you react to an individual that calmly produces bits of his own body that he has hacked off? Is the new generation of Officer willing or indeed able to work late and sit with an offender whilst finding accommodation? I have many, many times.
It’s ironic that on my very last day with Probation, I called at one of the satellite offices to say goodbye to colleagues and whilst there I spotted an Offender I had recalled a couple of weeks earlier. He was unlawfully at large and clearly sleeping rough. I approached him, took him for a cuppa and bought him a sandwich; I then asked if it was ok to get the police to collect him? He agreed it was probably for the best and I sat with him until he was taken in to custody. ‘Old School’. I didn't claim the money for the sandwich, tea or my overtime!
So what now? Well I am several months in to my new role, I do remain within the judicial system and my risk assessment skills are still being used, but for different purposes. I have rediscovered my love for work, learning ‘new rules’ and ‘new standards’ within a new organisation has been a challenge but one that I welcome because it is allowing me to grow again. My partner and children all remark about the change in my demeanour and general well-being. I have time for others now and I am no longer consumed by my occupation. I am sleeping better because I am not worried about deadlines or the behaviour of 58 Offenders who clearly remain my responsibility 24/7!
Do I miss the work? Absolutely, being able to work with and motivate individuals toward change has been a privilege over the years. I have achieved success and many offenders I have worked with over many years have gone on to live very productive lives, I know because many of them stay in touch. It’s a shame the service never studied individual attrition rates (Newly Qualified PO’s v Experience PO’s) that is where you will find ‘Effective Practice’. The ability to exercise common sense without the fear of SFO’s or failing targets would yield undeniable results, but the Service does not want to measure that. I stand by my results, breach and recall clearly has its place, but it should be used wisely.
"A one-size fits all approach to outcome measurement – based principally on the proven rate of reoffending (while strategically and symbolically important) – is unlikely to be sufficiently fine-grained and nuanced to reflect the complex reality of probation provision." (Kevin Wong, Associate Director, Criminal Justice at the Policy Evaluation Unit, PERU, Manchester Metropolitan University). Any Probation Officer worth his or her salt could have confirmed this.
To be an effective Probation Officer (in the past) relied on the presence of ‘people skills’, you had to have an ability to be non-judgemental, firm but fair management in crisis with an ability to challenge ‘confidently’. Sadly these are not traits I see being taught. Sadly OASys and meaningless targets appear to be the order of the day!
Will I ever return…..? Yes because I genuinely believe Old School will come back in to fashion one day.
So what was the point of this brief narrative? Well, having taken time to reflect and recharge my batteries, I am happy to confirm that upon my departure from the National Probation Service, I am satisfied that I had experience in abundance, I was a bloody good officer, I was truly a safe pair of hands that never turned work away or took ‘sick leave’ because things got difficult. I met deadline after deadline, I maintained the quality of my work despite the best efforts of the faceless bureaucrats and bean counters whose only aim was to deskill and privatise the role. The Service allowed me to 'burn out', they allowed me to believe I was failing and not meeting the 'new' exacting standards' being pumped out.
I realized the angst, sadness and fatigue I experienced at the very end of my Probation Journey was not of my making. I can now say I am proud of what I achieved. The Service is now desperately trying to train new officers and yet they have never considered why they have lost so much experience. The Service should hang its head in shame for driving the dedicated few out of the role. Was that deliberate or was it simple mismanagement I cannot decide. However, I can say that the accelerated promotion of newly qualified and less experienced officers through the ranks will inevitably create problems further down the line. I have not seen any evidence to suggest retention of staff was ever a real goal? Experienced Officers at the top of their pay grade can become quite expensive to maintain and newly qualified Officers are much cheaper?
Am I missed? Well, the Service didn’t come crashing down after my departure; however the good-will shown to the Probation Service (by me) continued and was arguably ‘expected’. I had to brief officers regarding impending Oral Hearings, the content of Parole Reports and even some case handovers almost 6 weeks after leaving the Service. All done in my own time, however, I was glad to offer my views because in every case we were discussing a third party, an individual who often remained in custody, my integrity demanded that all available information be shared.
So was I missed at all? Some service users expressed anxiety and concern at my departure. Some colleagues also expressed their concerns at the loss of experience within the Office; I suspect my line manager struggled to allocate those extra difficult cases for a day or two. However, life goes on, the Service has inevitably found other willing work horses and in reality my time was an insignificance to such a great Public Service.
I still have to ask how the service will manage staff that experience direct threats, intimidation, knives being pulled in interview? How do you react to an individual that calmly produces bits of his own body that he has hacked off? Is the new generation of Officer willing or indeed able to work late and sit with an offender whilst finding accommodation? I have many, many times.
It’s ironic that on my very last day with Probation, I called at one of the satellite offices to say goodbye to colleagues and whilst there I spotted an Offender I had recalled a couple of weeks earlier. He was unlawfully at large and clearly sleeping rough. I approached him, took him for a cuppa and bought him a sandwich; I then asked if it was ok to get the police to collect him? He agreed it was probably for the best and I sat with him until he was taken in to custody. ‘Old School’. I didn't claim the money for the sandwich, tea or my overtime!
So what now? Well I am several months in to my new role, I do remain within the judicial system and my risk assessment skills are still being used, but for different purposes. I have rediscovered my love for work, learning ‘new rules’ and ‘new standards’ within a new organisation has been a challenge but one that I welcome because it is allowing me to grow again. My partner and children all remark about the change in my demeanour and general well-being. I have time for others now and I am no longer consumed by my occupation. I am sleeping better because I am not worried about deadlines or the behaviour of 58 Offenders who clearly remain my responsibility 24/7!
Do I miss the work? Absolutely, being able to work with and motivate individuals toward change has been a privilege over the years. I have achieved success and many offenders I have worked with over many years have gone on to live very productive lives, I know because many of them stay in touch. It’s a shame the service never studied individual attrition rates (Newly Qualified PO’s v Experience PO’s) that is where you will find ‘Effective Practice’. The ability to exercise common sense without the fear of SFO’s or failing targets would yield undeniable results, but the Service does not want to measure that. I stand by my results, breach and recall clearly has its place, but it should be used wisely.
"A one-size fits all approach to outcome measurement – based principally on the proven rate of reoffending (while strategically and symbolically important) – is unlikely to be sufficiently fine-grained and nuanced to reflect the complex reality of probation provision." (Kevin Wong, Associate Director, Criminal Justice at the Policy Evaluation Unit, PERU, Manchester Metropolitan University). Any Probation Officer worth his or her salt could have confirmed this.
To be an effective Probation Officer (in the past) relied on the presence of ‘people skills’, you had to have an ability to be non-judgemental, firm but fair management in crisis with an ability to challenge ‘confidently’. Sadly these are not traits I see being taught. Sadly OASys and meaningless targets appear to be the order of the day!
Will I ever return…..? Yes because I genuinely believe Old School will come back in to fashion one day.
Anon
Wednesday 17 November 2021
All's Well in Soma Land
Comment left this morning:-
After the warm fuzzy soma land call it was back to the cold hard reality of an unmanageably large caseload, few staff and no pay rise despite rising costs. Remember work harder and longer for less because to them you are expendable and less than a number on a spreadsheet. Expect to be told you should be grateful for the opportunity to train new staff in addition to your work. Be grateful to do additional work politicians might dream up and the management agree to without question lining their pockets whilst we do the dirty work and get humiliated or fired if there is an SFO. Remember HR is not your friend. Your managers are not your friend. Only you colleagues are your friends.
So the next time they have a propaganda call don’t fill the chat with sycophantic crap but rather ask questions such as ‘Will you be willing to take a 15% pay cut to help the lowest paid staff pay their heating bills this winter?’ ‘Would you be willing to donate your performance bonus to the Edridge Fund to help those probation staff losing their homes?’ Actions not words will show how much they care. I’m pretty sure not one of them cares a jot about any of us as they are absolutely fine in soma land where the sun always shines.
--oo00oo--
Watch out for the Civil Service Awards on Friday - A team in the Probation Reform Programme is a finalist.
Sunday 14 November 2021
A Gem Of An Idea
I matured professionally and personally In Community Service (what a positive concept) in Bristol in the 1980’s. I spent a lot of energy inviting a well-known but reluctant playwright to visit “my” projects. He taught me about the structures of sitcoms. For instance, the need to have a Trap, unlikely characters confined to a particular space. It seemed to me then that a Community Service project was a perfect trap, and a thing worth celebrating.
While I was dragging him fruitlessly around my workplace, admin Elaine Merchant was busy typing away on our state-of-the-art golf ball typewriter in the Fishponds (Bristol suburbs) Probation Office, while her husband Ron supervised clients on placements. Their boy has done not so badly and has a show on the telly which I highly recommend. It’s a slow burn and the blend of really funny (whitewashing an actual Banksy from the wall of a community building) with suspense and grit is unsettling. The Guardian review is here, and I won’t compete, but here are a few comments.
If you are looking for a fly on the wall observation about unpaid work, this isn't it.
It however gets the spirit of Community Service as I first encountered it. A joyful embracing of the weird and disparate people we were and worked with. An understanding that the State is not going to solve individual problems, mainly of its creating, only good connections and care can go anywhere near that.
Having said that, most of our clients were impoverished young men, badly dressed for the weather, rightly cross about the indignity of their situation with us. Aggressive and vulnerable in equal measure in their denim jackets in the freezing wind in a Bristol winter, more vulnerable than threatening. Back then, we would have formed a line with them against any suggestion that they wore hi viz jackets with a label on the back.
The head of Probation Administration (these were powerful people in those days) used to complain that the CS staff were indistinguishable from our clients. I always rather liked that. We identified so much more with them than him. We were alive to the reality that our clients had been failed by the system, had failed the system, and needed us - albeit agents of the system - to try and reconcile this.
Pearly Gates
Friday 12 November 2021
Latest From Napo 228
Two mailouts to members today:-
JTU27-2021 12 November 2021
MEMBERS’ SOLIDARITY BRINGS EMPLOYER BACK TO PAY NEGOTIATIONS
Since the earlier publication of the indicative ballot results rejecting the Government Pay Freeze and derisory 2021-2022 Probation Pay Offer, strenuous efforts have been made to reopen talks on pay with the employer.
The delay has been caused by the need to await the outcomes from the Comprehensive Spending Review which were published last week. Since the round of Union conferences last month there has also been engagement with the new Probation Minister Kit Malthouse and the Director General Amy Rees. Here it has been made clear that our respective members demand their employer resume engagement on the pay claim and the prospects for a multi-year pay settlement.
Latest Position
The fact that talks are now underway again is because of the solidarity shown by members across the three unions in delivering a powerful message - that you have simply had enough of seeing no progress on pay at the same time as workloads being at unsustainable levels.
Three meetings have taken place this week and at Wednesday’s Probation Service Joint Negotiating Committee, the unions recorded a strong statement expressing our serious disappointment at the lack of delivery against a whole series of agreements; some of which extend as far back as the 2018 pay settlement. These include:
Trade Dispute and Industrial Action still a real possibility
Despite the welcome resumption of dialogue on pay, these have been difficult discussions against the backdrop of the government’s pay freeze policy that is extremely hostile to the public service. We are therefore under no illusions about how challenging it will be to elicit an improved pay offer, if at all.
This means that all unions are continuing with their contingency planning for an industrial action campaign, but as our members would expect, we are at the same time doing all that we can to exhaust all opportunities to make progress.
More news on the pay negotiations will follow as soon as it becomes available.
Napo National Officers and Officials Updates
Following AGM and the formal change of officers for Napo we have reviewed the roles and responsibilities we hold. Find out who does what and how to contact them here
ViSOR update
Napo have been working on ViSOR related issues for some years now. Our main concerns are the workload implications of using an additional system for recording information and the consequences of using the Police Vetting required to access the system. At our AGM in October I reflected on the impact of the use of this level of Police Vetting on diversity in our workforce and noted that despite the fact that HMPPS now want to ensure they recruit staff with lived experience of the CJS, in Probation staff with that invaluable experience risk being sidelined and new recruits screened out at vetting stage.
Our relentless campaign on this is beginning to have an impact. At a meeting earlier this week we had our first breakthrough. Some significant changes are being made to the processes surrounding vetting and there is a real focus on avoiding inadvertent discrimination. There is undoubtedly more work to be done but in the six years since ViSOR use was announced as part of E3 we have secured significant concessions. The following is a summary of the progress made since 2015:
Crucially HMPPS have finally accepted our argument that staff who fail vetting for ViSOR will be able to remain in case management but hold only those cases which do not require ViSOR use. This is a significant shift to a simple and common sense approach that we have put forward since day one. It is far less stigmatising and career limiting than the previous approach of moving staff to work in programmes or courts and while it isn’t a commitment to ditch ViSOR (or to ditch Police Vetting for ViSOR use which are Napo’s preferred options) it is a step in the right direction.
We will be continuing to work with the HMPPS team on ViSOR related issues. We will be reviewing the form now used for the national vetting service and working together to find a way for those staff who might be concerned about their vetting to give fuller information at the time of application, to ensure that even fewer people fail and have to appeal. The failure rate is currently 1.9%, this may change going forward as the vetting is done at the recruitment stage but we will monitor this closely.
Job Evaluations (JE)
There are three sets of job evaluations outstanding at the moment, and all are running into difficulties caused by lack of resources in the JES team along with the failure to do preparation and follow up work with sufficient detail. We have now aired the deep concern we have with the JE process at the Probation JNC and it remains a high priority.
E3 Post Implementation JE reviews
There are a small number of reviews for jobs where the Unions either appealed the outcome or felt that items had not been fully explored during the original E3 JE process back in 2015-16. We have an agreement in place that these reviews would be done 6 months after the implementation of the job descriptions, for most roles this was between 2015 and 2017. In 2018 the Unions formally requested the reviews be undertaken and worked with the employer to agree a priority list for this (see below). Since then we have repeatedly been given timetables for the work which have not been met. We still await the start of this important work.
Priority order list for E3 Post Implementation Review Work
Group 1: Receptionist (separately dealt with as part of 202 pay deal), AP Residential Worker (done but now in dispute re application)
Group 2: VLO, Enforcement Officer, Business Manager
Group 3: AP Manager, SPO, MAPPA Co-ordinator
Unification and New Target Operating Model JE work
This is where the resource issues for JES really show, there have been a number of issues relating to the implementation of the JE scheme and you will recall that earlier in the process we announced the work was on pause while we conducted a review. This resulted in a number of recommendations aimed at ensuring that the best quality information went to the panel for scoring and that the process appropriately engages post-holders. Sadly, all of this work has not produced the required results and we had to step in once again to put a stop to panels for some roles where the paperwork was not up to the required standard. It is far more important to get the right outcome at the panel stage – especially at appeal – than to get the panel done quickly. This will cause misery and frustration for members who are still waiting for their JE results but we must avoid the situation being suffered by colleagues who were affected by E3, where the promised 6 month post-implementation reviews of their grading are up to six years late and their pay protection ran out some time ago. More steps have been put in place to ensure the process is strengthened and we continue to work with members and HMPPS on this.
Other JE work in progress
There are other pieces of JE work in progress, including new roles created in the Probation Service outside of the unification work. These are also being affected by the issues of resource in the JES team and while we expected that the best practice recommendations from the review we recently undertook are rolled out in all JE work, that turned out to not be the case. We now await an updated schedule as to where this work will fit into the wider JES programme. Yet again it has fallen to the unions to work across different departments in HMPPS to ensure best practice is shared and to try to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Have you got a horror story about Probation Estates?
It is a little late for Halloween but we have been hearing some horror stories about Probation Estates issues. We need your help.
OMiC and the transfer of Line Management of SPOs to the Prison Governor
We have significant concerns about this move, which has not happened yet. We are currently consulting on the detail of the guidance that will be issued on it, in an attempt to ensure that member’s rights are protected as far as possible. Once we have the final version of the guidance we will be issuing further advice to members around this. We are working closely with Unison reps to highlight our shared concerns about the tensions between the different approaches of prisons and probation, the differing terms and conditions, different approaches to staff management and supervision, the importance of retaining probation culture and probation professional development and the real risks to both SPOs and POs working in prisons if formal HR processes are conducted by people outside of our employer.
AGM follow up Q&A session with Jim Barton
Thanks to the 80+ members who joined the Q&A session with Jim Barton that we held last Friday. It was really successful, with 28 questions asked in total in just one hour. In response to requests from members who attended, and from Jim himself, we will now be working on a programme of similar events across 2022 with HMPPS Senior Leaders joining Napo members “in conversation”. We will advertise these as soon as we have dates. Once we do please let your colleagues know – and encourage them to join Napo so that they can attend future events!
Best Wishes
Napo HQ
JTU27-2021 12 November 2021
MEMBERS’ SOLIDARITY BRINGS EMPLOYER BACK TO PAY NEGOTIATIONS
Since the earlier publication of the indicative ballot results rejecting the Government Pay Freeze and derisory 2021-2022 Probation Pay Offer, strenuous efforts have been made to reopen talks on pay with the employer.
The delay has been caused by the need to await the outcomes from the Comprehensive Spending Review which were published last week. Since the round of Union conferences last month there has also been engagement with the new Probation Minister Kit Malthouse and the Director General Amy Rees. Here it has been made clear that our respective members demand their employer resume engagement on the pay claim and the prospects for a multi-year pay settlement.
Latest Position
The fact that talks are now underway again is because of the solidarity shown by members across the three unions in delivering a powerful message - that you have simply had enough of seeing no progress on pay at the same time as workloads being at unsustainable levels.
Three meetings have taken place this week and at Wednesday’s Probation Service Joint Negotiating Committee, the unions recorded a strong statement expressing our serious disappointment at the lack of delivery against a whole series of agreements; some of which extend as far back as the 2018 pay settlement. These include:
- The continuing delay to paying contractual incremental pay progression
- The failure to honour the agreement reached on the AP Residential Worker regrading and back pay.
- The lack of progress in concluding the talks on deleting Pay Band 1 and the assimilation arrangements.
- The promise of a Managerial Review which has yet to materialise.
- The Probation Service Pay Manual, which was agreed in 2018, and which is desperately needed to sort out the many pay problems members face
- The continuing difficulties that have been encountered in the Job Evaluation Scheme and the long delay in reviewing certain jobs several years after the E3 restructuring exercise
Trade Dispute and Industrial Action still a real possibility
Despite the welcome resumption of dialogue on pay, these have been difficult discussions against the backdrop of the government’s pay freeze policy that is extremely hostile to the public service. We are therefore under no illusions about how challenging it will be to elicit an improved pay offer, if at all.
This means that all unions are continuing with their contingency planning for an industrial action campaign, but as our members would expect, we are at the same time doing all that we can to exhaust all opportunities to make progress.
More news on the pay negotiations will follow as soon as it becomes available.
Napo National Officers and Officials Updates
Following AGM and the formal change of officers for Napo we have reviewed the roles and responsibilities we hold. Find out who does what and how to contact them here
ViSOR update
Napo have been working on ViSOR related issues for some years now. Our main concerns are the workload implications of using an additional system for recording information and the consequences of using the Police Vetting required to access the system. At our AGM in October I reflected on the impact of the use of this level of Police Vetting on diversity in our workforce and noted that despite the fact that HMPPS now want to ensure they recruit staff with lived experience of the CJS, in Probation staff with that invaluable experience risk being sidelined and new recruits screened out at vetting stage.
Our relentless campaign on this is beginning to have an impact. At a meeting earlier this week we had our first breakthrough. Some significant changes are being made to the processes surrounding vetting and there is a real focus on avoiding inadvertent discrimination. There is undoubtedly more work to be done but in the six years since ViSOR use was announced as part of E3 we have secured significant concessions. The following is a summary of the progress made since 2015:
- Staff in employment who fail ViSOR vetting for a reason not connected to a disciplinary issue were given support to appeal and originally offered redeployment if it meant they could no longer carry out their role
- Work done at national level to ensure that issues of inconsistency and unusual outcomes were challenged
- Diversity monitoring is carried out on vetting failure rates to explore disproportionate impact on any groups with protected characteristics
- There is now a national contract for vetting with a single Police Force to ensure consistency. This is part of the National Contractors Vetting Service (NCVI) and it allows for the use of a single form and a uniform approach to vetting.
- The NCVI arrangement also allows for work to be done with the vetting team to ensure they understand the purpose of vetting for Probation staff and that employment of those with lived experience of the CJS is encouraged
- There is now a better opportunity to appeal or challenge results and to take any learning from difficult experiences to apply to future vetting practices, the appeal deadlines have been extended to allow staff to seek support with this
- There are more staff working on vetting to avoid delays
- Applications are done wholly online and this avoids the privacy issues caused by forms being submitted on behalf of staff by administrators
- Now 9 out of 10 people whose vetting shows a hit on PNC or credit check go on to pass vetting
Crucially HMPPS have finally accepted our argument that staff who fail vetting for ViSOR will be able to remain in case management but hold only those cases which do not require ViSOR use. This is a significant shift to a simple and common sense approach that we have put forward since day one. It is far less stigmatising and career limiting than the previous approach of moving staff to work in programmes or courts and while it isn’t a commitment to ditch ViSOR (or to ditch Police Vetting for ViSOR use which are Napo’s preferred options) it is a step in the right direction.
We will be continuing to work with the HMPPS team on ViSOR related issues. We will be reviewing the form now used for the national vetting service and working together to find a way for those staff who might be concerned about their vetting to give fuller information at the time of application, to ensure that even fewer people fail and have to appeal. The failure rate is currently 1.9%, this may change going forward as the vetting is done at the recruitment stage but we will monitor this closely.
Job Evaluations (JE)
There are three sets of job evaluations outstanding at the moment, and all are running into difficulties caused by lack of resources in the JES team along with the failure to do preparation and follow up work with sufficient detail. We have now aired the deep concern we have with the JE process at the Probation JNC and it remains a high priority.
E3 Post Implementation JE reviews
There are a small number of reviews for jobs where the Unions either appealed the outcome or felt that items had not been fully explored during the original E3 JE process back in 2015-16. We have an agreement in place that these reviews would be done 6 months after the implementation of the job descriptions, for most roles this was between 2015 and 2017. In 2018 the Unions formally requested the reviews be undertaken and worked with the employer to agree a priority list for this (see below). Since then we have repeatedly been given timetables for the work which have not been met. We still await the start of this important work.
Priority order list for E3 Post Implementation Review Work
Group 1: Receptionist (separately dealt with as part of 202 pay deal), AP Residential Worker (done but now in dispute re application)
Group 2: VLO, Enforcement Officer, Business Manager
Group 3: AP Manager, SPO, MAPPA Co-ordinator
Unification and New Target Operating Model JE work
This is where the resource issues for JES really show, there have been a number of issues relating to the implementation of the JE scheme and you will recall that earlier in the process we announced the work was on pause while we conducted a review. This resulted in a number of recommendations aimed at ensuring that the best quality information went to the panel for scoring and that the process appropriately engages post-holders. Sadly, all of this work has not produced the required results and we had to step in once again to put a stop to panels for some roles where the paperwork was not up to the required standard. It is far more important to get the right outcome at the panel stage – especially at appeal – than to get the panel done quickly. This will cause misery and frustration for members who are still waiting for their JE results but we must avoid the situation being suffered by colleagues who were affected by E3, where the promised 6 month post-implementation reviews of their grading are up to six years late and their pay protection ran out some time ago. More steps have been put in place to ensure the process is strengthened and we continue to work with members and HMPPS on this.
Other JE work in progress
There are other pieces of JE work in progress, including new roles created in the Probation Service outside of the unification work. These are also being affected by the issues of resource in the JES team and while we expected that the best practice recommendations from the review we recently undertook are rolled out in all JE work, that turned out to not be the case. We now await an updated schedule as to where this work will fit into the wider JES programme. Yet again it has fallen to the unions to work across different departments in HMPPS to ensure best practice is shared and to try to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Have you got a horror story about Probation Estates?
It is a little late for Halloween but we have been hearing some horror stories about Probation Estates issues. We need your help.
OMiC and the transfer of Line Management of SPOs to the Prison Governor
We have significant concerns about this move, which has not happened yet. We are currently consulting on the detail of the guidance that will be issued on it, in an attempt to ensure that member’s rights are protected as far as possible. Once we have the final version of the guidance we will be issuing further advice to members around this. We are working closely with Unison reps to highlight our shared concerns about the tensions between the different approaches of prisons and probation, the differing terms and conditions, different approaches to staff management and supervision, the importance of retaining probation culture and probation professional development and the real risks to both SPOs and POs working in prisons if formal HR processes are conducted by people outside of our employer.
AGM follow up Q&A session with Jim Barton
Thanks to the 80+ members who joined the Q&A session with Jim Barton that we held last Friday. It was really successful, with 28 questions asked in total in just one hour. In response to requests from members who attended, and from Jim himself, we will now be working on a programme of similar events across 2022 with HMPPS Senior Leaders joining Napo members “in conversation”. We will advertise these as soon as we have dates. Once we do please let your colleagues know – and encourage them to join Napo so that they can attend future events!
Best Wishes
Napo HQ
Monday 8 November 2021
Walking a Tightrope
Judging by this report from Shelter, they had a good TR, but it's clear there's a price to pay when you get into bed with government:-
At Shelter, we have been working with the justice sector for over 15 years. Housing support to people transitioning out of the criminal justice sector is essential, both to their successful rehabilitation and to tackling the housing emergency. We provide a range of services, including help to find or maintain accommodation, as well as finance, benefits and debt support.
Over the course of the delivery of the Transforming Rehabilitation contracts from May 2015 to June 2021, we have made a real impact. We helped a total of 51,800 people in custody and in the community with their accommodation, finance, benefit and debt need. We achieved positive outcomes for 89% of the people we supported*. Furthermore, several HMIP/HMPPS inspections commended and recognised our services.
Here are some of the lessons learned:
Building strong relationships
Successful contract delivery relies as much on developing good contract management relationships and partnerships as it does on performance. As the contracts evolved, we benefited from a closer alignment of service delivery with Shelter’s housing expertise, more joined-up working with probation and prisons and more effective use of volunteers to support and add value to service delivery. As a result, we were able to focus more on the outcomes for individuals rather than meeting volume targets.
Influencing commissioners to help shape policy
Having a direct relationship with commissioners is essential to make Shelter’s voice and expertise heard. This is also to ensure we proactively influence policy and defend the rights of people in the Criminal Justice System. The evidence we submitted to the Justice Select Committee in 2018 helped lead to the introduction of Enhanced Through the Gate (ETTG), additional resources from the government, as well as a more joined-up approach to supporting people with their rehabilitation needs.
Effecting systemic change
We encouraged joint working and ensured that adequate systems are in place to support case management, manage our performance and provide data insight. This has been key in gathering evidence and data to help improve systems where needed.
Working with the Probation Service and local authorities, we helped shape local homelessness strategies, upskilling probation staff and partner agencies. We also supported KPMG with the development of the Regional Probation Directorates’ Reducing Re-Offending Plans.
Focus on those most in need
Most importantly, we need to focus our expertise and knowledge of accommodation issues on those who are most in need. Working with community rehabilitation companies (CRCs), we created pathways for individuals whose accommodation needs often needed to be coordinated with other services – e.g. substance misuse and mental health. We also helped to set up multi-agency resettlement boards across prisons, working closely with local Homelessness Prevention Teams.
Involving Peer Mentors and people who use our services
Whilst contract delivery varied between areas depending on the contractor’s delivery model, the contracts couldn’t have been delivered without the support of our Peer Mentors (people with lived experience helping others in a similar situation) in custody and volunteers in the community. Additionally, involving operational staff and people who use our services to co-design and improve services was key to developing impactful services.
Our experience of delivering the Transforming Rehabilitation contracts means we are in a strong position to deliver the new Dynamic Framework contracts commissioned by the Ministry of Justice. We look forward to continuing to share best practice and working collaboratively so that people in need to resettle in the community are able to find a safe home.
--oo00oo--
My takeaway from the full report is this revealing statement:-
Our impact was lessened to some degree through being a sub-contractor to primes, which meant contractually we had to be careful not to cause reputational damage. However, the scale of our delivery meant that our voice was still heard. A key lesson is the need to ensure that in the future we have a more direct relationship with the commissioner, that gagging clauses do not prevent us from speaking out or challenging the lack of accommodation support for offenders and that we become more proactive in influencing policy and practice by working more closely with Shelter’s Communications, Policy and Campaigns (CPC) teams.
Compared with Shelters mission statement:-
We exist to defend the right to a safe home and fight the devastating impact the housing emergency has on people and society.We do this with campaigns, advice and support - and we never give up. We believe that home is everything.
Monday 1 November 2021
Napo AGM 2021: Jim Barton
Members will have received details emailed to them of the Q & A on this coming Friday 5th November and for those who missed the AGM, here it is:-
Jim Barton addressed this year’s AGM in Newcastle on the reform programme, having stepped in for Jo Farrer at the last minute. Unfortunately due to time constraints we were not able to take all the questions members wanted to ask for him. However, Jim has kindly offered to run a Q & A session with all Napo members on 5th November 2021 between 2.30pm and 3.30pm. This will be an open Teams meeting rather than a live event to ensure that everyone has a chance to speak should they wish to. The session will be chaired by Napo’s National Chair Katie Lomas. Questions can be submitted via the chat or verbally if you raise your hand.
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