With concerns regarding who the new Justice Secretary will be - please not Braverman - spending cuts on the way and yet more unwelcome changes with 'One HMPPS', I notice the Chief Probation Officer is jumping ship for new opportunities:-
A Message to Probation Staff from Sonia Flynn, Chief Probation Officer
I wanted to write to you all personally to share some news. After over 35 years of working in probation operations, initially as a Probation Officer then in lots of different of leadership roles before becoming Chief Probation Officer in 2016, and following lots of thought and reflection, I have decided it is the right time for me for a change of direction and to have a bit more time to spend with my family and do the things I enjoy in my personal life.
From 1 February 2023, I am delighted to let you know I will be taking up a new part time role within the Probation Workforce Programme leading on an area of work which I am very passionate about – learning and development and setting up the new professional register for probation practitioners. You will know from hearing me speak at events how strongly committed I am to ensuring you all have the very best training and development opportunities to enable you to do your important jobs every day and that your work is given the external recognition it deserves through professional registration. I am therefore really pleased to have the opportunity to lead on this vital agenda in my new role and to also continue to support Probation and HMPPS in every way I can.
This does of course mean that my time as Chief Probation Officer will be coming to an end, a role which I have absolutely loved and been proud to hold over the last six years but it feels the right time for me to be doing this now and handing over the reins to someone new, who I am sure will continue to lead the Probation Service from strength to strength. The last six years have been challenging for us all on occasions as we have gone through huge reforms, dealt with staffing challenges and of course had to respond to a global pandemic. What has though remained absolutely steadfast throughout that time is the dedication, compassion and professionalism each and every one of you has shown each day and I have been incredibly honoured and privileged to have led such a brilliant staff group.
The advertisement for my replacement will be coming out in the next few days and I want to reassure you that this role will continue to represent and promote the professional identity of probation and will require the post holder to have the recognised probation officer qualification. I will of course work with the successful candidate to ensure a smooth transition. We will keep you updated on the outcome of the process.
In the meantime, a huge thank you to you all for your continued hard work – you are truly an exceptional staff group and I am so pleased that I will continue to play a role for you.
Sonia Flynn CBE
Chief Probation Officer
Horseshit and platitudes. I’m alright Jack but before I go, I said nothing whilst presiding over the deprofessionalisation of the service, a collapse in morale and the worst pay deal in the civil service.
ReplyDeletePS, I got a gong and you got my “huge thanks.”
Shove it Sonia!
How can she be interested in training when the new training programme is Mickey Mouse run nu the university of Donald Duck ?
ReplyDeleteThere ain't no such fing as 'justice' these days.
ReplyDeleteExhibit 1, m'luds & ladies:
"I am delighted to let you know I will be taking up a new part time role within the Probation Workforce Programme leading on... learning and development and setting up the new professional register for probation practitioners."
*You* might be delighted; many of us practitioners are not. But hey-ho, that's how it is in these days of paucity of opportunity for true talent, as the chumocracy cook up another fudge.
Exhibit 2:
Raab back in the chair at Justice - not that you would call it justice when an ultra-right wing fruitcake is given another shot at building new prisons, stuffing the courts, abusing the judiciary & generally fucking everything up.
At least Rishi got to kiss the king's hand as he reinstalls cowardly braverman2.0 to pull up the ladder behind them.
Pah … Our Chief Probation Officer prepares to exit the building without a single word against Amy ‘crisp blue shirts’ Rees disastrous #OneHMPPPS plans to absorb probation into the prison service.
ReplyDeleteFor most of us the last decade in the Probation Service has been a work life hell, but Sonia “absolutely loved” her experience. Coincidentally, our Sonia is joining the Probation Workforce Programme headed by Amy Rees’ right hand man Jim Barton.
To round it off we have Dominic Raab back as Justice Secretary. I wonder what he’s got cooked up for the Probation Service, removal of Pre Sentence Report recommendations?
"You will know from hearing me speak at events how strongly committed I am to ensuring you all have the very best training and development opportunities to enable you to do your important jobs"
ReplyDeleteHearing you "speak" about "being committed" is not the same as "action". What exactly did you do in your 10 years as "Chief" which had any positive effect on training and development? Making us do dummy "child safeguarding and domestic abuse" online modules year, after year, after year? Siphoning our actual work off to privately operated CRS providers or "structured interventions" teams, training THEM but not US to deliver so called "interventions"?
Genuine question - can anyone think of ANY positive training or development opportunities they have had, delivered by the Probation training department, within the past 10 years?
I’ve been a PO for 15 years and decided to leave after 13 yrs due to the constant pressures, crap from the top and just working my back side off for a massively failing service. I literally couldn’t take any more. Although I’m still practicing as an agency worker (which also now has little to no benefits), what I am able to do is maintain some control over where I work, in what form and for how long. This in itself has at least alleviated the constant personal day to day pressures that PO’s are constantly under. Not ideal as I’ve left my security, pension and so on - so I know it’s not for everyone, but at least it’s gone some way to keep my emotional well-being in tact (something that was dwindling previously). Just food for thought - as the service is disintegrating before our eyes, which for those of us who have a passion for public protection, is a great shame.
ReplyDeleteReminds me a bit of David Brent telling his staff “the good news” of his career going swimmingly while his staff suffer (cue swish scarf). And how lucky you are to have had me and to now be facing more farcical changes. That bit about having been a PO like a shield of armour to deflect the flak and claim to be on your side, sometime, somewhere, long ago, deep down. Be So nice on the outside but inside keep ambition, was once the way. Nowadays just ditch the nice bit, ambition all the way, stuff your colleagues. I remember the nonsense when we all had to “go generic “ with caseloads, which turned out to be a prelude to measuring ‘fairly’ who got slung to the privateer wolves. How our CPO reprimanded a colleague for daring to say some specialisation of work in some ways was working. Until the wind changed and specialisms came back when of course any “geneticist’ was in line for same admonishment. Work and work and work and work till you die cos there’s plenty more fish in the sea to fry. And the only one smiling is the sun tanned boss!
ReplyDelete