At some point the politicians are going to have to face up to the fact that probation is effectively broken and something has to be done. Of course it wasn't broken when Grayling & Co got involved and it was a gold standard service. Being part of HMPPS isn't working and a grown-up discussion is needed now to find a better solution. In the meantime, the appalling inspection results keep mounting up. HMI press release today:-
Remaining inspections of London probation services conclude a ‘hugely disappointing’ inspection of the capitalHM Inspectorate of Probation’s remaining inspections of London probation services, also known as Probation Delivery Units (PDUs), have resulted in another set of poor ratings for the city.
Lewisham and Bromley PDU has been rated as ‘Inadequate’ – the lowest rating possible – with inspections of Newham PDU and Barking, Dagenham and Havering PDU both rated as ‘Requires improvement’.
They join Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster PDU, Lambeth PDU and Ealing and Hillingdon PDU – which were all rated ‘Inadequate’ in reports published in October 2022 – in completing our inspections of a third of the city’s probation services.
Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “These reports conclude a hugely disappointing period for our inspection programme, with all the London probation services we have inspected requiring immediate improvements. We knew that they were struggling to cope with the unification of probation services in 2021, and the lasting impact of Covid-19, but we have been shocked by the level of poor-quality services. The Probation Service must look at these six inspection reports and bring about swift and effective change in the capital.”
Only 25 per cent of cases we inspected were satisfactory in relation to their assessment of risk of serious harm. And domestic abuse checks with the police were not made in 64 per cent of the cases where they should have been.
Mr Russell continued: “A vicious circle has been created, whereby high vacancy numbers – 500 vacant positions in London remained unfilled at the time of our inspections – and high sickness absences mean higher caseloads for those staff that remain. As a result, cases cannot be managed properly, increasing the chances of a person on probation reoffending. The assessment and management of the risks of serious harm to the public are far from satisfactory in the cases we have inspected. And not enough safeguarding and domestic abuse enquiries are being made to safely manage risks of serious harm. London expects better from its probation services and deserves to be protected from such risks.
“We are confident these poor ratings aren’t due to a lack of effort by individuals within the service, who show a commitment to the people they supervise, but they need help. Their determination, though admirable, cannot be realised without vacancies being filled, better management oversight and better delivery of all the services that people on probation need to turn away from crime. Local services must get significant support from regional and national level, to face the challenges ahead and halt the level of decline.”
In October this year, Mr Russell called for “urgent action” after the first three London inspection reports all resulted in ‘Inadequate’ ratings – his full statement is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website.
“Finally, it is important to note that we did see some areas of positive work at these London PDUs – driven by probation officers and their managers – including a clear understanding of the diverse needs of people on probation in their boroughs. In addition, the delivery of unpaid work is improving and developing, despite the lack of staffing, as is important work in supporting the victims of crime.
“I remain hopeful for the future, given the determination within each service to drive change. However, these inspections serve as clear warning to the Probation Service – London region, and the Probation Service at a national level, that it will take a significant effort on their part to make this happen.”
--oo00oo--
From the full report:-
This was the first Probation Delivery Unit (PDU) inspection of services in Lewisham and Bromley since the unification of the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and National Probation Service (NPS) in June 2021. The overall quality of work delivered to manage people on probation was insufficient across all four of the standards we inspected for casework, consequently, the PDU has been given an overall rating of ‘Inadequate’.
In common with other PDUs we have inspected in the London region in 2022, staffing was a significant challenge and workloads were too high for many staff across all grades as a result.
Our case inspection work found few meaningful interventions taking place to reduce offending or minimise risk of harm in individual cases. Overall, the quality of sentence management work was poor. Too often assessments and plans failed to identify all the relevant factors linked to offending or risk of harm. Critical information necessary to minimise the risk of serious harm was not obtained from police or other agencies in too many cases, leaving potential victims unprotected.
Despite insufficient resources, the leadership team were making progress in building links with others in Lewisham and Bromley. Strategic partners praised local probation leaders for their commitment and contributions to multi-agency forums which, in itself, was a challenge as the PDU covers two distinct London boroughs.
Staff recognised the efforts made by the leadership team to listen to their views and support the retention of staff whilst recruitment took place at a regional level and staffing levels started to improve. Staff did not yet feel they were part of ‘One Team’ which is the PDU vision and more could be done to build a positive, unified culture.
People on probation expressed largely positive views on their experience of probation services but more could be done to incorporate their views of service delivery. At present there is no forum to gain their feedback within the PDU.
A comprehensive range of services was available both commissioned and non-commissioned, and delivery partners were positive about communication with PDU staff and the ability to have a presence in PDU offices where required.
Lewisham and Bromley PDU has some necessary foundations for improvement in place. If they are appropriately resourced so that plans for the PDU can be fully implemented.
I hope that improvements in service delivery will follow.
Justin Russell
Chief Inspector of Probation
Comment left on another post but worth repeating here I think:-
ReplyDelete"Just a word of encouragement to those experienced, older staff teetering on the edge of retirement (Decisions, decisions). If You don't give a flying f*ck about "opportunities for advancement" or the approval of the MoJ management machine, just do what gives you joy and you believe in and were trained in professionally- way back when there was professional training and values.
Risk: none: you are thinking of leaving anyway.
Gains:
-Some bright eyed newbies (and some of them have the same aspirations to make a difference and strike a blow for social justice where we can and with individuals) You can hand on this mission
- the satisfaction of doing some meaningful work with your clients: in the middle of this shit, you might just help someone profoundly
- some more time earning the pay and putting off drawing down your inadequate pension
There are no recruits as you offer.
DeleteBBC website:-
ReplyDeleteSome Met Police officers not trusted to speak to public, says chief
Some 3,000 Metropolitan Police officers cannot be fully deployed due to misconduct allegations or health issues, including "about 100" who are not trusted to speak to the public, commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has said.
He said about 500 officers of the 3,000 are suspended or on restricted duties. Sir Mark told the BBC he lacked the power to sack them, which he described as "perverse". He has been calling for more a change in the rules on sacking officers. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme some officers were "letting us down".
"I have about 100 officers in the organisation who have very restrictive conditions on them because, frankly, we don't trust them to talk to members of the public and it's completely mad that I have to employ people like that as police officers who you can't trust to have contact with the public, it's ridiculous."
He told presenter Nick Robinson he was unable throw them out of the force, due to restricted powers available to him.
"We're looking at whether we've got any new legal levers but on the conventional approaches, we can't, it's perverse, isn't it?," Sir Mark said.
Sir Mark also confirmed reports he employs some 3,000 officers he cannot fully use. Many, he said, had "legitimate" health issues.
However, he added: "There's over 500 who are suspended or restricted because of misconduct investigations and there's too many who have restrictions that we need to get tougher on because that's more than 10% of my workforce who I can't fully deploy."
And the takeaway after the bum-covering OSAG we all had to do for poor directorship, was that we need more staff. It doesn't help that existing POs are taking extended sick leave for months on end, leaving beleaguered staff to cover case after case, sometimes for weeks on end, with zero support or real oversight. Trouble is, that there will be a domino effect of this happening with others, until the few that are left have to go sick because of being burned out. The normalisation of overwork is something Probation has never tackled. 165% on the WMT- mentioned by management when it suits, ignored when a PO mentions it. I've put in for 196 hours of overtime... this is just unsustainable. No point in having the spoils of overtime if you're working so hard you can't enjoy it. The PDU inspections for the rest of London will no doubt be a car crash and the elephant is still there. He's been there a long time. It's anything but tackling the foundational problems. No wonder people leave and then the situation perpetuates, but without your health- mental and physical- you have nothing. And, please, management, stop blaming POs for how they do their job. It's utterly the workload. Stop gaslighting- it's insulting and just plain wrong. It's not about how we work, if we work smarter or dimmer. It has nothing to do with the staff. Stop exploiting goodwill and making us do the OSAG work for the shortcomings at the top.
ReplyDeleteElectronic calendars to be used by every ‘PP’ in London to record appointments and day-to-day activities. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteCome on thoughts you will be most likely aware this is real set time motion study that will backfire on them . They will use it to level out timings invoke capabilities and not disclose the breach of employment terms by monitoring by computer and directing workloads that remain over subscribed. I would have though any brain cell in a union would have a do not comply order out to all members until agreements on practice principles are consulted upon. Then negotiated. After members considerations soundings safeguards enshrined into a test model only. However you have the most inable dreary boring deluded idiot as the Napo lead what a shame the the management will just tear into staff with their time management approach to force change to deliver the target measurable. Feel sorry for us all but let's hope unison will see the issues and act accordingly.
DeleteI understand a team of POs has put in a proposal to that bloke ‘Blight’ and Amy Rees re a proposal to assist the workload in London but they have not had a response a month later ?! How stupid is that
ReplyDeleteAnd there’s the mistake. It’s for management to address the problems not the staff. Goodwill and doing over and above is not respected nor rewarded. Do not fill yourselves into thinking your London Heads of Operations care for your ideas. They already have the option to pull staff out of OMiC and all those cushy little secondments they let their mates go on. They won’t as it will upset Amy Rees’ game plan to extinguish what’s left of the Probation Service.
DeleteAndrew Blight? Hahahaha
DeleteFancy that. The only good airplay was around the social work approach with young offenders on probation in Newham. The rest of London Probation in total disarray.
ReplyDelete“Work to engage with people on probation was more positive. We saw promising signs that a relationship-based approach was impacting positively on some assessment and planning activity, particularly with young adults aged 18-25.
Work with this young adult cohort was coordinated well within a multi-agency, co-located Transitions Hub pilot. While it is too early to effectively evaluate the long-term success of this pilot, our observations were positive, and we saw evidence of genuinely ambitious and innovative work taking place. We would hope that Sheffield Hallam University’s imminent evaluation is positive.”
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/11/An-inspection-of-probation-services-in-Newham-–-London-region.pdf
Lewisham and Bromley Probation area scored 4 out of a possible 24 points during the recent Probation Inspectorate report. The Probation Inspectorate needs to seriously get a grip of itself and stop publishing Probation Inspection reports using different criteria. Recent Probation Inspectorate reports for other areas were scored out of a possible 27 points but this latest one is out of only 24 points. To my mind this is a pitiful and shameful exercise in that the Inspectors can't even use the same, consistent scoring system! Why don't they publish a readily understandable score out of a possible 100 per? Are they wilfully obscuring these horrendous results? And, most importantly, have they got the backbone to conclude the obvious truth, namely that Civil Service Prbation is utterly and irredeemable flawed?
ReplyDeleteI think you @18:55 should understand the inspection methodology. PDUs with court work are rated out of 27 and if no court within the PDU it’s rated out of 24. Thats what it says on their manual. I think that’s a fair calculation.
DeletePeoples survey results aren’t out yet 😉
ReplyDeleteWell, apart from the low turnout of people completing the survey and the results being as predictable as you could possibly imagine, I don't think they'll show anything new, insightful and interesting because it's the same concerns every year and nothing changes, hence why you get fewer and fewer people completing the surveys. There's soft talk and supposed action to remedy the concerns, but they come to nought in the end because the system is irretrievably broken by the approach that's taken and that POs, the bread and butter of the organisation, are not listened to. It takes a blinkered kind of senior manager to spin bad news or bad results, but it fools no-one and the PR that they expect or to win hearts and minds is foolhardy and pointless. But they won't be told.
DeleteBBC Website:-
ReplyDeleteRishi Sunak has asked for the investigation into alleged bullying by Dominic Raab to be expanded to include a third formal complaint.
Downing Street says the complaint related to Mr Raab's behaviour when he was Brexit secretary in 2018.
Earlier this week, No 10 confirmed that a lawyer would investigate two complaints about Mr Raab.
Mr Raab, who is both the justice secretary and deputy prime minister, has denied any allegations of bullying.
He has insisted he "behaved professionally at all times" and that he looks forward to dealing with the complaints "transparently rather than dealing with anonymous comments in the media".
Mr Raab is a close ally of Rishi Sunak and Downing Street has said he has the PM's full confidence.
The decision to expand the inquiry comes after sources told the BBC the Ministry of Justice, where Mr Raab now works, has been "inundated" with complaints of alleged bullying.
Last week, Mr Raab asked Mr Sunak to launch an inquiry into his conduct after allegations about his behaviour towards staff.
The government appointed lawyer Adam Tolley KC to "establish the specific facts" about two formal complaints that have been lodged about Mr Raab's conduct when he was foreign secretary and justice secretary, during Boris Johnson's premiership.
The lawyer will report to Mr Sunak, who will make the final judgement on whether Mr Raab's conduct breached the ministerial code.
But the scope of the inquiry can be widened "at the discretion of the prime minister, in consultation with the investigator," according to its terms of reference.
To be fair to Mr Raab, they shouldn’t be resurrecting complaints from 2018.
Deletethis government is a busted flush, a disgrace. Their time is up and they know it. The horror is that we have to wait sitting on our hands until a GE is called. And what do we want? This shower out, And when to we want it... NOW. and then... oh my, the task politcially is going to be hideous, I hope they are brave and have a fabulous coms team
ReplyDeleteSaw this elsewhere. I’m tired of this never ending barrage of so-called research so academics and think tanks that make a name for themselves telling us what we already know.
ReplyDeleteProbation doesn’t pay very well.
Probation is understaffed and staff overworked.
Probation is a constantly changing and chaotic environment to work in.
Probation provides limited support, development and career progression.
“Study Title: An exploration of the reasons that probation staff voluntarily leave the probation service
Faculty Ethics Committee Ref No: FHSS 2022-048
Name and contact of researchers: Laura Haggar and Michelle McDermott
Invitation:
We are researchers from the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth, and are conducting research into the reasons that individuals have voluntarily left probation practice to gain insight into staff attrition.
We are seeking responses from ex-practitioners who meet the following inclusion criteria:
Have previously worked in operational probation roles (grades 3-5) in England and Wales
AND
Have voluntarily resigned from the probation service since May 2019
AND
Are not currently employed by HMPPS”
https://portsmouth.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/11-title-an-exploration-of-the-reasons-that-probation-sta
Actually we need the research evidence that confirms what we know more than ever. There are enough Tories making disparaging remarks about probation that is not based on research evidence without us doing the same. Let us encourage and engage with all research especially that undertaken by probation ‘pracademics’ that confirms and shines a spotlight on the shit-show.
Delete