2022 Year End Review

The beginning of a New Year is as good a time as any to take stock of things and consider the future. I must confess that by nature I'm a pessimist, but within someone who has always hoped for the best and been prepared to take an active part in trying to make things better. I guess that philosophy was why relatively late in life I took to probation like a duck to water and has sustained my determination to persevere with this blog in order to try and make sure it survives as a distinct ethos. To put it bluntly, I am prepared to do whatever it takes to keep the probation flame burning and taking full advantage of the optimism that comes with this time of year, renew an invitation to those who feel similarly to come along with me. 

Lets be honest here; the situation is pretty dire. The patient is sick, toxic even and in a state of crisis everywhere. HMPPS of course remains in total denial - situation normal for a government department that has to answer to its political masters. The civil service command and control mindset means it just issues orders, threats and platitudinous guff on a regular basis via social media platforms whilst at the same time firmly placing fingers in ears whilst endlessly reciting 'la,la,la,la,la,la'. It was once famously stated by John Reid that 'the Home Office was not fit for purpose'. It led to the MoJ being created. I think we've gone full circle and the MoJ is no longer fit for purpose.  

Lets review the situation:-

1) There is a national staffing crisis. The most experienced probation staff continue to head for the exit or go off on sick leave. New recruits, PQiPs, either leave during training or shortly after appointment. The training is not felt to be adequate. There's a miserable failure to recruit diversity in terms of gender, age, disability and life experience. Probation always had a history of recruiting from a broad range of social background, life experience and character, but that has ceased. 

2) Morale is at rock bottom. Probation's strength was its independence that facilitated staff at all levels to function effectively in response to the social, environmental and political climate at any given time and thus was able to garner widespread respect and confidence. By the forced marriage to HM Prison Service this has been squandered and cannot be recovered until reconstituted as a standalone arms-length agency able to speak and act independently. The dramatic drop in community sentences is a direct result of probation being subsumed by HM Prison Service.

3) The 'OneHMPPS' plan will only further exacerbate the problem by consolidating HM Prison Service control. It should be of concern that the Chief Probation Officer has 'jumped ship' and any new appointment is likely to be a candidate who has risen from the ranks of HM Prison Service. OMiC has helped exacerbate the community staffing crisis by moving officers into prisons, effectively to 'backfill' for staffing issues there. It is clearly not working. 

4) Probation staff continue to be 'thrown under the bus' by the SFO process in a cynical attempt to provide cover for numerous systemic and structural failings within NPS. This whole process must be challenged and the spotlight turned upon the Service and the numerous structural failings such as high caseloads, poor managerial supervision and chronic IT inadequacies. Officers are becoming increasingly 'risk-averse' as a way of dealing with the ever-present SFO threat and this is having a knock-on effect in terms of prison population growth.  

5) HMPPS is a government department that has become utterly toxic under the control of the current Justice Secretary, now facing numerous allegations of inappropriate behaviour, and a culture of bullying, intimidation and cronyism has become widespread. Things are so bad there has been a widespread boycott of the Staff Survey process. Pay and terms and conditions continue to be eroded. There is growing evidence of staff developing PTSD as a direct result of toxic work environments, 'reasonable adjustments' not being catered for and the Sickness Absence Policy being used abusively.  

6) Clients of the Service - not PoPs or 'people on probation' - increasingly are saying they regard probation as part of the problem, not any solution and the trust and respect that used to exist is being rapidly eroded. So-called 'signposting' and farming out programmes to other agencies is destroying the client/officer relationship widely held to being fundamental to effective supervision.   

7) Changes to the Parole System and in particular the absurdity of forbidding Probation Officers from making recommendations to the Parole Board are threatening to further undermine the Service's professional standing, will not serve the needs of justice and add further to the prison population.

8) Vast amounts of time continue to be swallowed up by 'tick-box' computer processes duplicating information and OASys has become utterly unfit for purpose. Some, including me, would say it never was. The quality of PSR's continues to decline, too many are hastily provided on the day not allowing for comprehensive garnering of information and there is no 'gatekeeping' process.    

9) Probation finds itself without an effective champion. There is cause to feel the Probation Institute might become more of an effective voice, but to be honest there is no obvious replacement for the likes of Lord Ramsbotham who proved to be a tireless champion for the cause. The Howard League used to speak up regularly on probation matters, but for whatever reason now seems ominously quiet on the subject. HMI Justin Russell continues to venture into policy and practice matters, but has as-yet failed to categorically call-out the fundamental structural issues. The Parliamentary Justice Committee similarly plods on with good work, but has yet to signal fundamental change is required.

10) Effective trade union leadership has been sadly lacking for some considerable time and it must surely be hoped that the current recruitment process for Napo General Secretary might yield a range of candidates that could offer inspiration, direction and an authoritative probation voice. It's nothing short of disgraceful that Napo, the Professional Association as well as Trade Union, has not been vocal on the way the SFO process is being used.   

11) We are on the home stretch towards a General Election. Whatever one's views are regarding the leader of HM Loyal Opposition, Labour will have to surely try very hard indeed to lose the next election. But dear oh dear, reviving the mantra of being 'the party of law and order' is not a good sign and shows a remarkable lack of imagination. I have no idea who is advising Labour on criminal justice matters, but they clearly require some assistance. 

12) Thanks especially to Prof Rob Canton, probation has been given a strong rallying cry and firm theoretical basis for change under a new Labour administration. Far from being an outdated historical relic, he reminds us that 'Advise, Assist and Befriend' turns out to be the best way to 'protect the public'. So there you have it in a nice short soundbite, the theoretical argument and political imperative all in one handy sentence. Can we please start selling this notion asap and get back to being an effective, socially beneficial public service that can regain its former confidence and stature?