- Yes, they knew TR wouldn't work but they didn't care because it was not what it seemed
- Yes, it was a distraction technique to wrest control of probation services from independent minds
- Yes, target culture was a blunt tool designed for simple-cell bullies with not a scintilla of intelligence
- Yes, the bullies were mostly ignorant of the profession, the tasks, the ethos & the skills involved
- Yes, it was a politically ideological outcome initiated by blue labour & expedited by tories
- Yes, it was a horrible & protracted experience for many staff to live & work through
- Yes, the end game was faux privatisation & collective punishment of staff, not least being theft of 60% of staff redundancy entitlements by corporate bandits.
- Yes, they knew what they were doing
- No, they don't give a fuck for anything except themselves
Add to this the staffing crisis, low morale, high sickness rates, toxic work environment, poor training, inadequate supervision, wage erosion, terrible HMI reports, tragic SFO's, crap IT, uncompleted UPW, inadequate PSR's, tick box supervision and endless bureaucracy, the time has come to get probation set free from the clutches of HMPPS and let it fly again!
--oo00oo--
Postscript:-
SSCL hold a particular position of universal dislike and mistrust within probation circles.
Driving efficiency and modernising ways of working
Fujitsu has been at the forefront of the Government’s Shared Services strategy as the technology provider for the Single Operating Platform (SOP) providing back office services to over 350,000 users, currently the largest Oracle deployment in EMEA. We have also delivered both Oracle eBusiness Suite and Oracle Cloud services to other government departments and local authorities alike to digitalise HR processes and accelerate public sector transformation.
From Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"The blog and re inadequate PSRs. Just found out you get 4.15 hours to complete a PSR. No way in this world with everything the courts and QDOs are expecting and liaising with other agencies is this possible. Then there’s the OASys that needs completing too. Ridiculous. You could be interviewing for over an hour."
When googling prison service news the majority of articles that appear seem to be about inappropriate relationships.
DeleteA scandal initself.
However, Labour have called for an inquiry into the prisons flagship "Unlock Graduates" programme too.
From Inside Time...
https://insidetime.org/newsround/labour-demands-probe-into-treatment-of-young-female-prison-officers/
'Getafix
3 hours 14 mins for a PSR on the Day!!!
DeleteI was talking to a colleague the other day and he said he was worried about all the very young women being recruited to prisons. When I asked why he said they were vulnerable to manipulation from male prisoners and the risk of forming relationships. I brushed it off and thought this could be sexist or otherwise assumptions re sexuality etc however there is definitely something that needs to be explored here in terms of preparing staff for the role and avoiding grooming and manipulation. We had some anti bribery training which also mentioned this as well as the risk of buying drugs off the offenders! I dismissed it and have never come across this or heard of staff having relationships with service users but I imagine it could happen though hopefully very rare.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/11/prison-staff-relationships-prisoners-ruth-shmylo/
DeleteIf we all applied ourselves properly we could propose a breakdown of probation by the tactics of grayling to blow billions. We could illustrate the corrupted companies like working links and it's abusive thefts of employee terms and pensions . We can show the up tick in sfos public scandal and the serious deaths a direct result of government policy. Shall we all write to the investigative journos to do the tr destruction.
ReplyDeletehttps://weownit.org.uk/blog/ban-fujitsu-all-uk-public-sector-contracts
DeleteI agree with 14:57, the shameful CRC culture as well as the illegal Working Links no breach policy and theft of money reserved for staff redundancies needs to see the light of day. Interesting to note the change in stance and demeanour from bullies (such as the Post Office investigator that interrogated innocent Sub Postmasters) once they themselves are being investigated and scrutinised
ReplyDeleteWell the hunters are being hunted by the wider moral compass. This blog is a compass can we get a section on tr and supply the itv docudrama
DeleteBullies ? That’s your average process driven non empathetic probation officer these days ,wake up your clients hate you
ReplyDeleteYou raise a very important point, @19:41, one that reaches beyond the frontline operatives & into our very souls. We have a choice:
Delete*** advise, assist, befriend
vs
*** instruct, dictate, bully
Which would people prefer as an underlying ethos?
Do any Professors of Risk have a view?
Any target-driven, bonus-obsessed fascists?
Anyone who celebrates desistance?
Any heads of trades unions?
Anyone who is faced with "computer-says-no"?
Anyone who's soul is shrivelled & aching?
Toooooo late for reflection. Most pquips value their jobs and rate what they do. It's changed and the whiiiinniiinnngggg on this blog will not pull this train back from the next station. It's all gone too far and we watched it coming. It is definitely not going back.
DeleteComment left on an earlier blog post:-
ReplyDelete"Listen to 'The Rest is Politics' pod cast put up this last week - as neat a description of the problems of public procurement as ever you will hear - probation, prisons, NHS, MOD and others - all the same. My concern is why didn't St.Rory speak out when he was nearer to the centre of power?"
Because Rory Stewart was part of a Conservative Government trying to grow the Small State system that pays money to corprations with shareholders to run public services as the State itself cuts them back to the caw.
DeleteI’m bracing myself for the SFO’s that are inevitably going to happen under the Early Release Scheme… who do we think they will blame for that?! That’s right it will be the PO… Bloomin ridiculous!
ReplyDeleteits all perfectly normal, nothing's broken, no worms here
ReplyDeletehttps://www.aol.co.uk/news/teen-found-dead-prison-cell-181905729.html
18 year old girl dies in prison.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hmpps-appoints-new-non-executive-director
ReplyDeletehttps://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/24046587.mixed-feelings-reading-prison-sold-new-buyer/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68001231
ReplyDeletehttps://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/bronson-battersby-toddler-starves-to-death-dad-kenneth-skegness-lincolnshire-b1132821.html
ReplyDeleteSo when is the Probation Officer role being evaluated to Band 5?
ReplyDeleteAt a meeting between Napo, UNISON, GMB/SCOOP and senior Probation management yesterday, we heard the result of the Job Evaluation Appeal for the Victim Liaison Officer (VLO) role previously submitted by the joint trade unions.
The outcome is that Band 4 has been confirmed as the appropriate banding for this role, meaning that there will be a salary increase because of the VLO role obtaining an uplift of one pay band. Under the terms of the collective agreement on the Job Evaluation System (JES) between the unions and the Probation service, the result of the VLO appeal is final.
Probation officers in the NPD are already assessed as Band 5, must be all the travelling they have to do
DeleteAt last an end to the abuse blows suffered . Many in the country paid properly under band 4 were attacked by Nps downgraded. Not the POS in the same role. Now it is corrected. The whole back pay won't be coming or reparation to those downgraded now returned to grade. However pos need not now be complaining it's the proper rate for the job it is a complicated public facing difficult issues job. It vindicates all those cool areas that originally graded their vlos at band 4 . My area being one of the few.
DeleteIf VLOs are band 4 then PO should be a band 5 considering the need to study for an entire degree to qualify for the role.
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/17/work-wellness-programmes-dont-make-employees-happier-but-i-know-what-does
ReplyDeleteMost workplaces are not temples of wellness. In some cases, they can be quite the opposite. What’s more, many of the interventions employers use routinely to supposedly improve employee wellbeing appear to make no difference – or in some cases, can even make things worse. The good news for leaders and employees is that we know what does work; instead of investing in ineffective initiatives, leaders should focus on taking away stressors. This means getting rid of unnecessarily complicated systems, poorly trained managers, and – in some cases – ineffective wellness interventions.
André Spicer is professor of organisational behaviour at the Bayes Business School at City, University of London. He is the author of the book Business Bullshit
Can we get get rid of the shit sscl people who just apply brutality. Abusers to see staff die preferably after leaving or before. Nps corrupt full stop. Yes get rid of managerial abuse .
DeleteBackdated?
ReplyDeleteI have not seen anything official but is it pension consolidated as that would be wonderful.
DeleteWell well done for once to unison GMB and to be fair Napo at least a win is a win and the wrong has been corrected in some part. Well done too to the vlos who kept up a fight that clearly in the jes you are now all vindicated. Probation is as bad as the post office so a great outcome well deserved .
ReplyDeleteBack in 2014/15 when the sodexo clearances were taking place, I paid for a barrister's advice about the theft via the reduced severance payments by sodexo, in light of the previously agreed EVR package & the transfer commitments. In a similar vein to the PostOffice/Fujitsu behaviour, staff were gaslit by the employers, bullied by the employers & ripped off by the employers.
DeleteThe barrister's advice to me was that I had a winnable case but... could I manage without any pay or employment for the next ten years, as that was the likely timescale before sodexo's corporate wheels of resistance would finally grind to a halt. I didn't have the heart or the mind or the soul of a Mr Bates.
The whole sorry PO saga has reopened many raw memories of liars, bullies & utter shithouses. But its good to see the lid on that can of worms has been well & truly opened.
As the lying, cheating & bullying continues into the realm of compensation, as the disgusting worms try to keep hold of the narrative by delaying payment & rewriting history, I wonder...
... will anyone ever publicly open the probation can of worms?
And what would it take to make those vile soulless greedmongers feel any sense of guilt or remorse - or anything?
Any amount are still in post pocketing publicly funded salaries, some taking bonuses, some ennobled, as was the venal vennells. Presumably they think they're safe & out of danger now?
To paraphrase Lee Castleton (bankrupted SPM) from yesterday about the lying fujitsu witness: "I hope they have as many sleepless nights as we did."
That is way too kind in my view but, as I said earlier, I don't have the saintly soul that the SPM heroes have.
In other news: as for the VLO regrade, I think it was ALWAYS a role for a qualified PO, should never have been a PSO role & should always have been scale 4. Way back when I argued for a VLO team headed by a PO, answerable to local SPO, with 2 x PSO victim liaison support staff.
2021: a family member received a phone call advising her ex-partner had been given a SSO for a nasty domestic violence offence & that she should make arrangements to protect the children. The call came out of the blue, there was no introduction as to who the person was nor any contact details left. Family member was distressed by the call. Several hours & calls later (police, courts, social services, probation) we tracked the caller down... it was from a PSO VLO in a neighbouring county. They were never available when we called. After 3 weeks of promises that someone would call back, there was still nothing. I wrote to the SPO - never heard a thing. Forwarded that letter & more to the most senior NPS person... nothing. After 3 months the family member said she'd had enough & wanted to forget about it.
Presumably, fujitsu/post office-style, it will have been recorded as a successful contact by some lying target-driven toad; maybe even contributed to another lying bag of shit hitting their bonus?
Any bad staff could have done that po pso . There is nothing in the job that requires a po qualification. You need to appreciate filling doughnuts is not a po job nor bricklaying. It is this sort of clear example makes obvious ridiculous. Vlo was a new role in probation not so far back. It had no basis to be a probation officers job. In fact the conflict of interest in empathy for offenders never blended well to that of victims. Your ideas are opinions I'll considered against the factors that count. I want to agree with you on Sodexo but find that difficult too. The trick with the evr transfer deal was to not volunteer anyone signing early for a deal undermined the agreement. Accepting any new offer would be the individuals personal choice. In many cases I know of many staff who refused a deal but got full evr as they fought it out.
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/19/pregnant-woman-jail-sentence-quashed-in-landmark-uk-ruling
DeletePeople have certainly been cheated out of their terms by a sub standard offer. Perhaps some were pressured to take it because of the restrictive incentive of a time limited deal so they jumped. However it is nothing like the appalling criminalisation of innocent honest post office staff and you make a terrible comparison.
DeleteThe whole service needs overhauling . I am sick and tired of the unwritten expectations of working outside contracted hours
DeleteSystem is broken beyond repair . Inspections highlight what we all ready know but does this ever change things sadly in my 20 plus years no . As I write this I’m looking to get out it’s a service I do t recognise and not why joined . Things need to change but weak trade unions , lack of public understanding or care for job we do . Im done and it’s a shame
It'll be interesting to know what probation people lost as compared to the SPMs. To be fair those poor fuckers were hung out to dry & left for the carrion, many were bankrupted, many more lost all that was dear to them & several took their own lives. There is no direct comparison in those terms BUT...
Delete... we have to recognise that the govt lied & govt approved organisations profited as a result of the losses imposed upon innocent staff members via changes to terms & conditions they had no control over.
Full EVR was scheduled for £67,500 at 15 years' employment. I heard tell that sodexo paid £24,000 top whack, with no reference for future employment & no pension contribution.
A lawyer says that's £43,500 repayment just to achieve parity + appropriate compensation for 7 years' loss of interest & any relevant consideration as a result of the loss of payment of the legitimate lump sum, including emotional, physical & any other impact, including pension.
The time for reckoning is nigh...
"it is nothing like the appalling criminalisation of innocent honest post office staff and you make a terrible comparison."
DeleteI'd suggest there are similarities as illustrated by the original poster:
"In a similar vein to the PostOffice/Fujitsu behaviour, staff were gaslit by the employers, bullied by the employers & ripped off by the employers."
There may not be a direct comparison of outcomes or impact, but the mechanism was very familiar, e.g. crooked employers, political ideology, bullying, lying & willing helpers prepared to sell their souls to implement the Big Lie.
"In many cases I know of many staff who refused a deal but got full evr as they fought it out."
I don't think it was 'many', they weren't in a sodexo crc & they had an especially strong local rep. There was a particularly nasty streak to sodexo's behaviour emanating from their London offices; some staff who tried to hold out for full evr were "managed out" with nothing after the sodexo 'deadline'. I was there to help friends pick up some of the pieces.
It was not a nice time, it was not a clear cut situation & it ended many bright careers. The nastiness & finger pointing at those who were bullied, abused & thrown overboard needs to stop.
God, what a mess. How can a PSO without the necessary qualifications be given a job at a grade above their pay scale. Surely the whole purpose of job evaluation was to take into account responsibility, qualifications, job function and, dare I say, who was to be blamed if or when it all went wrong.
ReplyDeleteIn a previous life, I worked in an industry where lines of demarcation were strictly enforced but this has been eroded by the employers with the active support of NAPO.
Can anybody explain why it is necessary to study and work for a degree in one part of the organisation to be evaluated at Band 4 when across the floor, you can earn the same rate by virtue of allocated tasks.
I agree with the earlier correspondent who said that if PSOs are to be Band 4, then POs must be graded Band 5. Perhaps NAPO will see this as a way around the attempt to wriggle out of the three year pay deal they promoted and subsequently found to be a massive pay cut.
Surely the evaluation says the role is band 4, not that a pso is band 4?
DeleteOnce again stupid cheapskate CEOs at trust-level refused to make role-distinct decisions, cut corners & muddied the waters with the PO/PSO boundaries.
The error came right at the beginning when the VLO role should have been designated a discrete qualified-PO role with no 'offender' caseload to avoid risk of conflicts of interest. In some areas that might have meant a single VLO for an area, in others possibly a VLO for each division - with pso's as vicitim liaison assistants.
As usual, a modern probation fuckmuddle created by those 'at the top' trying to save pennies while inflating their own sense of importance (& remuneration).
The problem po gradings have is that the job today is nowhere near what it was . Monitoring administration is not job contrasted with advise assist befriend. That with professional court reports all gone. The tasks and job knowledge are key factors of any jes. The role of vlo is a different role in that it faces the public not all in housing of offenders . They act in mappa and have a steady higher level abusive cases which draw intelligent demands of the job. Anyone can apply for the role instead of berating the staff who have a collective body of skills in the role. It would be nice to hear someone in the other ranks congratulate the success of restoring a rate for the job. Also the traditional pay bands remain untouched pso can be in any grading as they are not specially po qualified we had several aco at this level on special tasks. Partnership officers performance managers all slipped into top roles on pay no po qualification required. Staff in probation on these understandings is remedial even backward. What others earn is their good judgement what you earn is your call . Extra hours don't do them ask for.the paid time . Early start late leave no lunch or coffee breaks don't do it reduce your slavish output to your contracted hours and wait they will soon offer more pay to clear backlog. You can earn a lot more than criticising.
DeleteI agree. I’m not against a qualified PO doing the VLO job at band 4. But if a PSO can be a VLO paid at band 4 then what was the point me qualifying as a PO.
DeleteFurthermore why aren’t all other PSOs being paid at band 4 too? I’ll tell you why, because then they’ll have to pay POs at band 5 and SPOs at band 6. Oh wait, they already do pay POs and SPOs at band 5 and 6 in the NSD.
This VLO evaluation may be a victory for VLOs but it’s a kick in the teeth for the rest of us.
The same problems are about to be introduced to the NHS.
DeleteGo to Uni and accrue a £l00k debt to get qualified as a doctor, or do an apprenticeship and get paid whilst you train?
Professional sandards don't seem to be important anymore.
https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/06/30/nhs-doctor-apprenticeships-everything-you-need-to-know/
'Getafix
Napo has not actively supported the employers. There have been instances where the GS has acted dubiously. It is important for those commenting to separate out those who actually do the day job such as the officers in Napo now headed up by Ben Cockburn’ and the out of touch paid officials unfortunately headed up by the GS who has never been employed by a probation service. They need to either resign and make way or get behind Ben and the team as if their jobs depended on it. There are naive people working in HQ headed up by Kim Thornton Edward’s to destroy the service with the OneHMPPS shambles. Know your enemies. It is not the trade unions it is the senior leaders of HMPPS. Napo are finally in a dispute that we should all be supporting as what is at stake is none other than the continuation of the probation service as a profession rather than as a service that is merely an adjunct to the prison service. This is a dispute that the GS probably doesn’t understand or have any personal investment in but he should do the job he is paid well to do. The way to do this is to instruct him to do what we want him to do as members and hold him to account but support those who are fighting OneHMPPS. Support the dispute against the employers plans. Support the Regional Directors who oppose the plans and who are being gagged and pensioned off. Do not support Area Directors who are not accountable. Wake up before it is too late. Stop bashing Napo as a whole as it is an employer led misdirection. Use democratic process within unions to get the people you want. If you are not fighting for the profession and against One HMPPS you are against probations existence and supporting its deprofessionalisation.
DeleteWay too late.
Delete08:31 People have been saying it is ‘way too late ‘ to avert disaster and change probation since SNOP in 1984. It is hardly a call to arms and indicates a defeatist attitude. Perhaps you need to stop listening to Grima Wormtongue whispering defeat in your ear and arise albeit emancipated and dishevelled from your armchair and declare that you are going to do something ‘now’. But alas as you slump back down with a cup of tea and egg soldiers you conclude it must be those trade unions and wotzisname who are to blame.
DeleteThe employers, in cahoots with the unions have further eroded the value of my professional qualifications and further de-professionalised the job.
ReplyDeleteHow long before they claim you don’t need a qualification to be a PO and any Tom, Dick or Harriet can do it?
You do not now need to be a PO to deliver probation services. Legislation that allowed private companies and others to deliver services has not been repealed. New legislation talks about responsible officers and does not specify that they must possess specific qualifications. Don't kid yourself. The probation service remains part privatised just as the prison service is. We have become accustomed to our terms and conditions being eroded and degraded. Comparatively speaking we earn a lot less now than the highly trained officers of yesteryears. If OneHMPPS succeeds it wont be long before privatisation starts up again and POs will be qualified in 10 weeks training alongside prison staff to create a pool of staff that can be deployed where needed. At that point the probation service will have ceased to exist. Watch out for announcements soon.
DeleteIt makes me feel cheated. Why go through two years training and the mental toll it takes when you could have just waited for the next VLO role to come along?
ReplyDeleteThat argument assumes one is measuring what one does by the remuneration alone. Everyone has their measuring stick.
DeleteI moved from a high-paying bullshit-deep media environment into the weird world of probation, so the pay wasn't the attraction; the camaraderie & principled ethos was. (Sadly that has all but gone).
In 'olden times' I wrote PSRs by the barrowload. No supervision caseload (except for 5 lifers), just report writing. It suited me. Detailed documents carefully crafted after interviews, reading CPS papers & any other relevant documents/reports. Then I would sit in court & watch a lawyer quote my report verbatim as part of his/her submission. I initially felt cheated, but the report was written for the court, so s/he had every right to use it I suppose.
Some sentencers were less forgiving than others:
"Mr X, you might be surprised to learn I've already read the Probation Officer's detailed submission, so perhaps I'll find it useful to hear what *your* thoughts are about your client's situation?"
I decided to re-adjust my attitude & take the view that the lawyers were cheating themselves.
As the Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) said on 14th January 1978 ’Ever have the feeling you've been cheated’ effectively marking the end of Punk Rock. Time then to acknowledge that the probation service is dead. Perhaps a suitable day to declare this would be at the end of March. Prolonging the death of this service now deformed and corrupted beyond recognition and watching its carcass being feated upon by parasites is obscene. Let us admit defeat and stop.
DeleteMoJ wins award for excellence in recruitment
ReplyDeleteThe department has been singled out for its approach to increasing diversity
The Ministry of Justice’s targeting of veterans and former prisoners for jobs, as part of a wider recruitment drive to increase diversity, has won the department the 2023 Commissioners’ Mark of Excellence.
https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/mojs-wins-award-for-excellence-in-recruitment-28655
/
…. And yet the Probation Service has a staffing crisis, is institutionally racist and uses police vetting to stop the careers of its existing and prospective staff.
Total bollocks any ex offender seeking a job in probation would be in need of some serious counselling. Probation is not well known for its ability to be genuinely inclusive. The piss high up trees will keep all the ex offenders in their place. No equality in probation don't look for it either it ain't there.
Delete"And he blamed what he called ‘criminally stupid austerity cuts’ for reducing the number of experienced staff and replacing them with naive younger ones."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12982983/No-place-teenagers-uniform-Prison-insiders-reveal-young-female-wardens-arrive-glammed-make-false-eyelashes-ask-fancy-inmate-groomed-manipulative-cons.html
If professional standards, training and qualifications are not protected, then everything can only be seen as in decline.
'Getafix
Somethings not right !
ReplyDeleteBiggest caseload.
PSO = Band 3
PO = Band 4
Smaller workload.
VLO PSO = Band 4
VLO PO = Band 4
Tiny caseload.
NSD PO = Band 5
NSD SPO = Band 6
https://www.napo.org.uk/news/vlo-job-evaluation-appeal-brings-welcome-news
Lets not be mean spirited about this. Well done VLOs and those negotiating on their behalf. Their role has long been demeaned in the Probation World. Its both crucial and difficult having the job of championing victims of crime inside Probation, when, when push comes to shove Probation should be onside with the culprits. That is an uneasy thing to say, but worth saying. In my experience, VLOs have not been valued by their colleagues and that is a mistake
ReplyDeleteYes I join you in this sentiment. If you are a po and are unhappy why you could have applied for a vlo role anytime and received the same band 4 and as you didn't it's the money not the role your watching over. That is ok. However when staff are doing higher rated work they should be paid for it simple
Deletehttps://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/media/press-releases/2024/01/martin-jones-announcement/
ReplyDeleteTim pot pqip is not a professional qualification by any standards compared with say social work or teaching or nursing , it’s embarrassing hence poor pay retrain and get a proper professional job
ReplyDeleteOh dear 12:50 ……..it is a degree and VQ qualification, end of! Externally validated and it takes genuine work and effort to attain. Enough!!
DeleteEmployers outside probation are beginning to realise the PQIP isnt a proper degree and on a level with a qualification you can buy on Ebay. Those with CQSWs are on a whole other level Its a cut and paste rush job to fill vacancies. Two years hard graft only if you struggle with basic hand it to you on a plate cannot fail education Mickey Mouse style. Not exactly the open university or rocket science. It does not compare to a three year degree at a decent Uni in almost any subject.
Delete1708 it is only valued by those that hold it. The job is admin monitoring bashing the clientele if you actually do any 121 work. There is no building relationships forging a social contract. Empathetic listening with reflection learning and what can you do differently going on in life. No befriending support no real telephone access unless it's a breach. Zero engagement beyond the scope of a scripted interview and target ticking. Your role is diminished to nothing in comparison to what has been sacrificed and a qualification to administer is not a social worker valued document nor a real probation officer role. You have only to look at the way staff interact these days cliques.if nail bar ISH young women with over expectation of their self importance. Not so long to go now just have to wait it out watching this car crash
DeleteMost of the PQiPs hold a degree before starting the training. Wow, 00:53 people work hard to attain the qualification, less negativity be kind!
DeleteYou read this exchange and cannot help wonder if any courtesies are left. Poor pquips we are degree holding intelligent staff doing a job as good as any po. We are POS.
DeleteOlder qualified POS don't see the pquip as able valuable or useful. In the current job they probably are just holding water. In the old job they would have been useless. At least we get to recall what should be done when probation was real and POS had status. Pquips have so much to learn and maturity takes a long time.
16:32 There has been a general decline in the quality of degrees in the UK in an attempt to keep the millennials, who think they are entitled to a £40k job straight out of Uni, off the street until after the election. The top universities do not bid for the training contracts, as they were not prepared to lower their standards for small change. Look at the ranking of the universities that were successful. In the CQSW era, probation training often took place at much better universities, usually resulting in a masters but at a much higher standard - generally proud of the experience. These days it is undertaken by also ran universities that sweep up the low graders - where there is much, there is brass. Many PQIPs who already have a degree from a half decent university regard the qualification as a joke, but it is good money and another degree when you are fresh out of university and not yet ready to join the real world of hard and relentless graft. Most don't stick it once the stabilising wheels come off and workload increases.
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/jan/22/resenteeism-when-you-hate-your-job-but-you-just-cant-leave
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nao.org.uk/reports/reducing-prisoner-reoffending/
ReplyDelete2002 - and still we're nowhere near delivering a meaningful service to prison leavers
improve the planning of prisoners’ time in custody including closer working with the Probation Service. Prisoners’ sentence plans should identify: the risks of their reoffending and how these risks should be tackled; and what help they need to resettle into the community, including assistance to find accommodation and employment and to maintain family ties;
ensure that all prisoners who would benefit from attending programmes have the opportunity to do so;
strengthen work with prisoners serving short sentences to reduce the risk of their being drawn into a cycle of reoffending;
improve the relevance of work experience provided in prison;
provide an agreed minimum level and standard of assistance to prisoners to resettle in the community, based on good practice across the prison estate;
improve collaboration with the Probation Service, health authorities and voluntary groups so that released prisoners who need continuing support receive it.
24 years & counting...
From 2006:
ReplyDeletesick leave in the National Probation Service is running at an average of 12.3 days a year for each member of staff, directly costing £31.6 million.
One third of days lost were due to stress, costing £9.8 million.
Dissatisfaction, workload and a poor work/life balance can impact on sickness absence levels... But sickness absence itself increases burdens on other colleagues and fuels a vicious circle by creating more stress.
https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/the-management-of-staff-sickness-absence-in-the-national-probation-service/
https://data.justice.gov.uk/probation/additional/probation-staff-sickness
In 2022/23?
average working days lost per FTE staff = 12.7 days
Progress?
Here's a cracker from 2012
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nao.org.uk/reports/restructuring-of-the-national-offender-management-service/
The National Offender Management Service, an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Justice, faces substantial financial and operational challenges, including a vulnerability to unexpected changes in the prison population...
...The Agency has restructured its headquarters, reducing staff numbers by around 650 from around 2,400...
... The Agency relies on the probation profession to deliver reforms and to reduce costs, but there are some tensions in the relationship. The NAO found that the Agency has done much to ensure knowledge of probation is captured at its headquarters...
... The NAO...has recommended the Agency continue to engage with probation trusts to address their perception it lacks understanding of probation issues.
...The Agency’s responsibility for offenders means that its core business is managing risk. It has strong risk management mechanisms...
2022 HMPPS HQ Workforce - 4,191
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So access to public information is now being monitored & rationed by the govt.
If I'm found dead in a ditch, you know why : )
1708 a few distance line modules On breach and criminology that’s not a professional qualification it’s nonsense
ReplyDeleteanother can of worms waiting to spring open
ReplyDeletehttps://www.aol.co.uk/counsellor-harassed-mental-health-services-180607537.html
I’ve been a pso over 10 years. I applaud that colleagues in VLO have been regraded, I also hope that the pso role on a wider scale is regraded. I am completing risk assessments on the same format (oasys) as po colleagues and being subjected to the same oversight as the po colleagues without the same level of training.
ReplyDeleteIs the problem with probation external? Or are the biggest problems to be found within?
ReplyDeleteWhy does it exist?
'Getafix
The mandarins at MoJ must be laughing their heads off. They do not need to tear Probation apart as the staff will do it for them. All of this- PSO's are not valued or valuable, Pquips do not count.Only the qualification that I have counts is risible and destructive. Eat yourselves from within and MoJ will sweep away the crumbs. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall reading that heads of civil service are saying they need to get 'more for less' out of their staff! What does that actually mean? Feels like they are basically trying to.kill.us with stress. Would be interested to see some proper stats re sick leave in Civil Service in general.and amongst basic grade PO's and PSO's. I suspect it is skyrocketed and not even reached the peak yet.
ReplyDeletePqip
ReplyDeleteCan you be punitive and lack empathy
Can you breach
Can’t you string a sentence together
Do you read the daily mail and watch live island
Have you a degree in criminology from a former swimming pool now a uni
Do you tell the police if your offender drops a crisp packet
Three of the above you’ve passed
The trolling of decent staff on here is disgraceful shame on you. The excellent leaders must be shaking with glee, destroy yourself from within probation, then see what we rebuild…….
ReplyDeleteIt's not trolling what's that a woke word. The issues are the services we provider are gone. The broader mix of staff have no singular process ideology or common status . There is not a common qualification and the earlier staff have had professional roles and status eroded for monitoring. The police who we were once independent from now rule our vetting while their own officers murder rape abuse authority and blackmail. Several of their officers having more than a few affairs in our office already says all it needs to. We have several different pquips cqsw and dipsw in decline. Soon it will be the new team only and then this harking back will stop.
DeleteI'd rather be woke than asleep and ignorant.
DeleteI do take your point about apportioning blame to fellow colleagues, but I suspect that is symptomatic of an organisation that is being pulled in all sorts of directions and is being managed poorly. The culture and ethos of probation has shifted and it’s clear that the values many new staff hold are fundamentally different from staff appointed either before or during the old trust days. Unfortunately, that also includes racists, misogynists and morons. But let’s remember that some staff have always been like that, they just hid it better. Whilst I can understand the venting fury of many officers, it needs to be targeted at those who shoulder the responsibility for this mess. What I find remarkable is how many people appointed at a senior level display psychopathic traits. I recall reading a paper that argued certain psychological traits should preclude certain people from any access to power. If candidates were assessed and if necessary precluded from promotion we wouldn’t have such a number of self serving narcissists, who’s only claim to fame is being a bullying psychopath who should never have been given access to any power.
ReplyDelete18:00 this certainly resonates with my experience in the north east. At age 48 I am considered a troublesome dinosaur rather than a Probation Officer with 20 years plus experience and an unblemished career, because I speak out. It used to be called professional integrity.
ReplyDelete19:11 and we have experienced a newly qualified PO who experienced colleagues denounced as racist promoted.WTF. Welcome to the North East probation where long tongues rule and the senior managers squirm in delight as those tongues push deeper. PCLR should be a requirement!
ReplyDeleteIt's the blind leading the blind. That's the best description of todays service.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/probation-concerns-over-scrambler-yob-28509348
“ denounced as racist” 23:19, surely this was investigated?
ReplyDeleteWhat a luvverly world we live in - where Post Office throws SPMs under every passing bus; where the scramble to ban the most obscure knives is a political wet dream; where the ICJ Hague ruling about genocide in Gaza is dismissed by israel as "UN garbage"; where probation staff can't wait to take slices off each other as 1hmpps sit back, pocket bonuses & giggle until their seats are wet; where tories do as they please with scant regard for the uk population; where labour MPs in opposition are so desperate to be like the tories they are sponsored by netanyahu's genocidal chums; where the uk govt's explicit contempt for human life is exemplified by the failure to regard covid19 as a more serious virus than measles; where £billions of public money is wasted trying to cover up the £billions of public money gifted to tory chums; where war-mongers & arms dealers have better prospects than doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers....
ReplyDelete... where did humanity go wrong?
a world where a US state *legally* kills a man using nitrogen - "he struggled for two minutes after the hypoxia started, and was conscious for several minutes before dying, eventually, after 22 minutes;
Deletewhere many western govts decided to withdraw essential funding from a UN agency, but continue funding & arming a genocidal state;
& it continues to get worse
I am struggling to understand how these things keep happening when at every inquest the organisation responsible for any error has always managed to put new systems in place just in time for any inquiry. A quote from the North West Head of Operations “…since unification, there's been a lot of new staff coming into the organisation and regular reviews are undertaken within the probation service. Stressing the importance of home visits, he added these are being driven through the whole of the organisation." Whilst I’m not sure you can drive a home visit anywhere, its astonishing that no one asks why these “improvements “ where only addressed when something went wrong, and why inspections continue to identify significant shortcomings in the work of the modern probation service. Until the next case when more lessons will be learned etc etc etc
ReplyDeleteThe issue is right there. “Since unification, there’s been a lot of new staff coming into the organisation” - and a lot more both new and experienced staff leaving the service. The whole service is unstable, hence things keep going wrong, because all they’re focussed on is numbers. Targets, allocated cases, how many new recruits they have, nonsense statistics etc. Not whether or not staff are so overwhelmed or new and inexperienced that they’re breaking right before their eyes. The wheels keep falling off. It’s true of probation, the police, social services, and others. Public services across the board are broken. It’s almost as though Probation shouldn’t be allowed to call itself an ‘organisation’ because it’s so internally disorganised, nobody has a clue what’s happening anymore, so things continue to spiral. When a wheel falls off the bus, they replace it with a bicycle wheel and carry on regardless.
Deletetime of the Nottingham attacks
ReplyDeleteKiller Valdo Calocane was reported to police for attacking two people weeks before killing three people in Nottingham - but was not arrested.
The police were asked why he was not arrested and they said
We had a large deployment of speeding vans out. We had a lot of parking and bus lane tickets to write and collect money from. We had some staff off sick. We have officers in probation so we're not doing police work. Finally if we don't collect revenue from police activity we can't be bothered.
I'm not going to allow myself a chuckle at this post because it is so distressing for all the victims. The outrage that some of this is true of the police is the scandal.
DeleteSurely this is a failure to identify that this person should have been subject to MAPPA? MH or Police should have referred him in, did they even consider this? Or is he so similar to so many other MH cases that MAPPA management wasn’t even considered? Just one of many that are not supported by MH services? Yes police failings are evident, but the MH resourcing issues are well know as is the pressure on beds for MH assessment / treatment. Resources and austerity again…….
ReplyDeleteDid this get covered already?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/news/barrier-to-employment-lifted-for-thousands-of-ex-offenders
"custodial sentences of four years or more years for less serious crimes become ‘spent’ after a seven-year period of rehabilitation, as long as no further offence is committed.
Offenders who have committed serious sexual, violent, or terrorist offences are excluded from these changes to ensure this does not result in an increased risk to the public.
Stricter disclosure rules will continue to apply to jobs that involve working with vulnerable people, through standard and enhanced DBS checks."
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2023/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2023
No probation statistics in this publication
"As we transition from legacy systems to more modern data processing methods...July to September 2023 probation statistics has been postponed and will be published, alongside the statistics for October to December 2023, in April 2024."
Its a long-time practice that all govts use, i.e. they periodically change the format/methodologies so that statistics cannot be readily compared like-for-like, so they can fudge the numbers to suit their agenda & so they can lose uncomfortable figures, especially if there's an election in the offing.
https://www-mirror-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/prison-officers-train-contractors-forcing-31988192.amp?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17065132701028&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fuk-news%2Fprison-officers-train-contractors-forcing-31988192
ReplyDelete"Prison officers to train contractors in forcing asylum seekers onto planes
DeleteGovernment contractor Mitie, which runs immigration detention centres, is hiring “use of force instructors” to force asylum-seekers on to planes bound for Rwanda... Mitie’s instructors will work alongside NTRG, the Prison Service’s elite, anti-riot National Tactical Resource Group... Three aeroplane fuselages delivered to Cardington Airfield near Bedford in November are thought to be for the training... The Times said last week that the Home Office has a one-year contract for a hangar at Cardington."
No money for doctors, no money for ventilation in schools, no money for covid vaccinations, no money for anything except £millions for vile tory vanity projects.
Despite the being high profile currently the public will have no idea of the sheer level of danger they face due to the breakdown of current services, Police, Children's Services, Mental health services, youth services (even midwives now blowing the whistle) This is just tip of the iceberg and there will be many more deaths from knife crime related to either criminal grooming and county lines or people with grudges, mental health issues. Many people who are currently in need of MH section are left roaming the streets with psychosis because there are no bed spaces. Of course the majority will not go on to harm or murder but unfortunately some will and this will be catastrophic for those concerned.The public have a right to know just how serious the situation is and the collapse of some services. Children are not being adequately protected by Children's services who appear unable in many cases to provide sufficiently robust service. As for Probation, well we all know the current state of affairs. All these services need to be working well together in order to reduce harm but they are not and with some councils going bust I fear the sites only going to get worse.
ReplyDeleteSix months or so ago, the police announced they would no longer respond to mental health call outs, unless there was an imminent danger to someone or the person with the mental health problem was in the commission of a crime.
ReplyDeleteInstead of responding, they would alert the NHS and let them respond to the issue.
The reality of this approach is that people exhibiting mental health problems are often arrested for low level crimes like antisocial behaviour or public order offences and sucked into the CJS where they don't get the treatment they need and their condition just gets worse. They get processed as a prisoner or someone on probation when the primary focus should be on their mental health.
If people are being pushed through the CJS when the foundation of their offending behaviour is mental health issues, then it's hardly surprising that the number of SFOs , and the seriousness of those SFOs continue to grow.
You can't treat mental health issues with punishment.
'Getafix
It used to be big business!
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001pmbx
Anita Anand goes on the trail of another story from the recent past that’s fallen through the cracks of mainstream history. In this episode, she travels to Scotland to uncover a dark chapter in the history of care.
Lennox Castle Hospital was set up near Glasgow in the 1930s as a forward-thinking institution for the care of those with learning and other disabilities, but the victims of the hospital’s savage regime also included teenagers involved in petty larceny and young women who’d given birth outside marriage and had been labelled as prostitutes. As Anita discovers, patients were subjected to a strict and dehumanising regime, and to physical punishment for challenging behaviour or trying to escape.
With oral Historian Howard Mitchell as her guide, Anita takes a steep walk through the Campsie Fells to the ruined Lennox Castle whose remote location, Mitchell says, helped keep its patients shut away from mainstream society.
Howard has recorded many interviews with those who lived and worked at the hospital and even presented a series on the hospital’s history for the Open University. But, having worked as a nurse at Lennox Castle in the 1970s, the historian is also an invaluable first-hand witness, with insider knowledge of the brutality inflicted on the patients.
Today, many of the custodians of memory are either no longer with us or unable to be interviewed. But after the hospital closed in 2002, former ‘patients’ and families shared their memories for the Lennox Castle Stories Project and these are featured in this episode of History on the Edge. There is also the story of Patrick, who as a teenager was admitted to Lennox Castle because of his challenging behaviour and who spent years there, until his father successfully fought for him to be returned to mainstream society.
Anita also speaks to Dr Sam Smith, who helped re-settle Patrick and others and has since founded an organisation helping those with disabilities and challenges live in the outside world.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/agreement-to-support-mental-health-care-and-free-up-police-time
ReplyDelete'Getafix
Unless this blog gets back on track and tackles the existential threat of OneHMPpS then there is no future for it. There is a lot fiddling whilst what is left of Rome burns. The Probation Service ends in 2024 becoming part of the prison service. This is happening by stealth. Recruitment to probation has been feminised and experienced staff have been purged. What we are left with doesn’t deserve the name probation service. All of probations institutions are also crumbling and either starved of cash or being subsumed. HMPpS believes it has done enough to destroy probations separate identity. It will be assimilated and terms and conditions harmonised across the new organisation. Job roles will be aligned with prison jobs and wages will stagnate as there are moves to prevent those in probation roles to lose the right to strike - not that this is used effectively. If the Tories continue in powers this will certainly come to pass but if they do not then where is Labour’s radical plan to save probation.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I am currently incapacitated with an arthritic viral attack, so I'm afraid this will have to be on autopilot until I get over it.
ReplyDeletesorry to hear your news, jb; best wishes for a speedy recovery. x
DeleteGet well JB we need the blog you run and we need to bring back probation.
DeleteGet well soon mate.
Delete/ Probation Officer
Tough break. Wish you well soonest
DeleteInteresting blog post on probation and mental health looking at the problems it raises from a pan European perspective.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.penalreform.org/blog/the-role-of-probation-in-mental-health-support/
'Getafix
Unfortunately, it is not the job of the blog to save the probation service, merely to report on its demise and encourage readers to push those whose responsibility it is, to take action. (Any action, some action, even a press release or an indicator on respective websites that they are even aware of the crisis)
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for a speedy recovery Jim, this publication sustains me in that it enables me to see that individuals across the country are concerned and probably willing to fight if galvanised and organised centrally.
You are right but the spa}{]]\+ running Napo has ceased all challenges having collapsed under his pile of grossly overpaid salary for sitting at home . None of the officials or officers show any sign of activity.
Delete18:22 That is simply not true. You sound like an angry, frustrated armchair bound, embarrassing uncle who cannot quite find it in themselves to be constructive. Deeds not words. If you are a member, you will be getting regular updates. Negotiations are necessarily held in confidence but are taking place despite the employers acting in with impunity. . Please also separate the lacklustre failures of the General Secretary and his mostly useless acolytes and the elected officers of Napo who are also doing the day job. The GS is best off at home as you do not want him messing anything up. He was reelected by members, and so we have to put up with him for now. I have been impressed by recent leadership shown by the Chair of Napo Ben Cockburn, who is a solid trade unionist, but he has had to do a lot to catch up after years of failure to challenge the employers. Praise good work, remember probation values, and resist the temptation to rubbish everything.
DeleteMy respects to the chair good luck to him he will need all he can get. While Napo has that anchor round it's neck we remain sunk as a profession and a union. You need to reflect it was this so called re election that disqualified all others. It was an anointed new term and this clown has killed our terms given the silver away and Napo has no office just a mailbox . When he has spent his salary for another term of useless fat of the backs of our jobs its already too late. Poor Napo got this loser and he's laughing at us. If the new chair tackles his incompetence he will whine like a stuffed pig and frighten all the officer away . Napo once effective now laughable .
DeleteSending you best wishes for a speedy recovery Jim
ReplyDeleteTake care Jim and look after yourself, speedy recovery - Blogwen
ReplyDeleteSorry 😞 to hear you are unwell Jim. Wishing you a speedy recovery and thanks again for all your work on your blog.
ReplyDeleteJim, I wish you a speedy recovery. I don’t work for Probation no longer but still keep up to date through your blog.
ReplyDeleteYes me too, I retired a few years ago but relish the effort you've put into this blog! Get well soon.
ReplyDeleteRadio 4 tonight, weds 31/1/24 at 8pm
ReplyDeleteThe Purpose of Punishment
Moral Maze
The last week saw two contrasting examples of how societies treat killers. Valdo Calocane, who killed three people in Nottingham and tried to kill three more, avoided jail and was instead sent to a secure hospital for life because of his mental illness. One of the victim’s families protested that he “got away with murder”. Meanwhile in America, convicted murderer Kenneth Smith became the first person in the US to be executed using nitrogen gas.
Calocane’s charge was reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility because of his paranoid schizophrenia. The mother of one of his victims objected and complained that the families were not consulted. The Attorney General will be reviewing the sentence. It’s raised questions about what punishment is for: is it for criminals – to provide the suffering they deserve, or reform them or deter future offenders? Or is it for victims – providing retribution and a sense of fairness to them? Victims are uniquely placed to appreciate the true impact of crime, so shouldn't their perspective have a greater weight in the judicial process? Would a bigger role for victims improve or hinder justice? What’s the purpose of punishment and can it ever provide justice for the most serious offenders, and their victims?
Presenter: Michael Buerk
Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Assistant Producer: Linda Walker
Editor: Tim Pemberton
Some shocking findings by the IMB concerning the treatment of mentally ill prisoners.
ReplyDeleteIt should be very alarming for probation as they will all end up on probation supervision at some point.
How many future SFOs are currently in isolation in prisons?
https://insidetime.org/newsround/prisons-sending-mentally-ill-men-to-seg/
'Getafix
Probation supervision best chance of further criminalising people best avoided at all costs
ReplyDeleteI was a court probation officer for most of the 80s and 90s, when offenders were asked to consent to being placed on probation. Interestingly, some opted to be sent to prison for a year rather than spend two years on probation. They knew that once they had done their time, they were then free to get on with their lives. That is not the case now with post sentence supervision. This is an albatross around the neck of many practitioners and generates a lot of unwelcome admin work. What lunatic thought that was a good idea? It really does set people up for failure and needs to be dropped. Huge drain on resources with little benefit. Also, I was thinking the other day about volunteers. Probation in many areas used volunteers to support clients with resettlement. I know this awful government wants to be seen as tough on those who commit crime (unless they are members of their cabinet or give them cash for their election campaign) but why not involve the community by establishing a local volunteer probation service that would do much of the support work that the newly qualified wet behind the ears probation officers are too busy to do. Also, lower the bar a little for Unpaid Work Supervisors. There are many people who are released from prison who could do that role, or indeed drug and alcohol counselling roles or employment, benefits advice or and housing advisor roles. Surely the money would be best spent there rather than on more layers of management. The probation service could be rebuilt as a local service from the grassroots. Of course the naysayers will say it's all gone to hell in a handcart, but that is because we let it happen and so if we pitch in and do our bit we can turn things around.
Delete