Friday's Napo mailout to members reminded me about this:-
Why are you receiving this communication?
As explained in the mail out that we sent you last Friday (17th May), Napo is launching a consultative ballot to all of our members working in Probation (England and Wales). We are doing so on the basis of the refusal of the Probation Service to re-open the current 3 year pay award and the inadequate progress to address the current workload crisis.
What are we asking you to do?
In view of the above your union is asking you to indicate whether you would be prepared to take future action which may include industrial action, to put pressure on the Probation Service to enter into pay negotiations and to take immediate steps to offer some relief from the chaotic workloads being faced by staff at all grades. This consultative exercise is not a formal ballot for such a step, and any action in the future would be determined in consultation with your National Executive Committee (NEC) and would follow a formal postal ballot of all full members at a later date. UNISON and GMB/SCOOP are also consulting with their members.
Why are we in this situation?
Around a year ago, the three probation unions, including UNISON and GMB/SCOOP, submitted a claim to re-open the current 3-year pay award to secure more pay for you and your colleagues. We did this in response to the worsening cost of living crisis. In April this year, HMPPS finally confirmed that it was refusing to re-open the pay award. Since then, we have seen even more pressure heaped on our members because of this Government’s mismanagement of the criminal justice system, for example the dangerous and flawed End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) scheme. Moreover, there has been no recognition of this by Ministers while huge amounts of money can be found for the Prison estate. Just this week we have seen figures showing the disparity in the numbers of staff employed in the prison system compared to Probation.
This, along with the number of disputes that have already been lodged with the employer by the unions (for example on the implementation of the ‘One HMPPS’ project), along with the lack of meaningful progress on the ‘Probation Reset’ plans, are the key reasons for us being in this position. It is the union’s belief that workload relief, in some form, must be extended to all Probation Service staff and not only restricted to one function or a limited group of staff. Accordingly, Napo were party to a joint submission to HMPPS (see JTUS 12) which set out a series of measures that we believe were both realistic and effective, though at this point no progress has been made on these proposals.
What do I need to do next?
For security reasons you must be registered on the Napo website to take part in the consultative ballot, as the ballot will only be accessible if you are logged in to the website. If you have not already registered on the Napo website then please do so here. You will need your membership number which has been sent directly to members.
It’s vitally important that in addition to taking part in the consultative ballot that our membership database accurately includes your Job Title and Workplace address. Many members have assisted us already by checking their details online and submitting these to our membership section. It only takes a couple of minutes, and you can easily do this by logging into the Napo website here and then choosing the “Edit Profile” option.
Or you can also ensure we have your up-to-date work details by sending an email from your work email address to membership@napo.org.uk, confirming that the details in your email signature are current. If you use Probation Practitioner in your email signature, please identify whether you are a PO or PSO in your email.
How to vote
You will be able to access the consultative ballot question via a digital voting link here https://www.napo.org.uk/enough-is-enough-ballot . Please do not under any circumstances forward the voting e-mail, or link, to other Napo members or non-members.
The question will ask:
‘In view of the trade dispute submitted on behalf of Napo members to HMPPS on pay and workloads, I would be prepared to consider action and possible industrial action in furtherance of Napo’s objectives.’
*Please note this is not a ballot for action or industrial action of any kind. Such developments would only follow from a second statutory ballot should a decision be taken by the National Executive Committee to proceed to this stage.
There will also be some on-line meetings for Napo members during the consultative ballot, please see below for details. Please also look out for further information once the ballot has opened and try to attend one of these events. Also, please encourage any colleagues who are not yet in a union to join Napo.
The ballot will open on Thursday 23rd May and close at Noon on Monday 24th June so please do all you can to vote and encourage other members to do the same.
The following two meetings will be open to members and non-members; please encourage colleagues to attend, whether they are members or not, but remember to vote in the consultative ballot they will need to join Napo (https://www.napo.org.uk/content/join-us).
Meeting 3 Wednesday 12th June – 12.30 – 13.30pm
Meeting 4 – for members only: Tuesday 18th June – 1-2pm
Further information about the ballot will be made available via Branch Membership Secretaries once the ballot has opened for any members who may not have received the e-mail with the voting link. Please read the included documentation carefully and vote ‘Yes’ to the question.
Ian Lawrence - General Secretary
Ben Cockburn - Acting National Chair
--oo00oo--
From Friday's mailout:-
What members are telling us:
At yesterday’s very well attended and highly encouraging members meeting, the enthusiasm for this campaign was very evident. Here, many members indicated their support for the ‘enough is enough’ position that Napo has taken over your treatment by the employer.
We stand ready to have meaningful negotiations that will offer some solutions, but despite numerous requests we still await an urgent meeting with the Secretary of State. Disappointingly, we have just learned that in the last week, urgent engagement has taken place between the Lord Chancellor and the Prison unions, which clearly demonstrates precisely where this government’s priorities lie.
How you can help the campaign:
At yesterday’s very well attended and highly encouraging members meeting, the enthusiasm for this campaign was very evident. Here, many members indicated their support for the ‘enough is enough’ position that Napo has taken over your treatment by the employer.
We stand ready to have meaningful negotiations that will offer some solutions, but despite numerous requests we still await an urgent meeting with the Secretary of State. Disappointingly, we have just learned that in the last week, urgent engagement has taken place between the Lord Chancellor and the Prison unions, which clearly demonstrates precisely where this government’s priorities lie.
How you can help the campaign:
- Ensure that you vote ‘yes’ in the consultative ballot! Instructions on how to vote are available here
- Please take the opportunity to contact all prospective Parliamentary candidates in your constituency seeking their support in respect of the problems that you are facing. When doing so please reference that you are a member of Napo
- Engage with your colleagues who are Napo members to encourage them to also vote in the consultative ballot.
- Speak with colleagues who are not in a trade union and ask them to consider joining Napo, so that they can have their say on the issues that impact on all staff. Please share the following link https://www.napo.org.uk/content/join-us and see further details below about our Recruit a Friend Scheme.
Napo stand ready. Napo just stand around they mean .Napo has clearly got this wrong as the employer closed a 3 year pay deal that was agreed I recall Napo offering no direction on the miserly deal they then waived it in. Why would anyone reopen a done deal.
ReplyDeleteNapo are using this to try a recruitment drive. In this climate of a new government potentially coming Napo should be spending it's time focusing on what the new government needs to do for probation than inherit some ongoing faux indicative ballot. Napo won't publish the numbers as it has so diminished it's members for being useless. It is a real tragedy that omic offered pos a new interest and so many jumped to jails because oasys ran us ragged. Now we are further weakened.
Get your vote in, if not because of the pile of increased work thrown probations way, but because of the service we offer those who we work with are being totally undermined and useless. I am fundamentally sick and tired of being told by senior leaders that sitting at my laptop is ok and the expectation. I want to work with people, help to make a difference.
ReplyDeleteFor those who knock the TUs, they are not perfect and could do more, however they are only as strong as their membership. If you do nothing or are not prepared to stand up for what’s right, they can’t do anything and nothing will change.
The Napo union at every stage have ignored it's members gone along with management. Depleted it's members base and has not an office or meeting room to it's name. Sold it's premises rented a suite in pcs and now has a postal address. There is no campaign strategy. No reporting on real or planned action. The officials have grand titles but zero function. Mr Lawrence has presided over Napo decline to being seen as redundant. There will be no major breakthrough or developments under the purdah period. Any new government won't want to hear this whining they might want assistance with a strategy. However napos failure is that it is not a real union. It is not affiliated to labour. Napo postures but cannot deliver and the truth of this simple fact is the employers absolute understanding . They won't shift.
DeleteIndeed
DeleteI love the line ' union is only as good as its members' which is bang on.. however, if both the main probation unions do very little for many years to recruit new members then that line falls apart.
ReplyDeleteAn example...the unions used to be in attendance at inductions for new staff.. not only are the unions now not there, neither are
inductions, being held ( which is a legal requirement)
It would be a good starting point to get back on track . Inform employer that Inductions must be held under HSAWA 1974 ( health and safety at work act) and more specifically management regs 1999 and inform them unions will exercise their right to be in attendance by sending a rep.
No rep, no induction, they would shit themselves.
What Inductions?? Myself, nor other colleagues have had the benefit of an Induction. It’s beyond a joke now. We all go floundering around trying to find out things for ourselves and then get differing answers dependent on who you ask.
DeleteNo inductions = H and S breach as it is mandatory for all civil servants. This is management failure AGAIN, it is clear responsibility of managers. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5acb4d0540f0b64ff0e69333/Health_and_Safety_Induction_Checklist.doc
DeleteThe POA are now saying that if things don't get better very soon the government can "stick their 30 year strike ban up their a***", and they will ballot membership for strike action.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1906345/Prisons-full-5-weeks-POA-boss-strikes-violence-against-officers?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button&user+identifier=1*40kbgb*cid*OFZmQlVibnlpQzRVS1h2SmdLTU5EX3hlVGd1ODFaNmRzWTBYQWJpQnhoQXJ3TWRYeDVfRFl3dVIzZW44al85Qw..#amp-readmore-target
'Getafix
Hopefully the MoJ Civil Servant monitoring social media including this blog, will assist her superiors to read the runes! Perhaps like King Theoden’s awakening is coming to us all…..yup I know I’ve mixed my metaphors but you hopefully take my point?
ReplyDeletePO
I can't even find the section to vote! I followed the link, logged in and it's nowhere on the NAPO website. You'd have thought it would be front and centre of the main page...
ReplyDeleteThat's better than last time when a member had to point out there was nothing stopping people voting more than once.
DeleteNAPO are trying to be seen to be doing something. When even the remaining membership fails to support industrial action this time the Union can at least lay the blame at the wholly apathetic workforce where it belongs.
ReplyDeleteI was dismayed when the membership voted through the last risable pay offer, mostly in part to Rees' threat to cap the deal at 2% if rejected. I am not surprised the government have refused to open the pay deal; it was agreed, signed, sealed and delivered. The Unions should start looking to the next pay deal.
DeleteThe last pay award was fine and talk of reopening it is nonsense. NAPO has always favoured band 4 POs and the offer was a significant one that, realistically, wasn't going to be bettered. The entirety of public service is undervalued and underpaid but we, at band 4, aren't being outstripped by comparators and refusing that deal would have done nothing. The fact bands 2/3 are so poorly catered for is symptomatic of wider systemic undervaluing of public facing roles.
DeleteNAPO should be focussing on our the undermining of our profession, the dangerous workloads and, yes, the next pay award.
We in management are pleased to read po band 4 are satisfied at the pay deal. After all you were properly consulted and your union agreed the offer put to you. We also agreed a 3 year term to provide both planning inflation rises on budget and assurance that you had some forward assurance you could see pay rise in service. We are concerned your unions have renegade on the substantive agreement and seek to make pay a negotiation point. Clearly there is an outstanding agreement and we cannot revisit this until it lapses. However the unions are free to offer any suggestions on workloads and other matters. For the moment we are engaging on new working practices in reform. We want to see integration efficiencies and community supervision increases as we support prison early release. This does not require more pay. It is more a restructure of the com and more throughput from the pom. It would be misleading to suggest anything else is in the table and pay issues are closed until the next round of talks to be scheduled. Unfortunately we at gold team are picking up the chatter of pay talks and want to ensure you our staff are not constantly misled by unions talking . There is an unhelpful agitation encouraging staff to talk of ballot for action. Combined with pay as a motivation for a negative ballot . We have no problems with staff in unions taking a sounding however there has been no proper dialogue to ourselves to see what genuine grievances your union have nor has there been any formal indication of a shopping list to start any considerations for response. The management expect staff to manage any concerns individually through your line managers and help us gauge the real level of internal issues which may need prioritising. Should there be any further assistance we can offer this will come via your team briefings in the meantime we hope you keep up your best efforts despite the morale defeating indicative balloting proposals. This is unhelpful at this time and naive as the general election approaches. We expect business as usual YT leadership team.
DeleteQuite right: "we in management" can't have plebeians getting above their station. We've worked hard to keep those irritating little people in their place; hungry, distracted by poverty & overwhelmed in the workplace.
DeleteWe, the 1%, the self-proclaimed 'elite', will continue to do as we please of course. We will protect our valued chumocracy & obscene wealth as best we can by promoting acolytes & blinkered egotistical wannabes into key positions; they will swat away the plebeians' petty grievances while we expedite our lust for power & money at any cost.
For example:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd11j09q2llo
"A British bank that escaped prosecution for money laundering carried out billions of dollars of transactions for funders of terrorist groups... The bank has twice admitted breaching sanctions against Iran and other countries - first in 2012 and then in 2019 - paying fines totalling more than $1.7bn... But in September 2012, George Osborne, then chancellor in Lord Cameron’s government, secretly intervened on the bank’s behalf. Three months later, the US Department of Justice decided not to prosecute the bank.
New documents filed to a New York court claim thousands of transactions worth more than $100bn were carried out by the bank from 2008 to 2013 in breach of sanctions against Iran."
* The term plebeian referred to all free Roman citizens who were not members of the patrician, senatorial or equestrian classes. Working class heroes. Plebeians were average working citizens of Rome – farmers, bakers, builders or craftsmen – who worked hard to support their families and pay their taxes.
Punitive not very bright , first job think it’s ok to be treated like dirt , 20 something criminology graduates don’t make good union members that’s the rub
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1ww6vz1l81o
ReplyDeletewho'd have thought it?
Young voters in key election battlegrounds are being recommended fake AI-generated videos featuring party leaders, misinformation, and clips littered with abusive comments, the BBC has found.
DeleteWith TikTok emerging as a new social media battleground in this election, the political parties have begun a war of memes on the app in a bid to reach its audience of young voters.
But a BBC project to investigate the content promoted by social media algorithms has found - alongside funny montages - young people on TikTok are being exposed to misleading and divisive content. It is being shared by everyone from students and political activists to comedians and anonymous bot-like accounts.
Videos which have racked up hundreds of thousands of views have promoted unfounded rumours that a major scandal prompted Rishi Sunak to call an early election and the baseless claim that Sir Keir Starmer was responsible for the failure to prosecute serial paedophile Jimmy Savile.
Satirical, fake AI-generated clips show Rishi Sunak declaring, “Please don’t vote us out, we would be proper gutted!” and making unevidenced claims about how the Conservative leader is spending public money - including how he will send his “mates loads of dosh”.
The prison governors association say the only answer to the overcrowding crisis (and a way to prevent another Strangeways) is to release prisoners after 40% served instead of the current 50% mark.
DeleteWith the POA threatening to ignore the ban on strike action for prison officers, I wonder if 40% might be given serious consideration?
https://insidetime.org/newsround/governors-say-overcrowding-is-as-bad-as-strangeways/
'Getafix
And ever so slightly they keep chipping away and moving the goalposts. It's a complete disgrace. 70 days, 50%... tomorrow who knows? Their incompetence, their ineptitude and our punishment, our increased stress and no one speaks for community probation. Dismal on all fronts.
DeleteA quick trip down memory lane:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agAw9vsyErk
861 views 2 Feb 2023 Life After Prison
Usually on The Sit Down, we speak to someone who has been inside themselves or is close to someone who has. This episode is a little bit different, as we sit down with the outgoing Chief Probation Officer Sonia Flynn. The CPO is responsible for 18,000 probation workers across England and Wales – a role that Sonia has held since 2017. Here she reflects on her time on the role, answers questions about recall and MAPPA and tells us what she thinks needs to change.
So who can follow crozier/flynn?
https://www.gov.uk/government/people/kim-thornden-edwards
Kim qualified as a Probation Officer in Kent in 1996 and has spent her career in and around probation and criminal justice. She has held senior operational positions, including Head of Operations in Greater Manchester CRC and Chief Executive of Hampshire CRC... Kim was the Managing Director of Interserve Justice, a private sector provider delivering a range of government contracts for Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) and prison industries... Kim joined the Civil Service in June 2021 to work within the Probation Workforce Programme, taking on the role of Programme Director in November of the same year...
... Has anyone heard from the Chief Probation Officer for England and Wales, a senior leader at Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service?
There was this last year:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65168181
"The new head of the probation service in England and Wales has told BBC News that more men are needed in the profession.
Kim Thornden-Edwards said it would help to bring a male perspective in some cases involving violent offenders, including cases of domestic abuse.
Its workforce has been 'stuck' at 75% women for 30 years, she added."
Jumping back into the time machine...
"A total of 47 CPOs (out of a possible 54) were interviewed between 1 November 2000 and 30 June 2002 using a loosely structured questionnaire."
http://doc.ukdataservice.ac.uk/doc/4953/mrdoc/pdf/4953userguide.pdf
"A major study of CPOs is especially timely, therefore, because of the general absence of previous work on criminal justice elites [sic] because of the peculiar pressures currently facing the probation service, and because of the enormous emphasis now placed on managerialism/management."
They haven't got a fucking clue.
DeleteKTE at a committee hearing in Jan '24 accompanied by the well-known Alice Adamson, Deputy Director Rehabilitation Strategy and interventions at HMPPS (Q.s 76 onwards):
https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/14113/pdf/
Q76 Carolyn Harris: Thank you, Chair. Good morning. In September last year, the then chief inspector of probation described the probation service as “struggling,” and the Ministry of Justice is reported as describing your staffing levels as “dangerously low.” Is the probation service able to effectively prevent perpetrators of VAWG from escalating their behaviour?
KTE: ... In 2021, because of problems with the contracts and the quality of services delivered, the service was reunified. This is a major organisational change for probation. We had a proliferation of different operating models in terms of service delivery, and we inherited significant staffing shortfalls from the community rehabilitation companies... That then stabilised, and now it is on an uptick. We have growth both through recruitment and through stabilising retention...
Q78 Carolyn Harris: When do you envisage you will be at the point where you are confident you are able to deliver an effective service?
KTE: It is iterative and incremental, and it is very difficult to put an end-point on it.
Q80 Carolyn Harris: What is the current reoffending rate of perpetrators of VAWG in probation?
Alice Adamson: I do not know that we have that data.
Kim Thornden-Edwards: No, I do not think we have that data to hand. We know the general reoffending rates, but we can certainly go away and provide that information if we have that very specifically.
And in Feb '24:
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/43567/documents/216436/default/
"Most offence descriptions do not identify victim demographics and since VAWG can take the form of such a broad range of offending, in many cases, it is not possible to uniquely identify a VAWG offence or reoffence..."
Meanwhile, back at the committee:
Q94 Bell Ribeiro-Addy: Alice, do you think there is anything in the Sentencing Bill that needs to change to make sure the probation service is ready for it, or would you want to see it amended in any other way?
KTE: We have been consistently clear that the probation service is not currently in a position to absorb lots of additional demand without us taking a serious look at what we deliver, the way we deliver it and what kinds of resources would be needed, and that is the piece of work that is under way.
Q95 Bell Ribeiro-Addy: That brings me nicely to my next question. Kim, in October, the Secretary of State for Justice said there will be, “A presumption that custodial sentences of less than 12 months in prison will be suspended and offenders will be punished in the community instead.” What does that mean in practice for the probation service?
KTE: We are working that out. If I am being completely honest, we are working out what that would look like..."
Deleteiterative
adjective
: involving repetition: such as
a: expressing repetition of a verbal action
b: utilizing the repetition of a sequence of operations or procedures.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results” – Albert Einstein
Kim Thornton Edward’s had nothing useful to say last week and was clearly scared of comments or questions
ReplyDeleteHow solidarity & an active union can work wonders:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjkkl4zylp8o
Initial strike action scheduled to begin on 29 May was called off to allow for the workers to be balloted.
Amcor, which manufactures flexible packaging for Walkers crisps and Kellogg's cereal, thanked workers for uninterrupted service during the discussions.
The workers voted to accept a a 7% pay increase backdated to October 2023 and a £500 one-off payment.
A 6% pay rise was previously offered, prompting the announcement of strikes.
In total, the deal is worth between 8-9% depending on pay grade, Unite said.
The union's general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Amcor’s workforce secured this deal by standing together in their union and refusing to back down."