Union warns of probation officer shortage ahead of prisoners’ early releases
Up to 2,000 offenders due to be freed in England and Wales in September after serving 40% of sentence
Ministers will struggle to prepare for next month’s early release of thousands of prisoners, a union has warned, after the latest figures showed a drop in the number of probation officers.
Ministry of Justice data shows there were 178 fewer probation officers over the last quarter, as the service gets ready to monitor another 5,500 prisoners released over the next year despite deepening concerns over increased workloads for staff.
Up to 2,000 prisoners are expected to be released in the second week of September as part of an early release scheme, called SDS40, which will allow many prisoners to walk from prison after serving 40% of their sentences.
A second tranche of up to 1,700 prisoners, all jailed for more than five years, are expected to be freed in late October after the law was changed by the lord chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, to relieve pressure on overcrowded prisons.
A senior official from Napo, the probation officers’ union, said its members were trying to prepare for the early release scheme but the government was unable to maintain staffing levels, let alone recruit more, as required.
“At a time when probation is under even more pressure from workloads in preparation for the SDS40 early release scheme, we now see a drop in staffing numbers. HMPPS [HM Prison and Probation Service] needs to understand why people are leaving, and this will include pay. The crisis in our justice system is a result of years of cuts and the government must take urgent action to invest in the whole system,” Tania Bassett, a Napo national official, said.
According to Bassett, SDS40 requires probation staff to carry out extensive pre-release work. This includes reviewing risk assessments, making referrals to accommodation including probation hostels, carrying out home visits, coordinating with victim liaison officers and domestic abuse support officers and developing robust multi-agency safeguarding plans.
“Doing this work at a time when many staff are on annual leave has put enormous pressure on probation staff. HM Prison and Probation Service has been telling unions that probation will be fully staffed since 2014,” she said.
MoJ figures show there were 5,160 full-time band 4 probation officers in post in June 2024, which is a decrease of 178 compared with March 2024.
Martin Jones, the chief inspector of probation in England and Wales, told the Guardian in July that the current probation model was “not sustainable” and suggested ministers should free up capacity by no longer asking probation officers to monitor 40,000 people released from prison after short custodial sentences for crimes such as shoplifting.
As part of an overview of the probation system, which manages more than 240,000 offenders a year, Jones said each of the service’s 12 regions in England and Wales were already struggling to cope with the number of cases. More than 95% of probation delivery units examined by the watchdog were falling below the standards set for good practice, he said.
The way that offenders are monitored in the community has come under intense scrutiny since the murder of Zara Aleena, a law graduate, in east London in 2022. Her killer, Jordan McSweeney, who had a long history of misogynistic and racially aggravated incidents, should have been seen by probation officers as a high-risk offender and recalled to prison after missing appointments. Instead, he was incorrectly assessed as being of medium risk and remained free to attack Aleena.
That case followed the exposure of failings by the probation service before Damien Bendall murdered three children and his pregnant partner in Derbyshire in 2021.
On Monday, the government said it would launch Operation Early Dawn, a longstanding plan that means defendants waiting for a court appearance can be held in police cells for longer until prison space is available. The emergency scheme has been announced as hundreds of rioters are jailed in the wake of unrest this summer.
The director of public prosecutions has said the criminal justice system requires “considerable investment” as the jailed rioters continue to put pressure on overcrowded prisons.
In a piece for the Times, Stephen Parkinson defended the “brisk” nature of the disorder prosecutions, saying cases such as rape and domestic violence take longer to build and are more “complex”.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We inherited a prison system in crisis and have taken difficult but necessary action to make sure we can keep locking up dangerous criminals and protect the public, and since then the Probation Service has been planning for these releases.
“Everyone released will be strictly monitored, face tough licence conditions like electronic tagging and curfews and could be recalled to prison if they breach licence conditions.”
--oo00oo--
Of course building more prisons is not the sustainable answer to the prison crisis. This from the Guardian last week:-
Labour urged to scrap £4bn Tory mega-jails plan and fund rehabilitation
Exclusive: Former chief inspector of prisons Nick Hardwick says money would be better spent preventing crime
Ministers should scrap Conservative plans to build new mega-jails and pour £4bn into the prevention of crime and rehabilitation instead, the former chief inspector of prisons has said.
Nick Hardwick, who is also a former head of the Parole Board, said a huge expansion of the prison system would not solve the problem, especially when average custodial sentences are rising.
Keir Starmer inherited a crisis in the prisons system when he took office, and blamed the previous government for letting prisons operate at 99% capacity for 18 months with a net number of 100 prisoners added every week. He announced an expansion of the Tory scheme of releasing tens of thousands of inmates early to try to prevent jails becoming full.
On top of the early release scheme, Labour has suggested it will keep the Conservatives’ plan to expand the prison system by at least 14,000 places in England and Wales, up from about 89,000 now, including six new prisons, at a cost of £4bn. Planned “super-prisons” in Lancashire, Leicestershire and Buckinghamshire have been hit by delays.
Pressure on prisons has only increased with riots across England this month leading to more than 1,000 arrests. But, in an interview with the Guardian, Hardwick said hugely expanding the prison system was not the solution and that the current size of the incarcerated population was unsustainable.
“The basic problem is that people are coming into the system faster than they are going out. If you think of it like a bath, the bath is overflowing and water is still coming in,” he said.
“The strategy has been up until now – and what Labour is continuing to do – is bail out the bath … That will certainly buy them some time. But it doesn’t solve the problem completely. The system is set to continue to increase.
“Labour have said they were going to spend billions, literally billions, on new prisons. But if they bought themselves a bit of time, would it be better to reinvest that money in trying to stop people going into prison in the first place – working in schools, in health, in mental health?
“You could ask people: do you want people to go to prison for a few months longer at a cost of billions of pounds, or spend that money on hospitals and schools?”
Hardwick said he thought prison was “right for those involved in the riots, and the speed at which this was done – in contrast to how the system usually works – will be a deterrent”.
But he added: “I think the system will cope until [the end of] August provided there are no more crises but in the longer term the current prison population is unsustainable without billions being spent. And even then I don’t think the new places can be delivered in time to deal with the sustained upward pressure in the population.”
Hardwick was chief inspector of prisons from 2010 to 2016 and then head of the Parole Board until 2018. He quit the Parole Board after judges overturned the release of the rapist John Worboys, though Hardwick played no role in the decision.
Hardwick, who was a professor of criminal justice at Royal Holloway, University of London, until last month, said the policy of building more big jails would simply mean prisoners spending a few extra months inside, which was unlikely to act as a deterrent to crime:
“I don’t think it’s a good way to spend money to build big new prisons. We are spending billions on an untested model that we don’t know works. We’ve not run prisons of this size before.
“Even if in the longer run they work, by the nature of these prisons they will have new, inexperienced staff, so you are going to have real problems in some of them, I think. You might want to replace some of the crumbling Victorian ruins. But I think they need to think very carefully about whether they want to invest at this level given how short of money they are and put that money somewhere else.”
The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, told the Telegraph in an interview before the election that Labour would build more prisons by prioritising them in the planning system. However, Labour’s manifesto did not commit to a specific number of new prisons or amount of prison places.
Starmer’s government has said solving the prisons crisis is a priority, and appointed James Timpson, a businessman who employs former prisoners, to the role of justice minister. Timpson has previously said that he thinks prison does not work for many people, and that only a third of inmates should really be there.
Victims’ groups have raised concerns about plans to release some prisoners after 40% of their sentences, but Hardwick said this would allow some suspects who are on bail and yet to be convicted to be sentenced and off the streets sooner.
“Mistakes will be made. I’m sure about that, because you’re talking about big numbers and some people will reoffend,” he said. “They will reoffend a bit sooner than they would otherwise have reoffended. But if we leave the system as it is we have no possibility of addressing their behaviour.
“And we are in a position now where, because the prison system is full, you have people on bail accused of domestic violence – who might be innocent – but if they’re guilty we can’t process them quickly enough to reduce the threat because of the problems in the system.
“You have victims waiting for years for the trial and to know what will happen. They can’t sort the backlog unless they sort the prison population out.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “This government is committed to addressing the crisis in our prisons, and ensuring our jails make better citizens, not better criminals.
“That has started with the emergency capacity measures introduced by the lord chancellor last month, and we will set out a 10-year strategy for prison supply later this year. We will also introduce a new focus on driving down reoffending, linking up prison governors with local employers to break the cycle of crime.”
Labour urged to scrap £4bn Tory mega-jails plan and fund rehabilitation
Exclusive: Former chief inspector of prisons Nick Hardwick says money would be better spent preventing crime
Ministers should scrap Conservative plans to build new mega-jails and pour £4bn into the prevention of crime and rehabilitation instead, the former chief inspector of prisons has said.
Nick Hardwick, who is also a former head of the Parole Board, said a huge expansion of the prison system would not solve the problem, especially when average custodial sentences are rising.
Keir Starmer inherited a crisis in the prisons system when he took office, and blamed the previous government for letting prisons operate at 99% capacity for 18 months with a net number of 100 prisoners added every week. He announced an expansion of the Tory scheme of releasing tens of thousands of inmates early to try to prevent jails becoming full.
On top of the early release scheme, Labour has suggested it will keep the Conservatives’ plan to expand the prison system by at least 14,000 places in England and Wales, up from about 89,000 now, including six new prisons, at a cost of £4bn. Planned “super-prisons” in Lancashire, Leicestershire and Buckinghamshire have been hit by delays.
Pressure on prisons has only increased with riots across England this month leading to more than 1,000 arrests. But, in an interview with the Guardian, Hardwick said hugely expanding the prison system was not the solution and that the current size of the incarcerated population was unsustainable.
“The basic problem is that people are coming into the system faster than they are going out. If you think of it like a bath, the bath is overflowing and water is still coming in,” he said.
“The strategy has been up until now – and what Labour is continuing to do – is bail out the bath … That will certainly buy them some time. But it doesn’t solve the problem completely. The system is set to continue to increase.
“Labour have said they were going to spend billions, literally billions, on new prisons. But if they bought themselves a bit of time, would it be better to reinvest that money in trying to stop people going into prison in the first place – working in schools, in health, in mental health?
“You could ask people: do you want people to go to prison for a few months longer at a cost of billions of pounds, or spend that money on hospitals and schools?”
Hardwick said he thought prison was “right for those involved in the riots, and the speed at which this was done – in contrast to how the system usually works – will be a deterrent”.
But he added: “I think the system will cope until [the end of] August provided there are no more crises but in the longer term the current prison population is unsustainable without billions being spent. And even then I don’t think the new places can be delivered in time to deal with the sustained upward pressure in the population.”
Hardwick was chief inspector of prisons from 2010 to 2016 and then head of the Parole Board until 2018. He quit the Parole Board after judges overturned the release of the rapist John Worboys, though Hardwick played no role in the decision.
Hardwick, who was a professor of criminal justice at Royal Holloway, University of London, until last month, said the policy of building more big jails would simply mean prisoners spending a few extra months inside, which was unlikely to act as a deterrent to crime:
“I don’t think it’s a good way to spend money to build big new prisons. We are spending billions on an untested model that we don’t know works. We’ve not run prisons of this size before.
“Even if in the longer run they work, by the nature of these prisons they will have new, inexperienced staff, so you are going to have real problems in some of them, I think. You might want to replace some of the crumbling Victorian ruins. But I think they need to think very carefully about whether they want to invest at this level given how short of money they are and put that money somewhere else.”
The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, told the Telegraph in an interview before the election that Labour would build more prisons by prioritising them in the planning system. However, Labour’s manifesto did not commit to a specific number of new prisons or amount of prison places.
Starmer’s government has said solving the prisons crisis is a priority, and appointed James Timpson, a businessman who employs former prisoners, to the role of justice minister. Timpson has previously said that he thinks prison does not work for many people, and that only a third of inmates should really be there.
Victims’ groups have raised concerns about plans to release some prisoners after 40% of their sentences, but Hardwick said this would allow some suspects who are on bail and yet to be convicted to be sentenced and off the streets sooner.
“Mistakes will be made. I’m sure about that, because you’re talking about big numbers and some people will reoffend,” he said. “They will reoffend a bit sooner than they would otherwise have reoffended. But if we leave the system as it is we have no possibility of addressing their behaviour.
“And we are in a position now where, because the prison system is full, you have people on bail accused of domestic violence – who might be innocent – but if they’re guilty we can’t process them quickly enough to reduce the threat because of the problems in the system.
“You have victims waiting for years for the trial and to know what will happen. They can’t sort the backlog unless they sort the prison population out.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “This government is committed to addressing the crisis in our prisons, and ensuring our jails make better citizens, not better criminals.
“That has started with the emergency capacity measures introduced by the lord chancellor last month, and we will set out a 10-year strategy for prison supply later this year. We will also introduce a new focus on driving down reoffending, linking up prison governors with local employers to break the cycle of crime.”
More work for probation! Nothing about sorting the pay, poor working conditions and toxic probation environment. Where’s the access to housing, healthcare and employment for all these releases? HMIP Inspectors just reported inadequate practices, lack of resources, racism, discrimination, and poor behaviour in probation. Prison Reform Trust say the prisons are just as bad!! The entire system needs to be better joined up or dismantled.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/media/press-releases/2024/08/bedfordshirepdu2024/
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/media/press-releases/2024/08/essexnorthpdu2024/
https://prisonreformtrust.org.uk/prison-service-is-neglecting-vital-race-and-equality-work/
What is the senior official from Napo, the probation officers’ union and the Ministry of Justice spokesperson doing about this?
Delete“limited evidence of service delivery was found during this inspection. Ultimately, the rehabilitation of people on probation and the quality of work to keep communities safe is being affected by these measures.
Inspectors were concerned that some staff reported feeling unsafe and had experienced racism, discrimination, and poor behaviour at their workplace.”
Shocking!
Delete“HM Inspectorate of Prisons has previously highlighted the scale of the challenge that remains in bridging radically different perceptions of the extent of racism in prisons. Black prisoners and staff described examples of persistent race discrimination in their prison, while white staff felt there was very little or none.”
Napo is toothless. When is probation joining the Civil Service pension scheme or getting that pay rise the prison staff got?
ReplyDeleteNapo commentary from a marginally inexperienced ex po and zero knowledge of today's job. Worthless.
DeleteHMPPS need to understand why people are leaving! Seriously? Have they ever asked people why they are leaving? No exit interviews just bye. They have never been interested and think employing more new recruits is the answer but it clearly isn't. Case management role is intolerable and I'm only still here because I managed to change role to get out of case management, which wasn't easy by the way. Colleagues are really struggling and I worry about their mental health.
ReplyDeleteWe asked for an exit interview for one of our leavers and HR business partner "forgot"
DeleteMore like they didn't want to record bad feedback. I do wonder what the actual hell they do cause it isn't support staff!
HR has never been about supporting staff- it supports managers and the business overall. Those that can't do work in HR- or human remains.
DeleteDoesn’t support managers either tbh
DeleteThey reduced the WMT of many of us behind our backs in readiness for SDS 40. When you have the opportunity to do this with a bit more consultation, notice and care, and you don't, you clearly don't care about your workforce. So don't complain or looked puzzled when staff chose to leave and don't do exit interviews by the door from which the horse has already bolted. SDS 40, like so much of HMPPS is for the benefit of the prison. not probation. Otherwise, the WMT overload would have been looked at on the basis of health, wellbeing and work/life balance and a lot sooner Also, if you're below 110% you can't claim overtime should you wish to. Now your WMT is low enough, you can all stop complaining about not having capacity and you can deal with SDS 40 like dutiful boys and girls. They really have little respect for the work we do.
ReplyDeleteWhat felt like a kick in the teeth to me was the announcement of new overtime pay (1.5x I believe), and then a mere few days after our WMT conveniently dropped by about 40% to below 120%. WMT has and always will be made up numbers to justify workload pressures, caseload allocation, and overtime pay without care for staff.
DeleteOur region did communicate the rationale for changes to the WMT in advance. I believe scoring methodology has not changed other than cases which are suspended and subject to reactive management which now attract less points to reflect the reduction in activity. It seems more PSO had suspended cases and saw greater reductions in WMT scores.
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpvy01jgnd2o
ReplyDeleteTrouble here.
Six men have been arrested after an inmate died at a prison in Leicestershire.
DeletePolice were called to HMP Fosse Way, in Tigers Way, Glen Parva, on Tuesday, after a 31-year-old man was found unresponsive in his cell.
The man's death is currently being treated as unexplained and inquiries are ongoing, Leicestershire Police said.
The arrested men remain in police custody, the force added.
The £286m Category C prison, which has space for 1,715 inmates, was first opened by the government in June 2023.
It replaced the former HMP Glen Parva which closed in 2017.
A spokesman for Serco, which manages the facility, said: "We can confirm that a 31-year-old man has died at Fosse Way prison.
"The matter is now being investigated by Leicestershire Police."
The design of HMP Fosse Way follows the blueprint of HMP Five Wells, which the Ministry of Justice said aimed to "boost security, rehabilitate offenders and protect by helping prisoners find work".
It includes X-shaped blocks, industry workshops and a variety of classrooms designed to train offenders.
Ah, good old/new privatised prisons. Maybe it'll go back to government control like Lowdham Grange did. They do what they like when they like especially when dealing with probation. It's probably another privatised prison that warehouses high risk inmates (our high risk assessment: prisons do their own risk assessments on a back of a napkin) but won't help with resettlement. Everything bubbles along until this happens, then everyone plays the blame game.
DeleteReduce prison sentences, increase community sentences, problem solved. Can’t see any government actually doing this. But if probation was allowed to be probation (pre 2013) it could actually work. A comment here a few weeks ago said every probation officer and probation manager trained after 2013 doesn’t actually know what probation is. It struck me that Probation 2013-2024 has been nothing but chaos, overwork, under resourcing, upheaval, and failure. Controlled by politicians and dictated to by parole boards, prisons, police and privateers. Impossible to learn or work in that and it shows!
ReplyDelete“Scrap short sentences, urges head of charity whose previous chairman is prisons minister”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/21/sentence-pia-sinha-lord-timpson-offenders-prison/
If a thousand new probation workers are recruited it might ease caseloads a little.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in reality it means there's a thousand new fresh faced enthusiastic people coming to the job to just keep doing the same old shit that doesn't serve anybody.
Probation needs it's purpose back. It's not just an agency that legitimises Government policies for early release.
'Getafix
It’ll still be a thousand people who don’t know what they’re doing and most will be gone in less than two years.
DeleteIf they recruit a thousand new, fresh faces, the old hands will have to train them up and do their own work too!
ReplyDeleteThere are no “old hands”! The decent ones left eons ago.
DeleteSays who? Oh, the old f@rts who left years ago, know nothing about the current role and are still hanging around like a bad smell..
ReplyDeleteI'm an old fart, the current role is just so much about hitting targets, covering the services ass, putting up with endless crisises, gathering data for people employed in non jobs to look at and to occasionally consider the offenders needs.
DeleteI'm happy we get new farts, every company needs new farts and many are excellent, my worry is just what does the government want us to be, we havent had a clue for 10 years ish, once we know that, people can decide whether it's the profession for them.
Until then, this old fart will continue to try to put the offenders needs as high up the priority list as possible and just nod when I'm threatened for missing perverse targets
However, the MoJ are desperate to get ‘the old farts ‘ back and have set up a recruitment campaign which eliminates all of the interview and assessment processes in order to facilitate this - albeit with very limited success.(I.e. almost none.)
ReplyDeleteMost of the decent longer term POs left and won’t return. Retired or prospering in new careers. Some of the POs left are truly awful. The worst became SPOs. The MoJ would do better to try to retain the POs they have.
DeleteOld fart and still here so 06.16, enjoy the waft as I continue to hang around 30 years post qualification.
ReplyDeleteHopefully you don’t. There’s one in our office, runs around as if he owns the place but falls apart when anything gets slightly difficult. Young or old shouldn’t matter and not all experience is good experience. It’s about time probation finds a way to reward and promote based on merit.
Delete3 and half decades done and out pre COVID. You are right too many old guard are and were absolutely useless and way too many management completely corrupt. Old cqsw types and on remained in posts managerial accounts business all total crap and aided in tr. Says it all change is needed in all directions .
DeleteAnon 03:04 Completely insulting as usual and thankfully I normally delete your 'contributions'. You know perfectly well I am CQSW qualified, but continually beat this boring and sweeping statement ad nauseum. It will encourage me to press delete on a more regular basis.
DeleteOld farts ran a service that was considered gold standard.
DeleteNow every inspection report returns an inadequate finding.
That's fact and can't to argue against, but I guess it's someone else's fault things are so crap now.
Of course it is a bit blunt and triggers me to drive some balance and recall for readers. While there are views that might think this we also know probation was different then. Staff were recruited with maturity and life experience . Staff were broad across the social strata. They had particular skills empathy non judgemental and deep sense of fairness .officers engaged people with good care to achieve some changes in behaviour through social contract.through loyalty building . By first name terms and befriending. Assisting them make significant achievements and to advise them. Office meetings phone calls and financial crisis support. During that time po activity was largely developing into a well supported home office separate directorate. Probation in prison were a welcome respected service with specialised expertise where people were well supported for release and in custody. Probation staff were on police council Social services secondments our influence and skill in our approach was accepted because probation had localised team knowledge in all areas. Geographically working particular territories and offending behaviours. We targeted need raised support from charities housing furniture clothing grants schemes. We provided security care and an ear. For those damage people gave confidence rebuilt esteem and positively rewarded their efforts. We have them time and space to grow while early needing to use threat of breach of recall. This just touches the vast difference of role from today's data input of monitoring threatening and breaches. Cases you do not know policy direction that we have no input. The jobs are not what current recruits could recognise. No Rose specs that was a significant mistake the old guard were part of cqsw walked into managerialism who brought probation to this current crisis. However the majority suffered the new staff will not have the benefit of home visits for support not monitoring. A coffee shop meeting and the genuine relationship change because our clients wanted to be successful with us. Before you write off what's been gone before just ask the new po structures wouldn't they really want to learn and prefer how to do this as was and get probation back.
Delete827 yes indeed gold it was and more. Motivated by positive evaluation and recognition . Probation reports today are full of faint praise for some but a failing service overall. If that is what the new staff want then they are well suited. Describing people as old farts being unable is unfair as these staff recall the day the job had value and made a difference. The new still have a lot to learn from the old ..
DeleteJust a point of clarification.
DeleteI posted a comment the other day that seems to have sparked a discussion that's at a tangent from what I originally intended.
It wasn't a comment about old and new or old and young. It was intended to be a comment about the system itself.
The system is broken and it matters not a jot who's recruited, young or old, if they are being recruited and trained just to keep doing the same old thing.
Retention is a huge issue for today's probation, so as more and more leave the service, the answer can't just be keep recruiting people to fill the gaps left to do the same old things that those that's left didn't want to do.
The current system doesn't recruit probation officers any more. It recruits parole officers, and there's very distinct differences between both roles, not least being pay differences.
The USA has for many years has recognised that separation of roles, and I'd urge people to look up how those differences are defined and then consider which definition most closely resembles their own current role.
Maybe that separation of agencies needs to happen here in the UK, but the system itself has to change, it can't just continue to be a target driven production line.
'Getafix
Maturity is a thing of the past. Now probation officers are recruited at 18 years old with an A Level or NVQ Level 3. Meaning with have “practitioners” that probably don’t do their own washing and cooking, some never lived independently, had a job or relationship, telling robbers, rapists, murderers and dv perpetrators how to change their lives.
Delete
ReplyDeleteCould the eligibility criteria be any lower? 18 years old with an A level will not make good probation officers. Who in their right mind puts school leavers in front of hardened criminals.
Trainee probation officer programme now open
Requirements you need to apply️:
at least 18 years old
the right to work in the UK and Civil Service
a level 3 qualification in any subject (e.g. A levels, a level 3 award, a level 3 national diploma or level 3 NVQ)
I'm not saying many NQOs in my office are young, but if they did random drug tests many would come back positive for Calpol.....
DeleteIs this a joke??? This hasn't even been quietly announced, but recruiting 18-21 year olds has bedn positively white washed out of any form of comms or engagement completely....to think the service now wants to recruit 18 year olds with A levels is frankly shocking and demoralising....I joined probation at the age of 31, as a career move/second career....I frankly didn't know myself between the ages of 18 and 28, hence why I got into a rut in an area of work I had little aptitude for...that was fine there...in the insurance world my lack of life experience didn't have catastrophic consequences...I fell into the wrong career, I was miserable because I didn't know myself...to think 18 year olds will be recruited is shocking to me, absolutely shocking, because if any of those individuals don't know themselves or show little aptitude, has the consequences are obviously far greater for both the person in the job and the person on the recieving end. Probation have really stooped too low now....I don't share any values of the place I work anymore
DeleteThe pay being offered is suitable for someone of this age with little to no responsibilities.
DeleteThe age old saying comes to mind "you get what you pay for".
Anonymous24 August 2024 at 09:09 you’re not blunt. What you say reminds me of this. Look how far probation has fallen. Whoever wrote this deserves a medal and a chief probation officer job if they’re still around. Put real probation professionals in the top jobs and see how quickly things change for the better.
ReplyDelete“When I started working in probation most of my colleagues tended to have 20+ year service records, while managers had been in post for like forever. The success of qualification as a Probation Officer was a real achievement, particularly when working alongside such long serving staff, some with previous careers in professions including mining, finance, teaching and the military. In those days you had to be qualified for at least two years to supervise a dangerous offender or lifer, you wouldn't be allocated a Parole Report unless you had already proved your worth in both report writing and through-care, and you needed an arms length of quality service to become a manager and a lifetime of service to become a senior manager or Chief Officer.”
Guest Blog 26
Advise, Assist and Befriend.
http://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2015/02/guest-blog-26.html?m=1
Some good reminders of the real job a probation officer did. Long before the merge of roles the over subscription of task to pso. The strip away of qualitative work with people. Any support in this thread from the days of real probation is welcome as I suspect the criticism earlier is there to inflame such a defence. Some of those ridiculous descriptors from some quarter galvanised our recall and we should celebrate what we did and the methods we could utilise were far superior. Old new old training new training it is a different job and the new cannot deliver the task without the lessons of our past we need resourcing freedom local control and revival.
DeleteLovely piece thanks for the reminder the blame is everywhere yet the shame of the CEOs helping TR in
DeleteWow. Just wow!
ReplyDelete“I joined probation a few years after leaving university too. I had the experience of youth work and being employed with various non-statutory rehabilitation agencies, and before that manual labour was my thing and long before that I was a delinquent and subsequently a prisoner, that's the experience I brought. On the last point (now that I have your attention), probation believed in me and in turn I've believed in every client I've supervised.
What binds us together in probation is the contribution we make to society in supporting probation clients. We hold a basic set of values believing every person can change, given adequate support, motivation and opportunity, and this can shines through for many no matter whether they qualified with DipSW or DipPS. Ever since the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 provided the statutory foundation for the probation service we've been 'advising, assisting and befriending' those under our supervision.”
http://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2015/02/guest-blog-26.html?m=1
Send this to Lord Timpson. The others wouldn’t understand or appreciate the relevance.
DeleteYes a message to ministers, but are justice ministers really interested? I don’t think so.
DeleteThe solution is simple. Take the £billions spent on war, environmental damage and politicians wages. Spend it in the areas of the England & Wales that feed our prisons. Hell, imagine what could have been done with the £290m sunk on the Government’s unworkable Rwanda Deal, the £2.3bn wasted on cancelled parts of HS2, and the £50m spent on a new helicopter for top Tories. Even the £900,000 Labour spent on campaign on adverts. If they had instead invested in….
More teachers and support staff in Schools, bringing consistent quality education to poorer areas and reducing school exclusions.
More youth clubs, free holiday play scheme for 5-16 year olds, mentors and outreach.
More access to free education, training and apprenticeships. Free university places too.
More access to decent housing and health services.
More social workers, probation workers family workers and mental heath workers. Pay and train them better and recruitment and retention will increase.
An independent and properly resourced Probation and Aftercare Service. Seperated from civil service, prison service, police services and victim services. Emphasis on change, rehabilitation, relationship building and reintegration. Yes put someone like Guest Blogger 26 (Advise, Assist and Befriend) at the helm!!
http://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2015/02/guest-blog-26.html?m=1
The end of prison sentences of under 6 months and an increase in meaningful community sentences. We do also need more STATE RUN prisons but build them small with capacities of 500 maximum. Emphasis on rehabilitation, education, employment skills, relationship building and reintegration.
“What binds us together in probation is the contribution we make to society in supporting probation clients. We hold a basic set of values believing every person can change, given adequate support, motivation and opportunity, and this can shines through for many no matter”.
Mahmood, Timpson & Co, are you listening?
The stupidity of the 'modern' probation service (designed by politicians & compliant senior civil servants) currently outshines the validity of the existence of a probation service (designed by evidence & need).
ReplyDeleteTimpson, Mahmood & Starmer need to get a grip, get some cahonas & start making waves... or at least that's what some might think.
Sunday Express says "probation" are concerned
Sky News says "probation" are concerned
But presumably only the right-leaning elements of the probation party are expressing such angst?
Everyone on here seems to be more concerned about remainer dinosaurs & imaginary racism
Imaginary good good point although it constantly complained of there is nothing in it more like a reverse racism as probation gives a home to everything . Dinosaurs are important we are all trying to find the way back to the job which benefits us all and makes probation work while developing staff properly from adminstration role.
Delete"Imaginary" racism? Do you know how offensive that is?
ReplyDeleteWow “imaginary racism”. That’s like saying “imaginary domestic violence” or “imaginary sexual abuse”. Shameful we work amongst people like this. There are so many that should not be doing this job.
Delete"Everyone on here seems to be more concerned about... imaginary racism"
DeleteRacism is a vile reality for many - but an increasing number of comments on here, e.g. "constantly complained of there is nothing in it", are from those who think racism is imaginary.
Racism, misogyny, all kinds of bullying, nepotism & self-defined elitism are nasty, divisive traits & very much alive & kicking in the probation service.
Depending on which side of the line you stand, it either works for you or against you.
When has probation not been racist?
ReplyDeleteInspectors were concerned that some staff reported feeling unsafe and had experienced racism, discrimination, and poor behaviour at their workplace.
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/media/press-releases/2024/08/bedfordshirepdu2024/
Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said the findings were 'disappointing' and said staff did not feel experiences of racism had been taken seriously. Racial slurs among probation officers were dismissed as 'banter' and ethnic minority staff were handed the cases of race hate criminals without being consulted, a watchdog said.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9367027/amp/White-probation-officer-propositioned-colleague-sex-black-report-finds.html
A damning report on the Probation Service says it is "infected" by racism.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/801451.stm
The level of offensive racism related comments here are shocking. HMIP are right.
ReplyDeleteRacism cases that are alleged should go straight to employment tribunals. Complaining if racism but doing nothing about reinforces no challenge.
DeleteA "right to disconnect" rule has come into effect in Australia, offering relief to people who feel forced to take calls or read messages from employers after they finish their day’s work.
ReplyDeleteThe new law allows employees to ignore communications after hours if they choose to, without fear of being punished by their bosses.
A survey published last year estimated that Australians worked on average 281 hours of unpaid overtime annually.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y32g7203vo
Talking of racism... here's The Met :
ReplyDeletehttps://www.aol.co.uk/met-tired-saying-same-words-104604015.html
"A senior Metropolitan Police officer has said he is “tired of saying the same words every year” after a woman attending the Notting Hill Carnival with her child was stabbed."
https://www.statista.com/statistics/864736/knife-crime-in-london/
"The number of knife or sharp instrument offences recorded by the police in London rose to approximately 15,016 in 2023/24"
as compared to:
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/30-arrests-made-very-safe-9382418
"30 people were arrested at this year's Glastonbury Festival, with arrests falling from last year. The crime figures were released by Avon and Somerset Police
The crime figures for Glastonbury Festival 2024, namely between Wednesday, June 26 until 10am on Monday, July 1, show that 121 offences were reported to the police.
Avon and Somerset Police Superintendent Mark Runacres said: "We have reached the end of another Glastonbury Festival we're really pleased to report it's been a very safe event."
Of the 121 offences reported:
Violence against a person - 30
Robbery - 1
Sexual offences - 2
Public order offences - 7
Criminal damage (including arson) - 3
Burglary - 1
Or...
https://www.killedwomen.org/
"A woman is killed by a man every three days in the UK.
They are our daughters, sisters, mothers and loved ones.
But we are not after sympathy - what we want is change."
Sure buddy!
DeleteThere can be no excuses. The UK riots were violent racism fomented by populism
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/10/there-can-be-no-excuses-the-uk-riots-were-violent-racism-fomented-by-populism
… maybe we’ll see licence conditions for Glastonbury?
Rising crime concerns in Glastonbury highlighted at council meeting
https://glastonbury.nub.news/news/local-news/rising-crime-concerns-in-glastonbury-highlighted-at-council-meeting-235668
Oh dear!
ReplyDelete“Prison works”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/20/prison-works-labour-abandons-principle-chaos/
I recall the shocking case of a newly qualified PO being reported by several colleagues for making racist comments . No inquiry, complainants not interviewed and said PO subsequently promoted to SPO. Disgraceful management!
ReplyDeleteRight well that makes sense. What this needed was minority complainant to take it forwards as victim. Hearsay must be dealt with properly yet I don't doubt these examples.
DeleteSeen it many times. What hope is there for speaking up about and calling out Racism in probation when they promote and protect the problem. It can be "career suicide" to speak out because of the culture where Racism is swept under the carpet and where careers of black and ethnic minority probation officers are blocked with discrimination, hoops and hurdles. This white collar covert Racism sustains the disparities in plain sight. When you speak with leaders about the R word, for so many of them they say it’s “awful” but in the next breath the pretence is it’s “being addressed” or is "everywhere but here". Nothing ever changes.
DeleteMan wins payout over Reading probation office monkey chants
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-66598290.amp
This example is from old the staff was agency mess and it's a 1 example. Where are all the issues tallied that Webster says is rife. What is Webster saying in his evidence. Why is there no action if he writes it.
Delete… one example too much!
Delete06:38 to be clear the VICTIM of that racist incident was agency staff.
DeleteYes and that's the point the stupid HR staff stupid sscl do not appreciate they have a full legal duty to provide full equal terms to any staff agency or not. Instead they did try and cover it up arguing it's not probation staff. These idiots should have been disciplined and dismissed as it is nothing short of gross misconduct.
DeleteMinority complaint? You mean, your colleague presumably? The language used speaks volumes about your attitude. Staff get away with it because they are unchallenged by management and colleagues who enjoy bullying their colleagues and because of the privileges that being one of the chosen ones brings
ReplyDeleteRead it properly complainant you attack the support you scare people away. Get wiser .
DeleteTypo, you refer to your colleagues (?) as " minority complainants" which is belittling and dehumanising. There are no excuses for racism or allowing it to go unchallenged in any part of the CJS
DeleteYou make an assumption no evidence for assumption that's another error. I work amongst a range of staff we are all workers the people I deal directly with on daily exchange and shared work are known to me as colleagues not a generic . I would clarify your relations professionally before jumping to assumption you have to establish the facts. If your work is like your commentary there is a question.
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74lwnxxxzjo?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-gb
ReplyDelete"Online lies and misinformation inflamed the situation and some key instigators used social media and messaging apps to spread hatred... The truth is that no one organisation owned or organised the riots: they were bigger than that... This lack of cohesion makes the situation more unpredictable and dangerous... Now, after the riots, people from across the spectrum of right-wing extremism have seen they can help cause a national crisis and are likely to try to seize on any future tragedy in a similar way...
... you do not have to be a neo-Nazi, or in a group, to be exposed to far-right ideas and conspiracy theories - you just have to be online."
Anyone know when the back dated Pay will be paid as it's not in Aug pay?
ReplyDeleteI heard October as HR were not made aware of the changes. Happy to be corrected.
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn4970jdgq7o
ReplyDeletehttps://www.smf.co.uk/commentary_podcasts/ask-the-expert-pia-sinha-on-prison-reform/
Delete“I remember having a one-hour lecture on domestic abuse, I had pretty much no mention of coercive control during my training,” says social worker Cintia. “It didn’t prepare us for what was coming. You feel like you're thrown into the deep end.”
DeleteAfter five years in the job, she estimates about 90% of her caseload is linked to psychological and controlling abuse, yet her university course barely mentioned it.
Coercive and controlling behaviour (CCB) has been a criminal offence in the UK since 2015. It isolates and harms victims using psychological abuse, and is now accepted to underpin all domestic abuse. Campaigners say understanding CCB is vital.
However, nine years on from the law change, a BBC investigation has found more than a third of accredited university social work courses in England are not teaching specific training on coercive control.
As for those who said they did offer training - courses could be up to 20 hours or as little as one hour.
The regulator, Social Work England, says it inspects these courses to ensure they meet professional standards for safe practice.
The domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales has described our findings as “baffling” and has called for mandatory levels of coercive-control training for all social workers.
“Sadly we have two homicides every week that relate to domestic abuse. We have to get this right from the start, not learning on the job,” says Nicole Jacobs.
More than 43,000 coercive control offences, external were recorded by police in England and Wales in the year to March 2023 - the highest number since it became a crime nearly a decade ago.
While men are affected too, research suggests women are more likely to be victims of coercive control.
Amelia (not her real name) says she was in an emotionally and physically abusive relationship for years. She can’t be identified as it would put her and her children in danger, but the BBC has seen written evidence of abuse allegations made to authorities.
When Amelia turned to social workers for help, she says they failed to see through her ex-partner’s deception.
“He had fed the social workers with lies. I wasn’t listened to. I wasn’t believed,” she says.
Amelia likens his controlling abuse to a dripping tap, slowly intensifying over time.
Initially he monitored who she saw and where she went, she says. He started calling her “useless” and “fat”. Occasionally he would slap her.
If you've been affected by domestic abuse or controlling behaviour, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line
He then began leaving lists of chores, she says, which she had to do while he was at work. The lists grew longer. At the same time, the punishments for not completing them became more severe.
On what she describes as the worst night of her life, Amelia struggled to get the dinner ready in time and her partner attacked her, strangling her until she lost consciousness. One of their children was in the room at the time, screaming hysterically throughout.
Amelia finally plucked up the courage to leave.
Even when living apart, the controlling abuse continued to have a devastating impact on the family’s mental health. But whenever Amelia turned to children’s services for help, she says she was blamed, because her ex-partner had “charmed them”.
She says social workers called her a “bad mum” several times. If social workers had known more about the signs of coercive control, says Amelia, it would have made a difference.
“Services that are supposed to help probably caused our family added trauma,” she says. “I do not blame the social workers. I blame the training provided to them.”
It may well be true that "coercive is now accepted as underpinning all domestic abuse" though not all forms of domestic violence....don't assume that because a man has hit a woman, there is "always" coercive control occurring....that is simply not supported by the evidence and literature, and making that assumption means the probation officer will potentially be targeting the wrong factors...domestic violence, abuse, intimate partner violence is as you will all know very complex, with many different typologies evidenced...making broad brush assumptions is not always helpful.
DeleteLNER train driver strikes called off after successful union talks
DeleteYou’ll never get a decent pay rise apathetic
https://insidetime.org/newsround/inspectors-condemn-homeless-early-releases/
ReplyDeleteRumour has it that they recruited 100 plus PQIPS for the latest cohort but because the process took so long, only 40 or so took up the offer. I suppose this identifies issues to address for the next round of recruitment.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/sep/03/prison-early-release-scheme-to-include-some-serious-offenders-moj-admits
ReplyDelete