Probation: 'Too few staff, with too little experience, managing too many offenders'
Holding his chin in his hand and staring into the distance, a probation officer tells me how he planned to end his life. "I started to prepare how I was going to do it," he says. "I needed to get out of this work situation - I'd been doing the job for so long and it had got even busier and chaotic. I just couldn't cope and I needed an exit."
His face is expressionless and his voice is solemn. Thinking about his family stopped him from going ahead - but he says panic attacks have become a regular occurrence because of his increasing workload. "It happens three or four times a week," he tells me. "Waves of nausea, heart racing, profuse sweating, and I wake up in the night thinking: 'Have I missed something at work that could lead to someone getting hurt?' "This is no way to live."
This isn't an isolated case - the National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO), which represents thousands of probation officers in England and Wales, says its members are "burning out due to the relentlessly high workloads".
Probation officers supervise offenders after prison sentences and check they follow other terms of their release, such as sticking to curfews and not taking drugs. They also help former prisoners with housing, employment and access to benefits, and protect the public by assessing the risk of further offending.
In its 2022/2023 annual report, external, the probation watchdog assessed most of the probation service was working beyond its capacity. The probation caseload - that's the number of former offenders staff are attending to - was 238,646 at the end of June 2024. That figure is slightly higher than in 2023, when it was 238,264. Probation officers may have multiple appointments with each person.
Since the HM Inspectorate of Probation report was published and those caseload figures were captured, probation officers' workloads have increased significantly - because the government released more than 2,000 offenders early from prisons in England and Wales to deal with overcrowding.
The justice secretary said this had prevented the penal system from reaching maximum capacity, and "a total breakdown of law and order".
"We used to have around eight appointments a day - some with people of high risk," the probation officer explains, "but that's gone up to 12 appointments - colleagues are crying at their desks as it's too much."
Appointments can involve a probation officer and offender discussing the rules of the probation, the dates and times of future appointments, and job and training opportunities. Some offenders are serious criminals who require close and regular monitoring, and if probation officers are overworked they might miss opportunities to prevent them reoffending.
The murder of Zara Aleena in east London in 2022 was partly blamed on mistakes made by probation staff. Her killer, Jordan McSweeney, attacked Ms Aleena nine days after his release on license from prison. The unit responsible for supervising him had staffing levels of just 61%.
The probation officer tells me about a former prisoner who should have been visited by a probation officer but wasn't - and then went on to stab someone. "That's what we're dealing with," he says. "It's not our fault, we can't do it all. "And then we have to live with feelings of guilt."
The government said it would recruit 1,000 new officers by March 2025 to help with the additional duties, but critics argue it takes at least a year to train a probation officer. Staff say it will take time before additional staff make any difference.
"It's not like we're going to have these extra staff now up and running which is what we want," another probation officer, who's been working in the sector for several years, says. "There's not a day that passes where I don't think about quitting. We're facing excessive workloads and poor pay - all of which have led to entrenched problems of staff retention and sickness rates in crucial roles."
Sickness levels among probation officers have gone up nationally. In the year to September 2024, HMPSS staff each lost an average of 11.4 working days to sickness absence - an increase from 11.2 average working days lost for the year ending 31 March 2024.
Senior probation staff claim at least 75% of that sickness is down to stress. The service is also facing a significant shortfall in staff. Last year's annual report from HM Inspectorate of Probation cited "chronic under-staffing" and the "knock-on impact on workloads" as key issues of concern. There are 20,652 full-time probation staff in England and Wales - an increase of 103 on the previous year.
His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) says 790 probation officers left the service in England and Wales over the last year (to the end of Sept 2024). This is a slight decrease (0.8%) compared to the previous year.
"My mental health is a mess. I'm getting upset stomachs and feeling drained all the time. It's my job and its affecting my health," the second probation officers says. "I get why people are leaving - I would if I didn't have a mortgage and bills."
Recent inspectorate reports into probation services in various parts of the country also make for grim reading - with many identifying staffing to be an issue. In November, the Bradford and Calderdale Probation Delivery Unit in West Yorkshire was assessed by the Inspectorate to be "inadequate", and at risk of not protecting the public from harm because of "large gaps in staffing".
Martin Jones, chief inspector of probation, says he's deeply concerned warning signs could be missed because of the excessive workload. "The more pressure probation officers are under, they may miss things going wrong, so - of course - I'm acutely worried about that. "What you're seeing is a service under huge pressure. My assessment is the probation service has too few staff, with too little experience, managing too many cases. Is that really sustainable for the long term?"
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told the BBC the new government inherited a prison system in "crisis", and it had been "forced into taking difficult but necessary action so it can keep locking up dangerous criminals and protect the public".
"This included replacing the last Government's early release scheme with one that gives probation staff more time to prepare for a prisoner's release and with new protections in relation to domestic abuse offences."
This isn't an isolated case - the National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO), which represents thousands of probation officers in England and Wales, says its members are "burning out due to the relentlessly high workloads".
Probation officers supervise offenders after prison sentences and check they follow other terms of their release, such as sticking to curfews and not taking drugs. They also help former prisoners with housing, employment and access to benefits, and protect the public by assessing the risk of further offending.
In its 2022/2023 annual report, external, the probation watchdog assessed most of the probation service was working beyond its capacity. The probation caseload - that's the number of former offenders staff are attending to - was 238,646 at the end of June 2024. That figure is slightly higher than in 2023, when it was 238,264. Probation officers may have multiple appointments with each person.
Since the HM Inspectorate of Probation report was published and those caseload figures were captured, probation officers' workloads have increased significantly - because the government released more than 2,000 offenders early from prisons in England and Wales to deal with overcrowding.
The justice secretary said this had prevented the penal system from reaching maximum capacity, and "a total breakdown of law and order".
"We used to have around eight appointments a day - some with people of high risk," the probation officer explains, "but that's gone up to 12 appointments - colleagues are crying at their desks as it's too much."
Appointments can involve a probation officer and offender discussing the rules of the probation, the dates and times of future appointments, and job and training opportunities. Some offenders are serious criminals who require close and regular monitoring, and if probation officers are overworked they might miss opportunities to prevent them reoffending.
The murder of Zara Aleena in east London in 2022 was partly blamed on mistakes made by probation staff. Her killer, Jordan McSweeney, attacked Ms Aleena nine days after his release on license from prison. The unit responsible for supervising him had staffing levels of just 61%.
The probation officer tells me about a former prisoner who should have been visited by a probation officer but wasn't - and then went on to stab someone. "That's what we're dealing with," he says. "It's not our fault, we can't do it all. "And then we have to live with feelings of guilt."
The government said it would recruit 1,000 new officers by March 2025 to help with the additional duties, but critics argue it takes at least a year to train a probation officer. Staff say it will take time before additional staff make any difference.
"It's not like we're going to have these extra staff now up and running which is what we want," another probation officer, who's been working in the sector for several years, says. "There's not a day that passes where I don't think about quitting. We're facing excessive workloads and poor pay - all of which have led to entrenched problems of staff retention and sickness rates in crucial roles."
Sickness levels among probation officers have gone up nationally. In the year to September 2024, HMPSS staff each lost an average of 11.4 working days to sickness absence - an increase from 11.2 average working days lost for the year ending 31 March 2024.
Senior probation staff claim at least 75% of that sickness is down to stress. The service is also facing a significant shortfall in staff. Last year's annual report from HM Inspectorate of Probation cited "chronic under-staffing" and the "knock-on impact on workloads" as key issues of concern. There are 20,652 full-time probation staff in England and Wales - an increase of 103 on the previous year.
His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) says 790 probation officers left the service in England and Wales over the last year (to the end of Sept 2024). This is a slight decrease (0.8%) compared to the previous year.
"My mental health is a mess. I'm getting upset stomachs and feeling drained all the time. It's my job and its affecting my health," the second probation officers says. "I get why people are leaving - I would if I didn't have a mortgage and bills."
Recent inspectorate reports into probation services in various parts of the country also make for grim reading - with many identifying staffing to be an issue. In November, the Bradford and Calderdale Probation Delivery Unit in West Yorkshire was assessed by the Inspectorate to be "inadequate", and at risk of not protecting the public from harm because of "large gaps in staffing".
Martin Jones, chief inspector of probation, says he's deeply concerned warning signs could be missed because of the excessive workload. "The more pressure probation officers are under, they may miss things going wrong, so - of course - I'm acutely worried about that. "What you're seeing is a service under huge pressure. My assessment is the probation service has too few staff, with too little experience, managing too many cases. Is that really sustainable for the long term?"
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told the BBC the new government inherited a prison system in "crisis", and it had been "forced into taking difficult but necessary action so it can keep locking up dangerous criminals and protect the public".
"This included replacing the last Government's early release scheme with one that gives probation staff more time to prepare for a prisoner's release and with new protections in relation to domestic abuse offences."
Jim, no apology needed for the delay in publishing this blog. It could have been written a year ago, yesterday, or a year tomorrow. The only constant is that things do not improve and in fact often get worse.
ReplyDeleteThe glorious leaders know what is happening on the frontline and have done nothing to prevent the rot over the past decade. They keep claiming to be recruiting but at the same time are doing nothing to retain experienced staff who are leaving in their droves.
The churn of staff has become something of a joke with large numbers not even qualifying before leaving and the thought of anybody doing interventions or rehabilitative work is simply preposterous.
I can’t think of any function of the probation service that can’t be incorporated into the work of prison staff for those in custody, or the police for those in the community. I have said before that I think the only remaining purpose of probation is to carry the can when it all goes wrong.
Perhaps the time is right to wrap it all up and walk away.
I escaped the mad house 4 years ago. I was bad enough back then and I shudder to think what it's like currently. Stress, depression, panic attacks are all history for me now. God help anyone on the 'shop floor' as it's only going to get worse.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.aol.co.uk/news/ankle-tag-pilot-flops-two-190652423.html
ReplyDeleteThe Home Office lost contact with two thirds of asylum seekers who had been electronically tagged, a report has revealed.
After 500 days, officials reported that two thirds of those on tags were no longer in contact with the Home Office, the same rate as a “control” group who were tag-free.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gps-expansion-pilot-evaluation/gps-expansion-pilot-evaluation
Martin Jones is right. Too many subjected to probation supervision, with too many inexperienced staff holding too many excessive caseloads.
ReplyDeleteHowever, doubling the pay and halfing the caseloads dosent change the system one jot, and it's the system that's gone wrong.
Jones is reported in today's Times pointing out that too many people on probation are being recalled.
It might be an uncomfortable truth, but far too many decisions taken by probation today are about protecting the service itself, and not much at all about protecting the public.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/prisoners-recalls-times-crime-justice-commission-3n0gk3nxq
Chin up Jim, good to see you back!
There has to be big changes around the corner for probation, it just can't be left to go on the way it is. They might not be what we would like to see, but what ever they are I for one would like to be able to log on and get your opinion.
'Getafix
Too many ex-prisoners are being recalled to jail because of “excessive” licensing conditions, the chief inspector of probation has said.
DeleteMartin Jones cited Ministry of Justice statistics showing that only 12 per cent of offenders were recalled to prison due to further criminal behaviour.
The bulk, 88 per cent, were recalled for failing to comply with licensing conditions such as abstention from alcohol or drugs, curfews and attending appointments with probation officers.
Jones, giving evidence to the Times Crime and Justice Commission, blamed this on the “excessive” conditions that lasted for “very extended periods of time” leading the prison recall population to increase at 100 times the rate of the past 30 years.
MoJ figures showed that the number of people in prison after being recalled while being monitored by the Probation Service was 12,579 in September 2024, up from about 150 in 1995. The recall population makes up 17 per cent of those in prison in England and Wales.
Jones urged the government to do more to educate employers and the public on the benefits of employing ex-offenders, saying that people would be “more forgiving” if they understood how vital having a job was to preventing reoffending.
He said that more needed to be done to ensure prisoners have homes to go to on release and that the reoffending rate was double for the homeless. About a fifth of prison leavers do not have a home.
Jones, whose inspects the 12 probation services of England and Wales, called for the requirement that lower level criminals be supervised by the probation service to be dropped.
Probation service monitoring is required for all offenders, but before 2015 this did not apply to those sentenced to less than a year in jail.
Before 1998, the probation service did not monitor offenders sentenced to less than four years in jail. Now, all individuals released from prison must be supervised for a minimum of 12 months, in addition to those serving community sentences.
In June 2024, the Probation Service was monitoring 238,646 offenders.
DeleteJones said: “I think what the government needs to do is unpeel the underpinning reasons why that increase has been so severe. It’s faster than other areas. We know that the prison population has doubled, but it’s an extraordinary increase. And I think it’s a result of a combination of reasons.
“One is simply that what we have done over time is increased the stretch of licence periods, so that almost everybody now released from prison is subject to supervision by the probation service for very extended periods of time. Periods of time which I think may be excessive to the risk that they represent.
“If you look at the reasons for recall to custody — and let’s be clear about this, sometimes recall is an absolutely crucial measure to protect the public from significant harm, but that’s a minority of cases — 12 per cent of the reasons for recall in the latest period were for alleged further offending, 88 per cent of reasons were for reasons of non-compliance, drug taking, alcohol and problems with accommodation.
“So if you take a step back, it’s really about people not complying with the terms of their conditions. And my fear is that the probation service is concerned about the risk of things going horribly wrong and somebody committing a serious offence.”
Jones also called for a greater use of alcohol tags. He said a significant cause of recall was young men who went straight to the pub and “run out of control and very quickly come to the attention of the authorities because they’re drunk and disorderly”.
He compared alcohol tags to cameras deterring motorists from speeding. “If people see a speed camera they slow down,” Jones said. “It’s the same thing with the alcohol tag. The reality is, if you’ve got an alcohol tag when you leave prison, say for the first four to six weeks, because that’s the critical risk period.
“And we say to people, ‘actually, we’re going to be monitoring your alcohol consumption in that period’. Now those young men might pop to the pub, and they might have a pint or two. Are they going to have ten? I don’t think they will. I think it’d be a much better way of trying to use technology a little bit smarter, but trying to get to the underpinning issue.”
Lord Howard of Lympne, the Conservative who, as home secretary, declared that “prison works”, agreed that too many ex-offenders were recalled.
He told the commission: “I think I heard somewhere there are something like 5,000 people returned to prison for breaches of conditions on which they were released on license. Some of them fairly trivial breaches. And that seems to be one area where perhaps returning them to prison isn’t the most sensible option.”
https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/crimeandjustice.org.uk/files/Probation%20Resources%2C%20Staffing%20and%20Workloads%202001-2008%20revised%20edition.pdf
DeletePopulation under supervision
2002 = 191,400
2007 = 242,700
‘Frontline’ staff (PO, PSO, SnrPrac,
2002 = 10,515
2007 = 12,806
SPOs
2002 = 1,100
2007 = 1,594
See also pages 19 & 20 of this report showing data back to 1997.
"Probation trusts were a product of the new Act, new public sector bodies who would be able to contract alongside providers from other sectors. From 1 April 2008, six probation areas were accorded trust status, with decentralised
powers including budget flexibility. Two more trusts were created in April 2009 and many more are expected by April 2010."
Funny that. The rise to just under 250,000 cases seems to be coterminus with Trusts, while the numbers of court reports requested/completed plummetted.
And then they changed the method of counting caseloads...
https://data.justice.gov.uk/probation/offender-management
"Probation caseload
The statistics count each person once for each type of probation supervision being received on the date shown. In addition, each person is counted once only in each total or sub-total even if they are subject to several types of probation supervision on the date shown. For example, if a person is subject to both a community order and a Supervision Default Order on the date shown, then the person would be counted once only within the overall total for all supervision."
I appreciate sourcing more staff is not a quick solution as the focus on staff retention and well-being has been neglected for too long. However so many offices in my area (red) are full of relatively new staff that have not had any experience of what working in “green” measures looks like or how probation felt and worked prior to its destruction through TR. similarly new staff start and are given way too many cases to start with (as the cases have to go somewhere!) leading to understandable easy overwhelm (long gone are the days of shadowing for weeks and then being shadowed themselves! Shadow a few appointments and then off you go!) or they look around them and see PSOs and POs highly stressed… great advert for joining PQIP. It is not conducive for staff retention is it.
ReplyDeleteYes the job is interesting, challenging and occasionally rewarding but after 15 years as a community PO in the service I’m starting to question what I achieve personally and professionally anymore when I feel so stretched and running on adrenaline all the time. I don’t feel like I’m serving the public, the discussions are about getting it done and when (not how, why and the quality!) and I definitely don’t feel like I’m serving myself (or my family).
Hi Jim, thanks for posting. I'm depressed too. I've left the Service after a long career, but left with a feeling of emptiness and a "WTF was that all for then?" mood. I used to be so proud to be a Probation Officer. Nowadays, when I tell people what my job was, the reaction is a mix of pity and distaste, and to be honest, mirrored by my own feelings of sadness and distaste for what the job became. Its not just that the service is in a terrible state, its that the definition of what it should -maybe even will- be has shifted so remorselessly away from what I invested all that effort and commitment to.
ReplyDeleteIt's not even funny.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.lbc.co.uk/news/uk/prison-service-recruitment-process-is-not-fit-for-purpose/
The prison service is using Zoom to hire unfit candidates for prison officer service, a union chief has said.
DeleteMark Fairhurst, National Chairman of the Prison Officers' Association, told The Times that prison officers are being hired without any face-to-face interviews.
New recruits were given only six weeks of training before being sent to frontline prison work - which Fairhurst says is not enough.
The union chief said that the prison service recruitment system is "simply not fit for purpose".
He said: “We recruited a person before Christmas who got sent back to their establishment from the training college because they were not capable of locking or unlocking cell doors, they were incapable of controlling restraint training and they were incapable of conducting a rub down search.
“That governor has had to dismiss that member of staff because he discovered that that staff member had been recruited and has cerebral palsy. We are setting people up to fail.”
Fairhurst said that the poor recruitment and training process led to retention problems - as half of all recruits leave in their first two years of service.
In 2024, 165 prison staff were fired for misconduct, which is an increase of 34% from the year before, according to HM Prison & Probation Service.
Fairhurst told The Times that some recruits from overseas expect accommodation when they arrive.
He said: “We are recruiting from overseas and you are getting recruits from overseas, we have heard, turning up at the gate with suitcases and family in tow asking ‘Where is my accommodation?’,
“We have got examples of overseas recruits sleeping in their cars because they have no accommodation.
“Apparently there has been a bunch of overseas recruits who, because they have no accommodation, there is a wooded area opposite the prison where they are working at and they have set up camp there.”
The prison service told The Times: “Our prison officers undergo robust assessments and an extended period of training before they work in prisons.
"We also continuously review our recruitment process to ensure our officers are best suited to their role and have strengthened vetting procedures to root out applicants who fall below our high standards.”
We play second fiddle to other areas of probation and we're the most put upon. This is not victimhood but fact. PPCS expects a carefully crafted PAROM from community probation , but doesn't expect this from prison probation? It is far harder to manage POPs in the community given the lack of monitoring, control or containment when not in custody. We're expected to write 'War and Peace' IPP terminations, MAPPA A/Bs, AP referrals, breaches, addendums, revocations, OASYs, Delius entries, reports, lists, referrals, updates, emails, the who, the where, the what- the amount of form-filling, NSIs, this that and other is mind-numbing, Our time is not respected by the rest of the organisation and it just creates exhaustion. Please, for the love of all that's sacred- do not send out 'gentle reminders'- it's now the norm that prison case admin do this. Who am I supposed to be answerable to? My boss and their boss or everyone in an HMPPS hat that demands my time? As I've said before- the community OM is the most put upon cohort in probation. Let's about time respect the work we do and understand we are entitled to a life and please: other areas of probation and parole, be very mindful of that. Show us the empathy you demand we show POPs.
ReplyDeleteThe real Sodexo unmasked - again & again & again - but still they rake in £millions of uk taxpayer cash.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62ezg60m7no
Matthew Brady had worked at HMP Lowdham Grange from 1997 until 2023, and was a custodial operations manager at the time of his departure.
On Wednesday, Mr Brady told the inquest he was told to "go home" by the prison's then deputy director, after he shared evidence with inspectors... "She said Sodexo didn't want people like me working for them. She said that I wasn't welcome to the contract anymore and she said to get my stuff and go home,"
His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons carried out an unannounced inspection of HMP Lowdham between 15 to 26 May 2023.
At that point, the prison had only been under the control of private provider Sodexo for less than a week, after changing hands from Serco on 16 February.
A worker at a troubled prison was told to leave after he raised concerns about the establishment during a inspection, an inquest has heard.
DeleteNottingham Coroner's Court is hearing an ongoing inquest for three inmates - David Richards, Anthony Binfield and Rolandas Karbauskas – who all died within the space of three weeks at HMP Lowdham Grange in Nottinghamshire in March 2023.
Matthew Brady had worked at HMP Lowdham Grange from 1997 until 2023, and was a custodial operations manager at the time of his departure.
On Wednesday, Mr Brady told the inquest he was told to "go home" by the prison's then deputy director, after he shared evidence with inspectors.
His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons carried out an unannounced inspection of HMP Lowdham between 15 to 26 May 2023.
Prior to the inspection and before the deaths of the three inmates, Mr Brady sent an email to the former deputy director on 21 February, raising concerns about the shortage of staff and resources.
At that point, the prison had only been under the control of private provider Sodexo for less than a week, after changing hands from Serco on 16 February.
When he sent the email to the former deputy director, Mr Brady had been asked to step in as an escort - required when a prisoner needed to visit hospital, for example.
The jury heard how staff were being redeployed to other areas of the prison in response to staff shortages.
In his email read to the court, Mr Brady said he was concerned staffing levels and resources were so stretched things were going to get "missed".
"At the minute we can't keep up with the workload that is flooding through from all areas," he wrote.
"I'm starting to pick up additional jobs that historically would have been done by [a former staff member] and cover for jobs that should have been done by PCOs [prison custody officers]," the email added.
He shared this email with a member of the inspection team months later.
The court heard the former deputy prison officer, who no longer works for Sodexo, was aggrieved by this.
"She said Sodexo didn't want people like me working for them. She said that I wasn't welcome to the contract anymore and she said to get my stuff and go home," Mr Brady told the inquest.
The inquest heard Mr Brady had already decided to leave his position at HMP Lowdham at the end of February in any case and had been serving his notice period at the time of the inspection.
When asked by a representative of Sodexo whether he had raised his concerns with Serco, Mr Brady said he was "sure" he had, "either in writing or verbally".
The inquest continues.
The report makes eight recommendations. Three of these are for the Ministry of Justice, including to ensure probation practitioner pay and benefits adequately reflect the responsibilities of the role and are competitive to attract and retain staff.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.russellwebster.com/pressures-on-new-probation-staff-hampers-retention/
A new (16 January 2025) thematic inspection from HM Inspectorate of Probation has reported on how effective current recruitment, training, and retention arrangements are in supporting the Probation Service to build a stable, capable staff group.
DeleteStaffing challenges have been a consistent theme of the Inspectorate’s inspection reports for many years, and the implementation of SDS40 in July 2024 and the Government’s ongoing sentencing review have highlighted the need for the Service to maintain a sufficient, well-trained staff base to meet increasing demand.
Its headline finding is, regrettably, predictable; that the current pressures on new probation staff means that many choose to leave the service making it extremely difficult to return to full staffing levels.
The inspectorate notes that while probation service recruitment “has been undertaken at pace, there remains a significant shortage on the front-line, which is exacerbated by the high numbers of experienced staff leaving the service.”
The annual year-to-date resignation rate of permanent probation staff has risen for probation officers (POs) and probation services officers (PSOs), and, despite the Probation Service reviewing and redesigning aspects of its training offer, the Inspectorate’s most recent reports have found little improvement in the quality of casework.
The inspectorate found that:
Fieldwork found new recruits were not always joining the service with realistic expectations about their roles and concerns were expressed by managers that a minority of new staff lacked resilience and had not fully anticipated the demand of the role.
Inspectors heard of poor communication during the onboarding process for new recruits, particularly around the health needs of new starters, with information often missing when people started, or pre-employment reports not being detailed enough for managers to make appropriate provisions.
"while probation service recruitment “has been undertaken at pace, there remains a significant shortage on the front-line, which is exacerbated by the high numbers of experienced staff leaving the service.”"
DeleteThis is exactly what was intended by the right-leaning ideologues who have spent decades trying to eliminate the legacy Probation ethos & replace it with their preferred punitive control model.
The bullying & abuse facilitated by NOMS, Trusts & TR is finally reaping what the right wing revisionistas have been carefully sowing, i.e. blame culture, social division & a burgeoning criminal class who are increasingly being disinherited of opportunities that the faux-elite are trying to ringfence for themselves.
The result?
* The latest available information is that on 30 September 1990, a total of 9,377 remand, 214 non-criminal and 34,888 sentenced prisoners were held in prison service establishments. A further 1,009 were held in police cells of whom the majority were remand prisoners. (Hansard Nov 1990)
* As of March 2024, the UK had a total prison population of approximately 97,700 people, comprising 87,900 in England and Wales, 8,000 in Scotland, and 1,900 in Northern Ireland. (HoC Library)
Vetting and security clearance is a requirement to remain a Registered Probation Officer.
DeleteHow did that go under the radar?
http://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2018/08/visor-special.html?m=1
2018 a good reminder as I looked at a post I wrote. It is as I said. The obvious realisation is anything to do with Napo GS is set to sell us out. He did.
DeleteI see from their website that NAPO have submitted a claim for a 12% pay increase.
ReplyDeleteGiven that incomes for Probation Officers have fallen by 43% in a decade that only leaves us 30% adrift.
I am taking bets that they settle for 2%
Yes a good prediction although when you look at what the Napo staff groups pay deals have been and specifically the leader you will gasp. I think the staff pay should have been linked to our own increases.
DeleteYes I laughed out loud when I saw that statement about 12%. How many times have we heard this to then get the low offers. I’m still waiting for NAPO to confirm the outcome of their statement following the 0% rise about 4 years ago that they were not letting it lie and would pursue it, to then propose the 3 year deal that worked out at about 2% for most staff if you took out the increment amount that we would have received anyway. The main increase is from that deal was the extra increment, that some of us will have to wait to get until the new offer is agreed. The employer has already set expectations low describing being tied by the treasury.
Deletei feel that the unions don't work hard to negotiate for probation, as they do other sectors. Pay for PO's is poor in comparison to some other public sector workers . It is like the work and responsibilities we have is not valued or recognised. The PO / PSO banding needs to be reviewed, especially given that VLO's are now a band 4 and dont have to have any particular qualifications like PO's ( degree) and to now keep a professional registration!.
DeleteFrom The Sunday Times 19/1/12025:
ReplyDeleteRat-infested prison that may never reopen pays Prince William’s Duchy £1.5m a year
HMP Dartmoor, which closed in August over toxic gas fears, has 24 years left on its lease
The Prince of Wales is due to receive millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money from a vacant prison that may never reopen.
The Duchy of Cornwall, the estate which provides a private income for Prince William, owns HMP Dartmoor and leases it to the Ministry of Justice for £1.5 million a year.
But the category-C prison has been empty since July after high levels of toxic gas were recorded in prisoners’ accommodation earlier this year. Its 682 inmates, many of whom are sex offenders serving long sentences, were moved to other jails as the government grappled with the prison overcrowding crisis.
Under the terms of the lease, the Duchy is not responsible for the upkeep of the prison and even has a “dilapidations clause”, which requires the taxpayer to spend up to £68 million to repair the building, despite the fact that it is not owned by the state and was built with taxpayers’ money. This means that the taxpayer is effectively liable for any repairs that are required at Dartmoor.
A report published last month shows that the prison has fallen into further disrepair since staff were ordered to leave. There have been infestations of rats, birds, bats and insects since windows were left open to increase ventilation.
Sorted out your email yet Jim?
ReplyDeleteNo but Virgin IT is on the case.
DeleteGiven the service’s constant state of emergency, with many positions filled by overworked and/or inexperienced staff, how many of the key learning outcomes from this highly publicised case (and so many others) have actually been successfully implemented?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sacpa.org.uk/2023/10/23/probations-51-failures-contributed-to-monster-killing-mum-and-three-children/
No lessons have been learned; no outcomes have been recognised or implemented; NOTHING has changed, except... increased status & associated benefits for the senior managers responsible & promotions or safe retreat into retirement (some with gongs) for the rest of the culpable incompetents in situ.
DeleteNo such joy or respite for the poor bastards given the impossible task of "managing" an impossible caseload or those those surviving their murdered relatives.
But hmpps don't want to implement any changes. They want everything to continue as it is.
plus ça change
exclamation used to express resigned acknowledgement of the fundamental immutability of human nature and institutions.
It doesn't surprise me at all that so many staff leave. I have just reached my 2nd Anniversary but I am largely miserable. I work in a great location for me, with a great team of people, but we are at half capacity with no new staff in sight. The most frustrating part of the job is the inadequate training. It seems endless but also untailored and unfit for purpose. Too many generic courses, nothing of which touches upon my own specialism within the field. Bullying is also an issue which is not being address adequately enough.
DeleteNo point moaning at NAPO it’s the docile. Workforce who won’t take action the employer knows this need some backbone
ReplyDelete“ it’s the docile workforce”
DeleteThat sentence has been a union excuse for far too long.
Napo failed to lead predict any scenarios or prompt direction for action. It is easy for Napo do nothing and still be paid.
DeleteA thematic inspection of the recruitment, training, and retention of frontline probation practitioners. - An inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation January 2025
ReplyDeletePg 29 - Still, more needs to be done to understand why men and people from ethnic minorities have less successful recruitment outcomes than women and white candidates.
Pg 50 - High workloads and feeling poorly treated by their employer were key reasons for practitioners to leave. They often reported feeling disillusioned with the nature of the work, as they could not devote the time they felt appropriate to face-to-face work with people on probation, with more bureaucratic tasks taking up their time. Staff often commented that they felt their pay was poor, but this was rarely cited as the sole driver to leave, or the reason they had left. Staff who wanted to earn more felt forced to move out of practitioner roles to achieve a better salary.
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/media/press-releases/2025/01/rtr-thematic/
All these issues are a past issue. Employers view is leave if you don't like it. Very American approach to employment. Trumpism will see us all into a bit more difficulty i suspect. Labour are turning out to be absolutely terrible under awful starmer the uks most powerful harmer. Protecting Asian rape gangs on the one hand while telling concerned people they are the far right. I vote labour but never again. This lot has caught us out and drives people to the reform ideology church of rubbish. Politics is in a real state of decline. Can anyone tell me how to recover
ReplyDeleteThe report appears to be extremely generic and a bit knock and run. Should have drilled down more into specifics as interviews were an hour long, what poor practices/stresses were put forward to inspectors and what did they think of some of the things they heard? One can only hope that behind the scenes things are being addressed.
ReplyDeleteFear is the key - the world is riddled with fear. The world is controlled through the use of fear & fear is peddled by the media to ensure compliance.
ReplyDeleteThreats, bullying, lies & abuse are the tools of the world's administrators. Those that don't subscribe to such an approach are systematically neutralised including being stripped of agency, humiliated, financially disadvantaged.
What has happened to those who, historically, have been in a position to protect, to intervene, to advocate on behalf of others? With a handful of exceptions they have disappeared, changed allegiances or abandoned their roles.
Four decades of unrelenting effort to dismantle the probation service came to fruition in 2014. Regardless of its utter failure & the eyewatering cost to the public purse of such a seismic event, many (if not most) of the architects, facilitators & lickspittle enablers remain in positions of power & authority. At least a £billion of taxpayer cash was squandered & it continues to be thrown away by the current govt who have capitulated, leaned rightwards & fallen in with the bullies, the cheats & the liars.
"Perhaps the reason why we haven’t found universal cues to deception is because they simply don’t exist."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/how-to-catch-a-liar?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-gb
"...are there any effective methods for spotting a liar? According to Luke, one cue is promising: a lack of detail. Some 72 per cent of experts agreed that liars provide fewer details than truth tellers.
Using a fact-checked database of tweets by Donald Trump while he was president, [Dr Sophie van der Zee and co-authors] found that the language he used when he lied was systematically different from his truthful tweets. Once they made a personalised profile, the scientists could predict whether his tweets were untrue with an accuracy of 74 per cent.
“Think about the last time that you caught someone in a lie. How did you know?” he asks. “It’s probably not because they looked up and to the left. You probably had some evidence: a receipt, a text message, a witness. These are the ways people tend to actually tell whether someone is providing the truth.” "
Today was a sad day for many reasons:
ReplyDelete1. the dramatisation of the sentencing hearing for a deeply troubled young man who committed a grotesque series of violent assaults against children, killing three
2. the media's reporting, including the use of a conveniently disturbing image of that deeply troubled young man
3. the multi-agency pile-on - perhaps to distract from their own failings in respect of a deeply disturbed young man?
4. the supposedly learned & informed commentary on every channel about this deeply disturbed young man which, to my cloth ears, sounded like the baying of foxhounds at the scent of a fox cub, whipped on by lunatics in fancy dress.
The young man was barely 18 years of age. His interests & escalating behaviours were known to 'the authorities'. They chose to dismiss those concerns & minimise the indicators of risk. The young man went on to commit dreadful crimes of violence against children & the adults who tried to protect them.
The 'authorities' now choose to demonise the young man, even accusing him of calculating the timing of his acts of violence so he would avoid a whole life sentence.
Are there any depths 'the authorities' will not stoop to to deflect responsibility from their failings?
NB: hmpps is a past master of this tactic viz-SFOs & other reputational damaging scenarios, i.e. denial, deflection & demonisation of those they see as the lowest common denominator. In their case they prefer to isolate & sacrifice frontline professionals.
Add to the above, 5. The local MP trying to raise his profile by referring the sentence to The Attorney General as being too lenient. Serves no real purpose but demonstrates his moral outrage.
ReplyDeleteI am reminded of the murder of James. Bulger and the circus which followed. This allowed the politicians to tighten the ratchet whilst further obliterating services.
ReplyDeletehttps://metro.co.uk/2025/01/23/southport-killer-axel-rudakubana-went-model-pupil-mass-murderer-22414613/
"By the time he reached Year 9, Axel Rudakubana was said to be regarded as a ‘model pupil’.....The ‘spark’ appears to have been ignited in October 2019, shortly after Rudakubana started in Year 9 at the Range High School in Formby.
He rang Childline claiming he was being racially bullied..."
Wonder what happened to the bullies?
Really????? That's the most pertinent question you can think of when reflecting on someone killing 3 children and trying to murder many more???
DeleteIt's interesting to note that Axel Rudakubana's probation officer hasn't been born yet.
ReplyDeleteProbation officer qualification will not have the any relevant skill set for any progress for that murderer. Release is not a real prospect. Psychiatry will dominate this as life long study. Incarceration is a gift.
DeleteWith retirement age regularly being pushed back, I wouldn't be surprised if it was me......and I'm 55 :(
DeleteI dread to think what a 'probation officer' will look like in five years time, let alone fifty years on!
DeleteAlthough it will apply universally, the Civil Service are currently concerned with "institutional memory loss" caused by the huge levels of churn. It makes for interesting reading, and I've read recently that in some cases the churn in the Civil Service is higher then that in Mc Donald's! Personally, I find that shocking.
There's a lot of articles to be found on the net about the subject, and for those who take a position on the debate about the 'old' and the 'new' (as I do when arguing for a return to a social work ethos), it may make some interesting reading.
https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.com/news/business-35821782.amp?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17380608835325&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fbusiness-35821782
'Getafix
Solving the HMPPS staffing shortage?
ReplyDeleteThis is incredible!
https://insidetime.org/newsround/uk-prisons-recruit-officers-from-overseas-who-are-forced-to-sleep-rough/
'Getafix
https://order-order.com/2025/01/28/home-office-claims-two-tier-policing-is-right-wing-narrative-and-non-crime-hate-incidents-should-be-expanded/
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2024/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2024
ReplyDeleteThe prison population peaked at the end of August 2024 (reaching 88,439 as at 31 August 2024), before falling back to 85,372 at the end of December.
9,975 licence recalls between July and September 2024 - This was a 42% increase on the same quarter in 2023.
240,497 offenders under probation supervision as at 30 September 2024 - This is 1% higher than as at 30 September 2023.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/678a7e3a93d4eae3088bd3a6/Senior_Probation_Officer_role_and_Management_oversight_inspection_-_Action_Plan_-_12_Month_update_-_January_2025.pdf
ReplyDeletehttps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/678a68209752f24aa15735b7/Serious_Further_Offences_Action_Plan_2023_to_2024.pdf
ReplyDeletehttps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6787a1d25a1adfc79556df1e/2024_01_14_-_Probation_Court_Services_Policy_Framework.pdf
ReplyDeleteHi Jim I know that your blog is in small slow posting Christmas return phase but I just want to thank you for keeping us informed wherever possible. The mood is dire in my work and
ReplyDeletei thought I would find some answers to our situation and so I went to the union website. It doesn't appear to have been updated for several years. Has Napo stopped now then. Keep warm and hope your recovery is sorted now.
Anon 19:34 Thanks for your post and very sorry to hear of things being 'dire'. I wish I could do more, but for a variety of reasons I don't feel up to devoting much time to the blog as I used to. Matters are not helped by Virgin having still not recovered my email account. Things may change of course, and I hope to renew my offer of publishing 'guest blog' pieces as soon as the email situation is resolved.
DeleteFor Anon 19:34 who posted on Feb 1st, I suggest you ring Napo HQ(phone number will be on website)& ask for details of the National Official or National Officer for your area. They should be able to give you contact info for your local Napo rep/s and/or advise you further on your local issues. All best!
DeleteJust seen on Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"Has anyone ever said no to taking more cases under health and safety. If so what was the response? They are fully aware I'm working unpaid overtime to get things done exacerbating the pain and yet another case."
When I first joined a way back now there was a national local dispute on workloads that was agreed by a calculator tool and national recognition. What's happened to it. I have always felt over worked anyway but I was told it would have been worse as it was.
Deletehttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prison-staffing-crisis-complaints-officers-ombudsman-b2657823.html
DeleteExtra management in the community for anyone convicted of an offence of coercive control. A sentence of 12mths or more (custody OR suspended) becomes an automatic MAPPA case.
Deletehttps://www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gwq2vjpvko.amp?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17385930633861&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com
'Getafix
You can usually push back on 'having no capacity' for further allocations. But it points to SPOs needing to be a bit more canny, forensic and smart when allocating and sticking to 'rules' like not giving out B-3 or A-tiering cases to NQOs without a coworker. Because some poor sod will have to clear it up in the long run. Good allocations are vital in probation and not to rely on the blunt and inaccurate instrument of WMT when making decisions. Clearing up others' mistakes is very tiring. P-taking and going 'sick' for very short periods (and for this not to flag up a concern) needs to be looked at and the abuse of the duty system, for those PDUs that have it, needs looking at and much more seamless co-operation from prisons regarding Part Bs, PAROM, Addendums with video links and the like and more pressure from PPCS put on prisons to create parity with how put upon and pressured COMs are to do thy bidding of The Parole Board. We can't do one without the other.
DeleteOh man, you have any idea how comforting it is that I found your blog. It just makes all my feelings (and my colleagues’) valid.
ReplyDeleteNow here’s my situation and I would really appreciate some advice.
I qualified in December 2024 so only two months ago. Last couple of months of PQiP were overwhelming but I haven’t complained not even once during PQiP however I did take a full month of a/l as I really felt that I needed it. When I was about to come back to work, I had a death in the family and had to take another week off (unpaid) to deal with everything . Now keep in mind that I left on leave with 18 cases. When I came back, the next day I had a meeting with my new SPO who assured me that I will be protected the first months (gradual increase in cases and no HROSH allocations and constant support, especially given my personal circumstances). By the end of that week, I already had 33 cases in my name (some allocated while I was on a/l), 4 of them were HROSH, 3 co-working HROSH and some ROTLs and caretaking not even in my name - all within a WEEK! I literally can’t even look at my SPO no more as he literally lied to my face! I requested a supervision meeting and he just didn’t seem to take me seriously, reasoning that I am more than able to cope with it because I’m so good at what I do. He wanted me to take this as a compliment but I know it’s a “push” disguised as a compliment actually.
Oh, I forgot to mention that other NQOs from my cohort have many LROSH cases in their name and no HROSH, meanwhile I have 0 LROSH, only complex MROSH and HROSH.
I really love this job and I cannot believe that I already, so soon, got to the point where I want to quit. I feel like I have been lied to and the “business needs” are always a priority even before personal circumstances.
My question is: Will I still get my top up degree if I leave the service? Or should I wait and give notice only after I receive it?
Will leaving 3 months after qualifying impact my status as an NQO? Assuming that at some point (if things get better) I will return?
I’d really appreciate some advice :)
Thanks in advance!
33 cases is not much in this climate. Caseloads should be comparable amongst other NQOs.
DeleteIf you have qualified then this has no impact on receiving your qualification certificate.
NQO is not really a status. Either you’re a qualified probation officer or you’re not.
Don't burn any bridges get through your academic and any practice reviews to consolidate the training outcome. Don't give practice managers any reason to block your end certification remembers it's also a practice based qualification not just the training period. Soon as your sorted resign go to a different area where possible good luck
DeleteBeing good at your job or being gaslit to convince that you are is something probation does a lot of. As an NQO your caseload should be protected and it should be a mixture of cases up to certain B-2 level. Nothing above unless it's a co-work (even though you do most of the work). If you're qualified then 'the board' that certifies you means that your degree is intact. I would look for other work if it's getting too much or have another conversation with your SPO. It's probation shooting itself in the foot with a lack of PDU culture uniformity. In other words, if you don't get on with the culture or you don't feel supported or you feel others are being treated better, you'll leave. At least they got rid of the 8-10,000 word dissertation to send most people over the edge at the end of their PQIP. I was bullied through much of mine and given cases as PQIP out of spite and because of low staffing levels, including a very dangerous rapist. I went to MAPPA without much training and was expected to carry out Maps for Change, even though a PQIP isn't supposed to have contact sex offence cases. I had 8 professional discussions, but i got through it. They exploit the fact that you're new, that you don't want to upset the apple cart and not have a reputation as someone negative or unable to handle it. They also exploit good staff as many organisations do, whilst the not so good manage to coast. Protect your health and your work/life balance-these are your priorities, not Probation's who are target driven to the impossible whilst still Jedi mind tricking you that you're great. It's all ok until an SFO turns up. Juggling so many plates with complex cases, it's bound to happen. It's not how you approach the work, but the workload itself. Probation emphasise the opposite and put the responsibility on you. You haven't been there long enough to find your lane. Don't volunteer for cases and downplay the 'I love the job' angle. For a supposedly compassionate end of the criminal justice system, it can be very toxic indeed with SPOs being absent of empathy whilst reminding you to have them for the POPs. 6 years in and its a daily negotiation. Look elsewhere for something more befitting you. Don't leave until you have another job and when you look back on it, the training will have some value for anything you chose to do next. Good luck.
Deletehttps://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-wales-england-government-ministry-of-justice-b1208842.html
ReplyDeleteThe number of prisoners in England and Wales has jumped up by more than 1,000 since the start of the year, new figures reveal.
DeleteThe prison population grew by 1,184 in the five weeks from December 30 to February 3, according to analysis by the PA news agency of Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data published on Monday.
This takes the number of inmates in jail to 86,802, the highest figure since October 21 last year (87,465), the day before more than 1,000 prisoners were released early as part of the Government’s bid to ease overcrowding.
Further releases of small numbers of prisoners through November and December meant the total had fallen to 85,618 by the end of 2024.
This represented a sharp fall of nearly 3,000 from the record high of 88,521, which was reached on September 6 last year, just days ahead of the first wave of early releases.
But since the start of 2025 the number has been on an upwards trend.
The increase is also the largest in a five-week period for nearly two years, since a jump of 1,198 between January 27 and March 3 2023 – though at this point the total number of prisoners was still below 84,000.
The Government began freeing thousands of inmates early in September 2024, in order to curb jail overcrowding in England and Wales by temporarily reducing the proportion of sentences which some prisoners must serve behind bars from 50% to 40%.
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/inspections/rtr-thematic/
ReplyDeletehttps://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/inspections/yathrpd2025/
Score: 5/24
The implementation and delivery of services to keep people safe was consistently the least sufficient area of practice in the cases we inspected across all PDUs.
Insufficient action had been taken to improve the quality of risk assessment and management plans since our last inspection.