tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post9148316127652050122..comments2024-03-28T16:04:49.918+00:00Comments on On Probation Blog: You Pay Your Money and Take Your ChoiceJim Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-14842525722079211102015-01-06T08:19:43.736+00:002015-01-06T08:19:43.736+00:00The UK General Election is only four months away. ...The UK General Election is only four months away. This will be a very significant general election with potentially major implications for the future of the state, the economy, society and consequently for the charity and voluntary and community sector.<br /><br />The last five years have been challenging ones for the sector and for very many of its beneficiaries and their communities. Public expenditure pressures have not helped and these are certainly going to continue whatever the result on 7th May. However, the challenges have arisen from more that cuts to expenditure, public services and support for the sector. They have also been as result of public policy choices in areas such as 'welfare reform', housing, and criminal justice made by the Government. <br />Political rhetoric has not often been matched by policies and political action. There has even been legislation to curtail the sector's freedom to speak out on behalf of beneficiaries and to challenge government policy through the Lobbying Act or, as it has better become known to some as "the Gagging Act".<br /><br />The political parties are already off the starting blocks. The campaign has begun. The voluntary and community sector and charities more generally cannot afford not to engage with the campaign.<br /><br />The next four months are going to be very important for charities and wider voluntary and community sector. There is a real opportunity to influence policy commitments and to generate public debate on issues that will impact deeply on beneficiaries and communities. This is not a call for charities to become involved in partisan politics but rather as desire for them to fulfil their natural role as the voice of the disadvantaged, the marginalised and those who society and more particularly politicians too easily ignore or even worse, inflict hardship on.<br /><br />My advice to the sector is to focus primarily on the needs, aspirations and choices of their beneficiaries and their communities rather than on the sector's more internal concerns. That said, the latter should not be ignored, for only a strong and independent sector will be able to deliver its mission on behalf of its beneficiaries.<br /><br />If my advice is heeded, for many smaller voluntary and community organisations and their local and national infrastructure bodies, I would expect the focus of their pre-election engagement to be on:<br /><br />the promotion of social justice, fairness and greater equality<br />the protection of core public services especially in health, social care, child care and education<br />social housing<br />the need to align social growth and investment in social capacity with economic growth and capital investment<br />employment and skills/talent development<br />localism and democratic renewal, which includes community organisations, voluntary social action, and the sector's core role in civil society.Jim Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-59087709669948507842015-01-06T07:11:10.557+00:002015-01-06T07:11:10.557+00:00I don't think it's a moot point, it's ...I don't think it's a moot point, it's a legal one. Across Europe, for example, the age of consent ranges from 13 to 18. In Florida it happens to be 18. So, in matters of sexual relations, Virginia Roberts was a minor at the time the alleged sexual activities occurred. It's not a balanced picture around Europe, but it's a case of when in Rome...<br /><br />Netnippernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-77682350890244283872015-01-06T06:37:46.288+00:002015-01-06T06:37:46.288+00:00Having read this article I'm left in no doubt ...Having read this article I'm left in no doubt that not only do the voluntary sector have no idea of what they're getting into with TR, but there can be be no other outcome then huge reputational damage.<br /><br /> http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/6412334Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-10591035104351381642015-01-06T01:12:29.218+00:002015-01-06T01:12:29.218+00:00I once had my head bit off for saying 'please ...I once had my head bit off for saying 'please tell the girls on reception, I'm leaving by the back door'. 'Are they under 14?!' was the shrieked rebuke I got for using the word 'girls'. So...was the 17 year old, Virginia Roberts, a girl, a victim, or a woman?. I'm not a royalist. I just think its a moot point.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-1377329894126669302015-01-06T00:14:54.058+00:002015-01-06T00:14:54.058+00:00Off topic, but dont forget Grayling faces another ...Off topic, but dont forget Grayling faces another JR loss in just over 10 days time.<br /><br /> http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/keep-working-on-tenders-criminal-practitioners-told/5045815.articleAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-72145417121499085232015-01-05T23:46:39.207+00:002015-01-05T23:46:39.207+00:00to 21 34 - yes, we had to identify that they had g...to 21 34 - yes, we had to identify that they had got a job, (with the implication of the wording being that Probation had helped), even if they already had one when supervision commenced. And yes, the probationer had to sign a declaration form on pain of death if it were found to be untrue! <br /><br />I loved my work but I hated what management were doing to it, wounding Probation, before privatisation comes along and kills it off altogether.MLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-86761804197970743072015-01-05T21:37:23.074+00:002015-01-05T21:37:23.074+00:00Ils frightening to think what will happen if the t...Ils frightening to think what will happen if the tories get another term in government. Especially as some of us could soon be unemployed and facing the dole queue and everything that goes with It. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-63920962959317171732015-01-05T21:34:36.157+00:002015-01-05T21:34:36.157+00:00Ditto, ML, I refused to be part of any of these sc...Ditto, ML, I refused to be part of any of these schemes, which in our area entailed claiming money from (I think) the European Social Fund if a person had been found employment by probation. All fine and dandy, yet we were instructed to sign up anyone with a job, regardless of whether they got it themselves or not, or already had it before being put on probation. To cap it all, the probationer then had to sign an employment declaration that was bullying in tone and threatened them with breach/recall if they were lying!. Yet, who was lying here? I would just remind my Manager of the individual A4E staff members who were prosecuted for fiddling the stats and it would all go quiet.<br />As for fiddling Oasys, I once received a bullying email from an ACO, pointing out a missed termination deadline, reminding me of the missed KPI etc etc and demanding to know what I intended to do about it. I replied that I'd been told by IT that it was possible to fiddle the dates in one of the sections that would bring the Oasys back in line to meet the KPI. Said I was quite happy to fiddle the dates if this was what she wanted, please just let me know. Never did get a reply to that email - funny that. <br />DebAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-54441859802283222682015-01-05T20:44:44.518+00:002015-01-05T20:44:44.518+00:00And as for the prince and the alleged sexual abuse...And as for the prince and the alleged sexual abuse (sorry, 'under-age' sex) well, that's quite enough for the festivities! It's all about having the argument, as that's how we all learn. Netnippernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-26954132946817359512015-01-05T19:50:46.112+00:002015-01-05T19:50:46.112+00:00I just heard Greece is still in trouble over massi...I just heard Greece is still in trouble over massive debts, hundreds of billions of euros'. It occurred to me that most countries are taking about debts, deficits and I wondered who lent all this money out? I'm a complete economy novice, but I have always had sympathy with third world countries who have relied on loans from the propserous West, who have conditionally made those loans - which have been harmful to the borrowing countries ability to become self sufficient. So given the world seems to be indebt, even those lending the money are in debt to some they are lending money too,,its all nonsense, We should agree to reduce all debt in individual countries to 5% of what it currently is and give everyone a fighting chance to blossom under their own steam..unless there is some selfish bastard somewhere who is doing all the lending. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-60148282936069108922015-01-05T19:20:24.194+00:002015-01-05T19:20:24.194+00:00When talking to family and friends many don't ...When talking to family and friends many don't realise they are being fed propaganda by the main seream media. I had a discussion with my brother over boxing day lunch about the fire service strikes. Why should they get a better pension than me he says. A few points well made about why they are actually striking and he says "oh erm well if that's what's going on why aren't the media reporting it?". I told him I ask myself the same but the truth is out there if he can be bothered to look. He has promised to start looking. I hope he does as he currently thinks UKIP are " probably OK". My mother said yesterday that she gets annoyed when she hears about all these false sex abuyse accusations or "minor" offences where there was something minor 30 years ago being brought up again now. When asked for some examples she couldn't give any. I encouraged her to consider why she thought there were examples as she had described - is the media encouraging this erroneous view point? Should she question why she - and many others - think this. My Dad is even now defending the privatisation of probation, despite the risks because they must be saving money on the paying pensions in the long term... Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-25542208343031863862015-01-05T19:16:14.399+00:002015-01-05T19:16:14.399+00:00Now that's funny! Thanks.Now that's funny! Thanks.30 years innoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-20757070331402181322015-01-05T18:44:16.655+00:002015-01-05T18:44:16.655+00:00or how many go on to offend in order to survive. ...or how many go on to offend in order to survive. There is not one government department that has joined up thinking - each work in silo and don't care how it may impact on another. The more benefit sanctions, the more offending - yes I would steal to feed my kids if I had no benefits and unable to get employment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-47625487456662073552015-01-05T18:31:40.357+00:002015-01-05T18:31:40.357+00:00I agree with Netnipper and have been forcing Ha-Jo...I agree with Netnipper and have been forcing Ha-Joon Chang on my eldest son who is doing Economics A'level, with rather worryingly right wing teachers. Thatcher, apparently, was the first to deliberately keep unemployment at a certain rate so that there would be the right level of disincentive to complain about wages as there were enough unemployed to show how easy it would be to lose your job. The current zero-hours and part-time jobs, along with enough unemployment, carry on serving the same purpose by suppressing opposition and keeping people enslaved. Joanna Hughesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-28289987472733654042015-01-05T17:59:34.050+00:002015-01-05T17:59:34.050+00:00In a guest post for OJB, Help Me Investigate contr...In a guest post for OJB, Help Me Investigate contributor Natalie Leal talks about how statistics on benefit claimants, migrants and A&E admissions reflect organisations’ priorities – and can be skewed as a result.<br /><br />I recently witnessed an unemployed woman at a job centre shouting that she would “never ever” set foot in there again.<br /><br />The woman, who had just been told that her benefits would be cut off for thirteen weeks, stormed past two security guards on her way out.<br /><br />They turned to each other and joked: “That’s another one off the books.”<br /><br />As she left the job centre and walked out of sight, she dropped off the claimant count, vanished from official statistics and became one of more than a million invisible unemployed people in the UK.<br /><br />Or she may find a job. We will never know.<br /><br />Trying to find out the fate of jobseekers after they are sanctioned is almost impossible: the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) only count how many people stop claiming benefits.<br /><br />Nobody in government seems to have wondered what happens after someone is cut off from all their money, so there are no figures showing how many sanctioned people continue to sign on, how many get jobs, or how many simply disappear.Jim Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-66587682179667490022015-01-05T17:55:31.827+00:002015-01-05T17:55:31.827+00:00The Manchester Evening News (MEN) has reported a ‘...The Manchester Evening News (MEN) has reported a ‘massive’ rise in street homelessness with benefit sanctions singled out as one of the main causes.<br /><br />The paper carried out an investigation into rough sleeping in the region claiming that people are living in ‘caves, old air raid shelters and under a supermarket.’ Two charities working on the frontline told the MEN that benefit sanctions are to blame for the rise in homelessness, with one citing the case of a man who had been sanctioned seven times and left unable to pay his rent. One charity worker told the paper: “Whereas before, most homeless people had benefits, now they have nothing.”<br /><br />Officially the number of people sleeping rough in Greater Manchester is just 24. One local charity however claims there are around 60 street homeless people in Stockport alone, whilst local councillor Daniel Gillard told the MEN he believed around 150 people were now sleeping rough in Manchester City Centre.<br /><br />National statistics on street homelessness are based on little more than a guess and the government is determined to keep things that way. Previously local authorities who believed they had more than ten rough sleepers in their jurisdiction were required to carry out an annual ‘street count’ and report their findings back to the Department of Communities or Local Government (DCLG). Following changes made last year they are now only required to provide an ‘estimate’ of the number of street homeless people.<br /><br />The DCLG used to provide some monitoring of the procedure for recording rough sleeping figures however that responsibility has now been passed onto the charity Homeless Link who will rely on volunteers to do the work from their “member agencies and interested faith groups”.<br /><br />Even when councils can still be bothered to carry out a street count the true number of homeless people is likely to be woefully underestimated – sometimes perhaps even deliberately. When the first street counts were carried out in London they were largely believed to have been fixed with widespread stories of the police clearing the streets of homeless people before the count took place.<br /><br />Street counters are warned not to venture anywhere they feel unsafe and not to record people living in squats, on camp sites, organised protest sites or travellers. Unlike homeless people, street counters do no break into parks or other areas which may be closed to the public at night and therefore safer to sleep in then on the High Street. Only those spotted asleep, or in the process of ‘bedding down’ are included in the count, ignoring the large number of homeless people who wander the streets at night and try to sleep in the day time. Few street counts extend far out of city centres and therefore miss the people hidden away in local communties, or camping, or sleeping in cars and other vehicles because they have nowhere else to go.<br /><br />Despite all of this, the number of street homeless people that do get recorded in the figures has still soared under this Government, by around a third between 2010 and 2013. The figures for last year are set to be publised next month and are unlikely to be worth the paper they are written on. But as the Manchester Evenings News found, and we can see all around us, this most damaging form of homelessness is becoming much worse and it is far from just a London problem.Jim Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-76109983014901452452015-01-05T17:46:14.067+00:002015-01-05T17:46:14.067+00:00Possibly because the electorate are more concerned...Possibly because the electorate are more concerned with Strictly Come Fuckwit and Dunderhead Abbey? So much easier than having to think.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-86909461649576709382015-01-05T17:07:32.305+00:002015-01-05T17:07:32.305+00:00Ha-Joon Chang is one of the most enlightened econo...Ha-Joon Chang is one of the most enlightened economists we have and if there is a message that he hammers home, it's that any economy is a function of political choices. There are many ways of doing capitalism – and the neo-liberal ideology is just one of these. We have seen in recent years and at other times in history, how this particular ideology had led to market failure – and then been bailed out by the taxpayers. As has been said before: private profits and socialised risks.<br /><br />Ha-Joon Chang: 'Singapore is usually touted as the model student of free-market capitalism, given its free-trade policy and welcoming attitude towards multinational companies. Yet in other ways it is a very socialist country. All land is owned by the government, 85% of housing is supplied by the government-owned housing corporation, and a staggering 22% of national output is produced by state-owned enterprises. (The international average is around 10%.) Would you say that Singapore is capitalist or socialist?'<br /><br />Oborne bangs on about job creation under the Tories, but so many of these jobs are part-time or zero-hours which require state subsidies through tax credits and housing benefits. These are not real job – jobs that pay a living wage and enable workers to plan for the future. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Netnippernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-87601653953230273492015-01-05T13:27:24.714+00:002015-01-05T13:27:24.714+00:00http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2015/01/05/reporti...http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2015/01/05/reporting-official-statistics-missing-data-invisible/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-31418986718744659472015-01-05T13:17:54.355+00:002015-01-05T13:17:54.355+00:00Jim this is a very interesting blog. The return of...Jim this is a very interesting blog. The return of Full Employment should be the first policy of any social democratic government but it isn't. All social democrats are tied into the neoliberal project in all nations. Our Labour Party would not consider full employment,sadly they listen to Price Waterhouse Cooper more than the unions and any radicalism died when the Bennite project failed in the early 70s.<br /><br />But in reality we could create millions of jobs (British New Deal) quickly and paying them a living wage would drive demand for products made in the locality, the nation state, or in Europe; this would depend on how we re-arrange society after ending global capitalism, which we must, because its killing the planet. I await a radical movement that puts similar ideas back on the political agenda. People have been frightened into defeatism there are a million ways to run society almost all of them better than the current way.<br /><br />papaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-12986022028392493482015-01-05T11:32:43.363+00:002015-01-05T11:32:43.363+00:00Lets not forget either that many of the polcies in...Lets not forget either that many of the polcies in operation within our welfare system were infact introduced by Chris Grayling! Hardly a wonder its such a mess.<br /><br /> C4 News confronts Grayling with proof of mandator…: http://youtu.be/omquqPZ8b1EAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-13122834605305346752015-01-05T11:31:56.060+00:002015-01-05T11:31:56.060+00:00re 8 08 comment- by the later years of the first ...re 8 08 comment- by the later years of the first decade of the 21C, Probation was being equally devious in demanding that we fiddle statistics on CELs and the termination Oasys to enable it demonstrate its success in meeting often unrealistic targets, and thereby being financially rewarded. - When keeping monthly records of employment, we had to include any old 'training' on a govt scheme, as having employment, whether it be 5 days or 5 hours.-or a few days of 'money in the hand' from a local 'business', with no health and safety protection, sometimes not even received, thereby working for nothing. Or helping out somewhere on a voluntary basis. Disgusting.<br /><br /> Also - we HAD to show progress in accommodation at the final Oasys assessment, even if they were just sleeping on a mate's floor for a couple of nights a week, or had temp accom in a disgusting 'hostel' - and Sunderland had a few of those. The old style PO's, including me, and some of the more compassionate newer staff, refused to do that, recording it like it was, and stuff the threats of the implications of the loss of vast amounts of financial rewards from MoJ. . <br /><br />I'm sure you all can also remember other unsavoury examples of the desperation of the Trusts to look good. Yes, the 21c was not Probation's most honourable period.MLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-49559527454603999772015-01-05T10:28:10.891+00:002015-01-05T10:28:10.891+00:00And despite everything it seems they are still in ...And despite everything it seems they are still in with a shout of being elected again. How come?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-22171795735187593992015-01-05T10:06:39.179+00:002015-01-05T10:06:39.179+00:00The drop in unemployment figures is an equally mis...The drop in unemployment figures is an equally misleading statistic as it excludes anyone subject to benefits sanction. I don't know what statistical vacuum those subject to sanction fall into because they aren't unemployed nor are they employed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-18401533436561985902015-01-05T09:42:37.905+00:002015-01-05T09:42:37.905+00:00"Cameron and Clegg have reshaped the relation..."Cameron and Clegg have reshaped the relationship between individual and state in a way which neither Margaret Thatcher nor Tony Blair ever dared to do." well, yes indeed. On another day, Jim, I look forward to discussing the anniversary of the Magna Carta on this forum, as we approach its 800th anniversary. Tories are also working hard to reshape the relationship between the law and the governing class. In a previous blog you commented that we -NAPO and Probation- shouldnt beat ourselves up so much at the defeats of last year, given that we are all part of the seismic rearrangement of the structure of society under the Tories, and I would concurr. <br />Su McConnelnoreply@blogger.com