Clients and TR

As has been noted by some, since humble beginnings four years ago, this blog has changed significantly from one grumpy person's self-indulgent moanings, to having pretty much morphed into a campaign and crusade solely against the TR omnishambles. Of necessity it has dwelt principally upon the trials and tribulations of probation staff, but on occasion has discussed things from a client's viewpoint.

I'm extremely grateful to the Editor over on the hugely successful Prisoners Families Voices website for re-publishing some of my recent blog posts, but what's particularly interesting is that as a result she tells me she is getting lots of emails from concerned clients about the effects TR is having on them already. I guess it should come as no surprise that they are noticing changes, but they're getting vocal too, as these recent posts demonstrate:-

Dear Editor PFV.

I am a fan of your blog and have noticed that you are publishing quite a lot of posts by the On Probation Blog. My name is, Ex Offender, as I have been labelled one now after serving a 7 year sentence for armed robbery. I had never been in trouble with the law previously therefore I consider myself NOT a career criminal. I screwed up and regretted it ever since.

I am on probation now and I have a good relationship with my probation officer. He does the best he can under pressure and by meaning under pressure, I mean that he doesn't often see me and is bogged down with paperwork. One day whilst I was waiting to see him, I was chatting to a guy who was a career criminal. He was grumbling about what a waste of his time it was sitting there to see his probation officer for only 5 minutes. He had also told me that years ago, probation officers spent time with offenders supporting them with their rehabilitation and that these days, that doesn't happen.

I told him that it doesn't happen because their job now consists of paperwork - which is what I have been witnessing over the past 6 months. I just want to clear this up by saying that I know for a fact if my probation officer had the time, he would support me and he has even said this himself. He has tried by giving me telephone numbers of employers who take on ex offenders and phone numbers of other support groups, but other than that, he does not have the time. I am not here to slag probation off, they have a job to do and it must be frustrating for them, especially mine who cannot give me the time to advise me.

I am an ex con who does not want to be like the other man sat in probation, I want to make something of myself and put the prison issue well behind me, but it's hard when there is no support on offer. I see young lads going to probation and I see that in no time they will be back in prison as they treat their appointments as a joke. A couple of them were smoking a joint outside whilst waiting to book in which in my opinion shows no respect for the people who are monitoring us. I am finding it all a bit depressing because I take my appointments and what I did very seriously in order to change my life around. 

Luckily I have a great girlfriend who supports and helps me with online job applications and things, but what about those who haven't who want support changing their life's. I remember in prison when a member of staff said to me, "you have to take responsibility for your own actions." Which yes is very true, but if the likes of probation do not have the time to support ex cons on release then how is the prison revolving door going to slow down? Do the Government want more people in prison? It appears that way because they are/have stripped the services for ex offenders in my opinion by taking the real job of a probation officer from us. 

Regards Andrew B.

*************

Hello..

I have notice that you have been publishing stuff on your blog about probation lately. I have been out of jail for 13 weeks and I am on licence.

The 5 minute appointments are true and are a waste of time. In those 13 weeks, I have seen about 7 different probation officers and every time I try and ring my probation officer, I get told that she is either on annual leave or is in a meeting and that is more or less every single time I try to phone her. Don't get me wrong, she is a nice woman but I am in a dilemma at the moment and could do with a chat with her. But she isn't around for me to do that so who the bloody hell can I turn too? 

My family turned their backs on me when I went to jail and I have one pal who is supportive but works full time and I don't want to burden him. I have been reading a lot of online stories about ex cons who have turned their life's around with help from their probation officers but these seem to be older people, no offence, but they are getting on a bit and were in prison years ago. Even when I was in prison it was proper hard for me to get to see my probation officer. I genuinely need some advice. If I am on licence I would have thought I would have got some help and support from my probation officer but it just isn't working out. 

Mick.

PS I saw this on Facebook recently and it must be something being repeated up and down the country:-

Told a lifer yesterday that I would not be his officer by the time he had his next ROTL because he is NPS and I am CRC. He said he was 'devastated' saying how well I knew him, his OS in prison, his family-I've even seen him at work on ROTL. Now I don't doubt that whoever gets his supervision will be a good PO but bloody hell- what ever happened to end to end supervision? (not going to lie, nearly had a little cry)

The Might of Mitie

Again from Facebook, I notice that Napo Greater London Branch are continuing their discussion of possible bidders for probation work and as a consequence have turned their attention to the largely unknown cleaning company Mitie. 

Now this outfit used to have a cleaning contract at my office after our faithful band of long-serving ladies got the push some years ago. I think I'm right in saying they had a contract for 'facilities management' right across the whole probation estate, including hostels, following our nationalisation into the NPS first time around. They proved to be broadly useless and vastly expensive amid stories of huge round trips to change a light bulb if I remember correctly, so what's the story behind this lot? 

The Wikipedia entry says of them:- 

Mitie Group PLC is a British strategic outsourcing and energy services company with their head office in Bristol, and more than 200 smaller offices throughout the UK and Ireland. Mitie operates mainly in the UK and Ireland with a growing presence in Europe. It provides infrastructure consultancy, facilities management, property maintenance and a range of energy management services to its customers. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

Mitie was founded by David Telling and Ian Stewart as MESL in 1987. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1988. It merged with Highgate & Job in 1989 and was renamed the Mitie Group.

Their strategy of growth through acquisition has seen Mitie acquire several businesses over the past few years and in 2006 it acquired Initial Security, a leading security business. Following on in 2007 Mitie acquired Robert Prettie & Co. Ltd for £32.7m and incorporated the specialist plumbing, heating and mechanical services business into their Property Services division. In 2008 Mitie continued its acquisitions strategy through the acquisition of Catering Partnership, and DW Tilley. The purchase of DW Tilley allowed Mitie to extend their roofing services nation-wide. 2009 saw the acquisition of Dalkia Facilities Management for £130m to bolster its Technical Facilities Management capability and an expansion into Social Housing with the purchase of Environmental Property Services (EPS) for £38.5m. In 2010, Mitie acquired the integrated facilities management business of Dalkia in Ireland.

Mitie stands for Management Incentive Through Investment Equity, and the company's managers own a substantial minority stake in the business. Mitie's business model is based on taking 51% equity stakes in start-up businesses that fall into its broad fields of activity. The management of the new business invests the remaining capital and if certain targets are met they may sell the balance of the business to Mitie after a fixed period for a sum based on the profits achieved (an earn out). Payment is made in a mixture of cash and Mitie shares. The managers usually remain with Mitie after the earn out.

As a result of this business model Mitie has a large number of group businesses that have significant managerial autonomy but share internal systems, Human Resources and marketing resources.

The outfit is run by Ruby MacGregor-Smith and her Wikipedia entry tells us:-

Ruby McGregor-Smith, CBE, is the CEO of Mitie Group PLC, a strategic outsourcing company headquartered in Bristol, UK. She joined Mitie as Group Financial Director in 2002 and was appointed CEO in 2007. She is the only Asian female chief executive of a FTSE 250 company. She was awarded a CBE in 2012 for services to business and promoting diversity. Her ten years at Mitie have seen a £1.5bn rise in the firm’s turnover, which passed the £2bn mark for the first time in 2012.

Following university McGregor-Smith trained for six years as an accountant at BDO Stoy Hayward. After qualifying, she joined Serco Group PLC, an outsourcing firm, in 1991, and worked there for nine years in a range of operational and financial roles.

In 2002, after a brief spell at the facilities management firm Service Group International (SGI), McGregor-Smith joined Mitie Group PLC as Group Financial Director. In 2005 she was promoted to Group COO, and became CEO two years later when her predecessor Ian Stewart retired to take over the role of Deputy Chairman. As the first Asian female chief executive of a FTSE 250 company, the appointment received extensive press coverage.

McGregor-Smith’s tenure as CEO has seen Mitie’s top and bottom lines grow every year, boosted by strong demand for energy efficiency services. She was quick to identify energy management as a source of future growth: the 2009 acquisition Dalkia UK, a facilities management firm specialising in energy services, significantly boosted Mitie’s strength in this niche market. Internal initiatives at Mitie in which McGregor-Smith has personal involvement include ‘Mitie’s Got Talent’, a company-wide talent contest; and ‘Mitie Millions’, at which she and finance director Suzanne Baxter judge budding entrepreneurs with up to £5m to invest in the winners. The only non-executive directorship she holds is on the board of recruitment firm Michael Page.

A recent article entitled 'Fail and prosper : how privatisation really works' on the OpenDemocracy website dwells quite a bit on Ruby, Mitie and how they fit into the great privatisation scam, sorry plan:- 

Ruby earns more than maybe anybody you have ever met. She is not an Oscar-winning movie star. She hasn't won Wimbledon. Ruby McGregor-Smith is an accountant who runs a British company called Mitie (pronounced Mighty). She pays herself £1.4 million a year. Her Mitie shares, worth £2 million, bring another £60K in annual dividends. On the side, as a part-time director, she picks up £60K more. Last September she 'bought' more shares. They cost her absolutely nothing. She sold them straightaway, making £730,000 in a moment. And now, thanks to British taxpayers, Ruby is about to get richer.

On the eve of her 51st birthday last month, the Home Office gave her a gigantic contract: eight years' work, worth £180 million, running two immigration lock-ups in West London. Mitie got the job — holding 1000 men at Colnbrook and Harmondsworth Removal Centres — only three years after entering what Ruby calls the "market". What's Mitie's experience? They run buildings for Lloyds Bank, clean Odeon cinemas, print and distribute documents, and maintain school buildings under Private Finance Initiative contracts.

For almost three years they have run Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre, near Oxford. It isn't going well. Last October one suicidal inmate set fire to his cell. The blaze spread quickly — there was no sprinkler system. Ten fire engines rushed to the scene; 180 people had to be evacuated. Seven years ago, after a similar fire in the same Campsfield block, Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Services strongly recommended sprinklers. It didn't happen. Mitie are experts in fire prevention. They tell potential clients: "our fire and security team can integrate fire prevention, detection, and suppression with your security equipment, including fire detectors, fire alarms, extinguishers, sprinkler systems . . ." Why didn't Mitie heed the Fire Service's warning and install sprinklers when they got the Campsfield contract? Phil Miller, a Corporate Watch researcher, asked Mitie. They wouldn't say.

How does this 'market' work? Less than three years' experience of guarding immigration detainees. One massive fire. And then a gigantic government contract to run two more detention centres. Why didn't the work go to a company more experienced than Mitie?

Ruby McGregor-Smith became chair of the CBI's Public Services Strategy Board last year, not long after she'd scooped that £730,000 windfall. “UK business plays a hugely important role in delivering many public services around the country," she said. And:

"It is crucial, at a time when private provision is under intense scrutiny, that we demonstrate the positive impact that the private sector can make in transforming services and generating value for taxpayers through greater competition."

Four years ago she was one of 35 business leaders invited to sign a letter in the Daily Telegraph, urging Chancellor George Osborne to cut public services. Reducing the budget deficit quickly, they claimed, would "deliver a healthier and more stable economy". They said: "everyone knows that when you have a debt problem, delaying the necessary action will make it worse not better." The BBC's Robert Peston noted: "there is a whole school of economists . . . who would describe that statement as laughable."

Austerity politics creates work for outsourcers regardless of whether they do things more efficiently than the public sector, or not. The PFI model that accountants have dreamed up keeps capital spending off the government's balance sheet, making the official budget deficit smaller. Pushing public money into private hands shrinks the state and weakens organised labour.

Ruby McGregor-Smith's £730,000 windfall is unlikely to be her last. On top of her £1.5 million-a-year, and assuming Mitie's share price keeps rising, this year she is due another mighty windfall. Next year, same again . . .

Omnishambles Update 46

I notice from Facebook that Pat Waterman, Chair of Napo Greater London Branch, has been busy writing to her membership on a number of topics including potential bidders and that thorny old chestnut that refuses to go away, the Probation Institute:-

Let’s Look at the Bidders

We have been taking a great deal of interest in the bidders for London. Some of you may even have started to see them around your offices as part of the corporate client courting process, taking stock of our work, seeing a snapshot of what we do, and no doubt also forming ideas as to how they might go about making their bid more attractive than their competitors. In order to make a profit whatever bidder is selected will no doubt set about trying to make substantial savings somewhere as soon as they can. 

Let’s look at one of the MoJ preferred bidders for London - Capita

They seem to have their fingers in a lot of pies from mismanaging the Disclosure and Barring Service (leading to children being placed at risk as teachers were not having proper checks) to more than a few communication difficulties supplying interpreting services to the courts (resulting in delays in trials and lots of wasted money). So it seems that wherever they go and whatever they are involved in trouble doesn’t seem to be very far behind.

Of course those of you who may have had one or two problems with eOASys might have your own personal issues with Capita, as they are the company responsible for this particular software and they have a contract with the MoJ for £2,759,000.00 to make it work. So when you have a problem with eOASys you now have a name to associate with your pain and remember they have had a large amount of taxpayers money already and aim to turn as much of the money they get into profit rather than providing quality services and improving pay and conditions for their workers.

Do you think their record so far stands them in good stead? 

You be the judge.

Shadow Phase

LPT, in what we are referring to as the ‘shadow phase’, seem to be busying itself with a succession of, leadership conferences, end of Trust parties, and goodbyes to various senior members of staff. Napo Greater London Branch officers prefer to spend their time and energy supporting our members as best we can during what we fully understand to be a difficult and stressful period.

We read with interest feedback from the LPT Leadership Conference that took place in March. As part of a workshop participants had to think of 3 words to define the CRC. Words such as credible, creative, efficient, innovative were apparently the most commonly used words. Perhaps staff at the front-line assigned to the CRC would like to think up their own 3 words to define the CRC.

We will be conducting a series of office visits over the next couple of months and consequently we won’t have time to attend the Probation Institute Professional Conferences scheduled for London on 13/06 and York on 20/06. We understand that these events will form part of the process of courting corporate clients that are needed to finance the Institute.

Pat Waterman

That LPT 'Leadership Conference' sounds to have been quite a surreal experience, judging by the glossy 15 page electronic brochure that has resulted. But be warned, I'm told reading it can induce nausea and vomiting in those of a nervous disposition or any with long memories. Here's some snippets:-

"In the following pages you’ll read about the London Probation Trust (LPT) Leadership Conference that was held on 13 March 2014. The conference brought together line managers from across the organisation to talk about the transition from LPT to the new National Probation Service (NPS) and Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC). 

The theme of the event was ‘Moving Forward. Always Learning. Stronger Together.’ A series of presentations on these themes allowed us to focus on how the NPS and CRC can:

• Build on LPT’s achievements as we move towards the new structures
• Continue a culture of learning, quality and excellence 
• Work together to ensure a continued focus on the best outcomes for service users.

In the afternoon, attendees got actively involved in shaping the future of the new organisations they are moving into by participating in workshops hosted by the heads of the NPS (Sara Robinson, Deputy Director) and CRC (Nick Smart, Chief Executive and Iain Anderson, Head of Operations). During these sessions they shared their thoughts and ideas about how we can continue to deliver a first-class service in the new structures. 

As we approach 1 June when you will all start working in your new organisations, I thought it as important to share the key messages from the conference with you. Sara, Nick and Iain will be building on the workshop outputs as they develop strategies and objectives for the NPS and CRC in the coming weeks, and you will hear more in due course. In the meantime, I hope you will take time to read this ezine and get more of a sense of how we can embrace this time of change for London Probation Trust by building on our great legacy."

Heather Munro, CEO

WHAT TO TAKE:

Collaboration with CRC colleagues
Multi-agency working
Service user engagement
Staff engagement
LPT values: respect, diversity, integrity
Innovation
Probation as a profession: training and development
Best practice approaches to offender management

WHAT TO LEAVE BEHIND:

Negativity about the change
Organisational modesty
Duplication of work
Bureaucratic systems
Information overload

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE MOST COMMONLY USED WORDS ACROSS THE GROUPS:

Excellence
Quality
Aspirational
Innovative
Creative
Outcome focused
Efficient
Professional
Credible.

The rationale behind creating a Memory Wall at the conference was to produce a powerful display of pictures and words to capture our rich history. Conference participants added both their own content and items provided by their teams. The result was a series of photographs and news items about LPT that each told their own story. 

 

Of note was a picture of Heather and Sonia as Cagney and Lacey created in Photoshop. During her presentation, Sonia had compared her relationship with Heather to that of the 80s cop heroines: a strong partnership and “just part of the LPT team leaving a legacy of relationships which help reduce reoffending in the capital”.

It's quite clear from heart-rending comments posted on here over recent days that many colleagues are finding it near-impossible to cope with the numerous demands being placed upon them at the present time. As a result, I've been prompted to highlight the contents of WPEC the Workload Priority and Employee Care Agreement which contains at its core the following 6 criterions:-

CRITERION 1

It is management’s responsibility to match resources to demands and ensure that staff do not carry excessive workloads and

Some existing tasks carried out by Probation staff may well have to be “set aside”

CRITERION 2

A mechanism for monitoring the workload of individual members of staff as well as the demands placed upon them.

CRITERION 3

A mechanism to ensure that where the assessed workload of a member of staff exceeds an acceptable level, his or her manager will set aside specific tasks to reduce the workload to an acceptable level

CRITERION 4

A mechanism whereby individual members of staff can approach their managers should their workload become excessive, and a guarantee that their concerns will be addressed appropriately and acted upon accordingly.

CRITERION 5

A list of tasks that can be set aside in circumstances where an individual’s workload is identified as being excessive

CRITERION 6

Confirmation that if new tasks are to be assigned to individual members of staff, clear designation and amount of time to be allocated to those tasks and clarity as to the demands that will be relinquished to accommodate those new tasks will be provided in advance of their implementation

I'll end this roundup of bits and pieces with the latest from Napo emailed out yesterday to all members:-

Dear All
 
Combatting Disingenuous Government PR
Please find a letter attached which was presented for the minutes at the Transforming Rehabilitation Consultative Forum. The letter,  as well as the forceful verbal representations from Napo yesterday, makes it absolutely clear that we are appalled by the delusional Ministry of Justice propaganda that everything in TR is fine, and the evidence that you are sending in strengthens our case.  As we have said in previous messages, the faster the government proceeds with TR the more mistakes arise and the more concrete evidence we have to challenge it.  Over this week we are providing witness statements to our lawyers and we are referring all relevant information you have sent in to us via the campaigns@napo.org.uk mail box.

We know that Chris Grayling has a summer schedule of public relations events to promote TR.  He has been saying that the tests that the Trusts are undertaking are all going swimmingly.  Of course he would.  It needs to be confronted with hard evidence.  Please feel free to use this letter to challenge your local senior managers or any bidders or politicians that might visit your offices. They need to know the real story
 
Action Short of Strike Action
Working to rule, albeit difficult in a field like ours, is evidencing that the system is collapsing under the strain.  We know that Trusts are desperately trying to paper over the cracks.  The backlogs in OASys assessments and PSRs, programme waiting lists, numbers of vacancies, increased use of temporary staff, the grievances, disputes, stress risk assessments, high levels of sickness, accident and incident forms etc. all evidence of the very real stress that members are under.  This is gruelling and we really appreciate all the efforts that members are making.

Action Short of Strike Action is legally protected under law.  We have a legal trade dispute and mandate not to work over our hours or do overtime.  If we simply absorb the work, at a massive cost to our own health and wellbeing, NOMS and the bidders will think they can just run our service on a skeleton staff.  We have to make absolutely clear that they can’t.
 
IL 46-2014 Amy Rees - next TRCF meeting 10 April - statement Napo 
 
Best Wishes
 
TOM RENDON                  IAN LAWRENCE   
National Chair                 General Secretary

The letter:-

Next TRCF meeting - 10^th April 2014

Given the time limitations and the agenda items to be discussed I would appreciate the following statement from Napo being recorded into the minutes for tomorrow please.

‘Ever since the announcement of the Secretary of States so called Transforming Rehabilitation agenda, Napo and the probation unions have warned that this change programme is operationally flawed and represents a real risk to community safety.

Since recently launching a specific conduit for our members to notify of us of their concerns following the imposed staff assignment process, Napo has been inundated with hundreds of examples which indicate that our predictions have unfortunately been vindicated.

Napo will now be seeking to publicise a range of public interest issues concerning:

The cost of consultants and the hidden costs of the overall TR programme

The risk of harm to staff and members of the public which is directly attributable to an unfair and un-agreed staff assignment process

A failure by Ministers and their Officials to adhere to the Public Equality duty

Potential discrimination cases for failing to make sufficient provision in the areas of disability, maternity and provision for part time workers.

Potential breaches of employment law in terms of fair and open competition for vacancies, the arbitrary ‘ring fencing’ of posts and potential conflicts of interest involving senior managers undertaking a dual role within two organisations

The emotional breakdown and high sickness rates being suffered by many staff who have been left in total chaos by the inept and unnecessary rush to split the probation service into two separate strands in advance of the intended ‘go live’ date.

Staff being induced to ‘sell’ their annual leave to mask serious operational deficiencies

Inappropriate allocation of cases in breach of the original EOI guidance issued by the Trust

Withdrawal of SDR facilities to Magistrates Courts and reductions in Court Reports due to increased case handling times and staff shortages

Non allocation of cases due to ICT difficulties (NDelius)

Estates relocations causing difficult journeys for clients which will probably result in appointments not being kept

You may already be aware that Napo has registered its concern at the proposals within the Target Operating Model in relation to Probation Staff in Prisons.

The above list is by no means exhaustive, but Napo wishes to formally record its serious concern at the grave operational situation. Even at this late stage we call on Ministers to halt the programme or at the very least extend the lead in time to the creation of the NPS and CRC environment.’

Yours sincerely,

Voices

Having been allocated to CRC after more than 20 years' experience as a PO, I'd like advice regarding compensation for having my professional role compromised by the sifting lottery, e.g. no more work with high risk cases, loss of the role of Officer of the Court, etc. I have approached my local branch (napo) but had no reply. The insult is aggravated by the Noms and MoJ insistence that CRC will be the 'junior partner' in the split.

************
Totally agree with you, I've been in the service 30 years, assigned to CRC, keep making noises about the sifting process,"experienced officer" etc. but no one is listening. When given a briefing by our ACE, he made comments like things will be going "up to NPS" instead of saying across. Language used made me feel like I am worthless after all those years of commitment to the service I no longer count. Also I don't know if this has happened in other areas but Manchester City offices only have one black Probation Officer assigned surely this is also a legal issue under discrimination equality. Not representative of the communities we serve. I have brought this up in Union meetings and tried to get facts and figures which no one is rushing to give to me. It all stinks and needs to stop now.

************
Couldn't sleep because of the amount of work I have. Stuff just going through my head work related. I'm struggling with my current workload, not to mention the expected changes which are due under TR and worrying about how will I manage to deal with the extra work. It's a difficult time for staff who feel alone and vulnerable. Unions seem to be running around like 'headless chickens' not knowing what to do. Management digging their heads in the sand and telling staff "just do it, I don't know how but do it". Staff colleagues are ripping their hair out trying to keep up with the constant emails coming through 'do this, do that, we need this done, we need that done by'. It's a nightmare & I can't flippin sleep.
 
One of the annoying emails was from our new CEO's introducing themselves, with smiley photo's in a glossy, well polished, colourful brochure attached to an email. I just thought to myself are these people for real? Do they live in the same world as me? Have they any idea what staff are going through? I guess they don't because if they did they wouldn't send it out. Then again, I guess that's the easy way out blaming the CEO's.
 
I find myself trying to trick my mind to 'say carry on, it will be ok. You will come through it'. But I worry that I'm not going to make it through because the expectations are just so unreal. When you wake up in the middle of the night worrying about work, can't sleep, trying your best to make sure that the person you serve is not impacted on and receives a quality service; it's flippin hard work.

Reading Jim's blog about a probation officer Anonymous 10 April 2014 18:19 (above ) made me feel really sad about the situation staff find themselves in. There were some helpful comments in response but very little practical support offered - 'you are struggling, we know that, but try this and do that'. Things the person had already considered doing. The point was missed. The writer was asking for action but instead received suggestions. I'm sure the comments were well intended but I couldn't help notice how detached we have become from realising each other's needs. At these times people need others to rally behind them and join forces instead our compassion & care for one another might have been impacted on. I'm going to try & get some sleep again, and think about nice things. I've got work tomarrow!!!

**********

IS ANYONE LISTENING???? WE ARE NOT COPING, WE ARE BEING DESTROYED AND THIS WILL NOT WORK.

I call upon everyone who reads this who is employed in a probation role to see their MP's in person NOW to express specific concerns about precisely what is happening in each area as they try to roll this out but it must be done as the chaos unfolds. Not to voice objections to TR in principle, they can dismiss that easily because the bill has been passed. Please take concerns about YOUR situation and the HARM that will occur in the communities they represent because this is NOT SAFE and say WHY. For example a brilliant team disbanded, the new IOM's muddle, sex offender specialist teams being destroyed, how the split was done with lack of cover in some areas as a result, CRC uncertainty, the list is extensive now.

Make each MP responsible NOW because if they have the knowledge and do nothing they are culpable. Let's tell them the truth about where we are NOW as this unravels. Middle managers must be terrified about having to try to make this work because they have so little information and really it is practice developing on the back of a fag packet as Jim writes on this blog. Managers must speak out.

The concerns are becoming real now, not some reaction by public sector staff moaning, but UNSAFE SYSTEMS and destruction of a system that worked being replaced with what????? 

THIS IS GRAYLING'S FAULT let's make the MP's culpable too by providing the knowledge to them because they deserve to own this. Use your union reps to come with you if you need to, they will be happy to do this.

More Haste - Less Speed?

We're now well into TR 'mobilisation' mode and the word is things aren't going too well at all. In fact these exchanges over on the Napo forum would appear to indicate serious problems:-

The CEO of a northern Trust today gave indication he had received communication from the Gray-Lag Goose and his pals that things are slowing down, that we might be looking at further delays to the final staff/case-load split beyond 01 Jun 14. Have any of you more established spies got any other intel on this possible happy event?

*******
I heard this too, but can't remember where. But he would have to rescind the notice to Trusts etc, so would, I imagine, be hugely costly and effective u-turn, in my view.

*******
The way I'm hearing it, the Service is rapidly moving towards meltdown. I hear Chief Execs openly using this term. Napo is receiving a stream of evidence from members to this effect as we understand it. Trusts are already writing to their own staff saying that 'business as usual' is effectively suspended - and we are only one week into the 'mobilisation' of this grand new plan. The new operating models have more holes in them than a colander. The damage sustained so far is extensive and it will get worse as we move towards June 1st. I see no evidence of any slow-down in the plan. Quite the reverse. It seems someone has put a rocket under civil servants in NOMS and the pace has quickened. Nobody knows which way is up any more.

If there is any sign of common sense prevailing, I'll let you know, but don't hold your breath. Congratulations Mr Grayling, you are effectively destroying (have destroyed?) what until recently was a world renowned public service.

********
My understanding is that it is full speed ahead for the TR headline changes but the period of forced 'cooperation' between CRCs and NPS (i.e. the bit where neither silo does what it was set up to do but continues to do what needs to be done to maintain the illusion that any of this is remotely credible) is going to be extended to at least 9 months after share sale.

So, in short, the bidders are to put together a bid that will require it to manage a transition during which it does things that it will not be required to do when the transition is complete but also has to not do things that it will have to later on when the NPS stops doing them.

You know this is all so obviously falling apart that I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't an element of the MoJ civil servants beginning to exact some revenge on their minister for the way he treats them, and in particular the humiliation over the Serco and G4S tagging scandal. You remember, the day he bawled them out before marching off to give that amazing statement in the House of Commons about 'tagging the dead'. 

There was reportedly 'tears in the toilets' and at the time I thought it was a very unwise move on the part of a minister who effectively has to rely on loyal civil servants watching his back and protecting him when the shit hits the fan. Well, they're mostly bright intelligent people and can see a shit idea when it's presented to them. Maybe they've not only long given up trying to talk some sense into their bullying minister, but decided a better wheeze is just do as ordered and supercharge the whole bloody TR omnishambles so it all implodes that much faster on their psychopathic minister's head. Scary, but possible?   

PS There's just time to get a question in for a webchat scheduled for 24th April and the man himself might just be present:-

Web Chat for Probation Staff on 24 April 2-3pm

I am very pleased to let you know that Mark Read and I will be hosting a web chat for probation staff in England and Wales on 24 April.

This is the first time we’ve run an event like this and I’m pleased it will provide further opportunity for us to answer the key questions that staff have as we press ahead in this time of significant change.

I realise that at this time many staff will be busy, which is why arrangements have been made to provide opportunity to submit questions beforehand and for the transcript to be published after the event.

I would be grateful if you could make arrangements to notify staff of this event – a draft intranet article is attached for use as you see fit.

As this is the first time we will have run a web chat like this across the OMNI network, we plan to evaluate for any technical issues. If the event proves a success, I plan to run further web chats with staff and I know that the Secretary of State is also keen to continue to engage with staff.

Staff can submit questions in advance of the web chat using this link: www.surveymonkey.com/s/QQDSG8B

The closing date for questions is 6pm on Friday April 11^th..

A link for the web chat itself will be published on EPIC in advance of the event. For technical reasons, the web chat will only be accessible using a Firefox browser. It will not work with Internet Explorer.

Colin Allars

Director of Probation

PPS I liked this seen on facebook:-

Just thought I'd send a message. I am really proud of colleagues in the XXXXX office. When faced with very short notice that potential "bidders" were coming to view the premises. They rallied together and as the bidders walked in, the majority of staff walked out. Initial response from the bidders was one of shock as this had apparently been the first instance of anything like this happening. Time to send the message. We are nobody's door mat and we will not stand back and be walked over. Hope you are able to share this.

Latest From Napo 24

This is the latest email from Napo HQ sent to all members yesterday:-

Dear All,

Vacancies

There is a lot wrong with the staff split and we are continuing to gather vital evidence from members, but this email focuses on the aftermath in terms of vacancies.  Many Trusts are finding themselves in a position where they have left either the CRC or NPS side of probation under or overstaffed.  One Trust had 3 expression of interest exercises because they couldn’t get the split right.  This is why the unions did not agree to it at all.  Please find below some illustration of the examples being sent in to the campaigns@napo.org.uk inbox- please keep them coming.  There is some further advice for members, which follows towards the end of the email in bullet points.

According to the Government, Transforming Rehabilitation is meant to cut bureaucracy but the NPS has already advertised for 160 new jobs while the front line is being decimated.  Colin Allars has stated that anyone, regardless of assignment to NPS or CRC is able to apply.  However, some Trusts have “ring fenced” these to the NPS which is overstaffed. 

“Having to apply for our own jobs” is another completely justified complaint.  This is disgraceful.  New practitioner jobs are being created either side of the dividing line.  If a similar job to the one you are doing is created in the “other” organisation, staff are being barred from applying. Vacancies are appearing, disappearing and reappearing with different selection criteria or eligibility.

Recruitment and selection is governed by Employment Law and, from the examples we have seen, some Trusts are likely to be in serious breach.  We have written to Napo’s solicitors to get a legal view.  In the meantime, the inflation of the corporate side of the NPS concerns us and we will be raising it centrally with NOMS and the MoJ.

The basic principle is one of fair and equal access.  No-one must seek to exclude you from applying for any job which is not covered by the narrow range of legal exemptions.

 Advice about what you can do at a branch and individual level:

• If you have been personally and individually disadvantaged by any of these issues, we would advise you to raise a formal grievance and have a hearing.  If the Trust fails to deal with the grievance, you have the option of taking the matter further and should seek advice from National Napo. 

• If the issues are more Trust-wide, we would suggest that branch officers write to the Trust Chief, the NPS regional director and the CRC Chief Exec and advise them of the potential action of raising a formal dispute.  Leave the door open to resolving the problem but set a timeframe.  Set out the problem and, if you can, offer a solution which will depend on the nature of the issue.  Set an expected response time- usually within 7 days.   

TOM RENDON                   IAN LAWRENCE

National Chair                    General Secretary

Omnishambles Update 45

There might be some interesting news today regarding the barrister's 'settlement' with Chris Grayling. I saw this on Facebook:-

Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has balloted its members: "Do you wish to continue No Returns and days of action until all the cuts and reductions in (solicitors') contracts are abandoned." It has come about because a lot of the barristers were unhappy that CBA negotiated a deal with MOJ without consulting with their members. Look out for the results on 9th April!!!

As we know the MoJ has a bit of history where trying to save money and negotiate contracts are concerned and this is interesting news in the Daily Express regarding that troublesome business with court interpreters:-

The Courts and Tribunal Service, run by the Ministry of Justice, spent £15,537,821 on interpreters last year compared with £7,940,128 in 2012. But the total is likely to be higher as the figures relate to a Government outsourcing contract with Capita and do not include bookings made elsewhere. 

Justice Minister Shailesh Vara, responding to a Parliamentary query, said the increased outlay was partly due to “changes made to the contract” in May 2013 and an estimated 20 per cent increase in the number of interpreters needed at court hearings. Mr Vara said: “The number of bookings made off-contract has substantially decreased since the start of 2012 with those bookings moving on to the Capita contract.” He insisted that major financial savings had been made under the changes.

Just like the Maria Miller story, the prisoner book ban story refuses to go away, as discussed here on the politics blog:-

Hopes for a negotiation over the ban on prisoners receiving books looked less and less likely today, as campaigners started to lose patience with Chris Grayling. The justice secretary received a letter asking for a face-to-face meeting yesterday but has so far failed to reply. The letter was signed by leading authors, including Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan and Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time author Mark Haddon.

"Only this morning former Children's Laureate - and my nine-year-old daughter's favourite author - Jacqueline Wilson spoke out in favour of the campaign on BBC Breakfast," Andrew Neilson, director of Campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, told Politics.co.uk.

"With public support growing, we urge the Ministry of Justice to relax this ban on loved ones sending books and other essentials to prisoners. Give prison governors back their discretion to allow such parcels through and the Howard League and English PEN would be the first to congratulate the lord chancellor on a common sense decision that will benefit both prisoners and society as a whole."

Grayling has shown little sign of backing down on his ban on prisoners receiving parcels, with the MoJ carrying out a robust media response to the campaign, including sending journalists photos of contraband being hidden in gifts sent to inmates. Those efforts were undermined when prison officer representatives said they had never had any complaints about security screening parcels sent in to inmates.

I absolutely love this blog post entitled 'How to commission public services in 10 easy steps'. Here's a taster, but see the whole thing here:-

1. Create a waffle-doc
To justify spending a lot of money, you need a waffle-doc. Gather words from local  consultations, surveys, strategies and reports and numbers from performance indicators, demographics and trends. Collect historical information on service provision by individual organisations. Desktop research will yield enough waffle to fill several hundred pages.

2. Call it a Needs Assessment
It is not your job to question the validity of the words or their representation of reality, it’s your job to stitch them together and add a front cover. If the words have been published elsewhere, they are true. What you produce isn’t a Needs assessment. It’s a Frankenstein’s Monster of jargon, half-truths, gamed data, old data and numbers too big to be useful; made credible only by the title and careful formatting. It’s called a Needs Assessment because you Needs it. Welcome to the first stage of the commissioning cycle.



8. Get lies
To your great surprise, discover the provider has fabricated the achievement of targets and outcomes in a variety of ingenious ways. Search for the provider’s principles and find none. Learn that the provider is sticking rigidly to the service level agreement regardless of people’s actual needs. Discover that people who need counselling for agoraphobia in their own homes are being offered participative arts workshops or nothing. Only act on this ‘anecdotal evidence’ if you think someone will find out. If it only affects the people receiving the service, do nothing. If councillors, the media or board members make a fuss, show them the official performance reports to clarify any misunderstandings. It’s not your fault, you put the service user at the heart of the commissioning process.




9. Blame the provider
Issue a warning to the provider and employ more people at your end to monitor the service level agreement. Hold more meetings and ask for more performance reports. Don’t be surprised if the provider raises their costs in response. Professional performance report writers cost big money. If blaming the provider risks them blaming you back, blame the people who signed off the Needs Assessment. They signed off both the truth and the future.



10. Start again
Because it’s a circle, you start again, taking care to employ the same excellent provider as last year and putting the service user at the centre of everything you 
do write. .


Finally, here's a service that might be useful for all those remaining potential bidders out there 'Crisis Communication Planning:-

We Need a Plan!

I've heard a rumour that Napo's General Secretary is very unhappy with me and this blog. Now I have no idea why that might be, but it strikes me there's little point in shooting a messenger when the message is clear, if a little uncomfortable:-

I am a PO and NAPO activist and have tried so hard to fight this whole process. I have lost all faith in my employer, my managers, my colleagues, the political process and my union. I find myself in a frame of mind such as I have never previously experienced. I am going to progressively remove myself from my union role because it is the only honourable thing to do.

I feel really upset by the way Chivalry Road has failed to listen, provide information or understand that amongst the membership there are a number of people with transferable skills that could have been drawn on for an intelligent fight against TR instead of all the posturing and veiled promise of JR. For example in my trust alone, 2 former accountants, a solicitor and barrister all retrained as POs and would have willingly worked on projects for the union to pick apart some of the huge amount of TR information deliberately designed by the MOJ to confuse. I am tired of FT officials patronising us. I no longer wish to work with some colleagues but will have to and so, will endeavour to remain professional. 

************
This could be describing exact how I now feel and for my personal health I too feel their is no choice but to withdraw from the fight x

***********
I don’t believe for one second that people have ‘got their heads down and just getting on with it’. The reality is that there is no alternative option accept to ‘get on with it’. The way staff have been treated has been an absolute shambles. People have been allocated to CRC & three weeks later discover to their shock that jobs are being advertised in the NPS. Then told they are not allowed to transfer but have to apply.
 
NAPO and UNISON have both lost credibility and have been inactive. Sorry, active in terms of developing Probation Institute funded by the MOJ. Now, what does that says about our Unions. The strike was good but wasting precious time on how well we did – is not good enough. We have to quickly move on from this and start planning the next course of action. My concern are (and the signs are already showing) that TR issues is likely to go off the agenda as NAPO starts to plan for AGM and work out a strategy to defend PI. Frankly, I don’t give a toss about PI or the AGM. What I care about is being supported in my work and to slow/stop the privatisation of probation. No member can do this on their own – we need the Union behind us. I hope someone reads this and starts to lay out a course of action with clear cut action plan.

************
I totally agree with you. I have been fighting every step of the way, been in the service 30 year and have seen many changes but this one seems one too big to fight on my own. Why can't we contact one another and make noises, sod the unions, they don't seem to have any backbone. I keep asking unison to re ballot for strike, but don't seem to get heard. I fear that none of us are getting heard singularly. We need to get together and stage a walk out before its too late. Even the solicitors seem to have a better plan than us.

The sifting process definitely needed to have a judicial review, the criteria changed the very next day with NPS now taking all Mappa level 1 cases, what are the CRC Probation officers going to do, have they all been sent to slaughter.

**************
The competence of the commissioning of new services and the probation service reconfigurations, we are told, may be open to challenge. I recall that heady moment back at last year's AGM when Ian Lawrence enraptured his audience with his fighting talk of a letter being sent first thing the next Monday morning to get the legal process underway. He got the applause but he lost credibility as JR increasing looked like style over substance. And we still do not know if there will be a legal challenge.

***************
I feel sorry for the many good people who are active in Napo have seen a very lacklustre performance from their leadership at NapoHQ that failed to capitalise on the very real and at one time widespread anger from members. Their policy it seems is to ensure their own survival at NapoHQ rather than getting their well manicured hands dirty at the coalface. They are after all by and large not former probation staff and probably don't give two hoots if the probation service is destroyed as they will move on to other union jobs whilst others will take up a job more suited to their refined tastes at the probation institute. Isn't it about time the membership woke up and realised they are being taken for a ride and save their subs every month by telling them to either get results or ship out.

Following on from the comments highlighted in the blog post of 2nd April 'The Post Mortem', the time has surely come for a bit of plain speaking. Lets start with acknowledging at least one of the many elephants in the room:-

Is the story true that Tim Rendon applied for a management post in a CRC?

I've known about this for some time because people write and tell me stuff - but I took a decision that in the interests of fighting this bloody TR omnishambles it was necessary to make sure that nothing over-shadowed the strike and days of action, but I feel a responsibility to be as straight as possible with readers given the situation we're in and how high the stakes are. On 3rd April this comment was left anonymously:-

Well that depends on the calibre of the Gladiator the one we elected laid down his argument to collude and join the CRC as an ACO yet he is supposed to the the chair of our opposition are you aware of the context and I bet Grayling has laughed himself to sleep on that application form for several nights now and will no doubt be sharing a copy or two around with his tory chums saying look at this the national chair of NAPO has applied for a lead role in my CRC and they all fall around laughing at us like Cadburys smash advert robots! Wake up poster!

To which I responded:-

Yes a very good point and just another illustration sadly of the utter dysfunctionality of Napo at the top. A very unwise move politically in the middle of this struggle to add to all the other very unwise moves by other people at the top in Napo. 

BUT we are where we are as they say and bad as it is we have to try and get the good ship Napo, holed and rudderless as it is, patched up and back steaming full ahead in the right direction. This can happen by the membership making their voices clear in a variety of ways, including this blog.

Things have improved - the information flow, for example by direct emails to members has vastly improved. After much prevarication, things are at last moving on Judicial Review, although it may be too late. 

There's no doubt the Chair has made some unwise decisions, but while he remains Chair I think he must be supported and encouraged to make the right decisions, especially in getting a grip on the activities of the paid staff at Chivalry Road, exercise some firm leadership and make the most of Grayling's current difficulties. There's plenty of time for recriminations further down the line, starting at the AGM I suppose. 

It's a bloody mess - but it's been a mess at the top in Napo for so many years it's almost like situation normal. The breakout of free speech just might improve things.

Observant readers may have noticed that I've made mention of a dysfunctionality of leadership at the top of Napo several times. To put it bluntly, I think there are considerable tensions between Chair and General Secretary that require resolving. The AGM is a few months off yet, but it's absolutely vital we get firm leadership now and an action plan that can maximise on Grayling's current difficulties and especially with bidders getting cold feet for TR.

What might an emergency 'Action Plan' consist of? 

• Retain Harry Fletcher's services until October at least
• Employ an ethical PR company to assist Tania Bassett
• Recruit one or two front-line practitioners for media appearances
• Broaden the Campaign Committee membership
• Encourage as much dialogue as possible on new media platforms 
• Keep the membership fully informed and engaged 

In the end it's up to the membership to let Napo HQ know what they think, but I believe it would be wise to support the Chair Tom Rendon in urgently getting to grips with things at the top.

Regarding the issue of the Probation Institute, there continues to be widespread unease with plenty of people not just questioning Napo's involvement, but demanding that the union withdraws support. I suspect that the only way that particular issue will be resolved is by branches proposing specific motions on the matter.