Have you noticed how quiet things are at the moment? I was struck by something tweeted recently by Professor Paul Senior:-
Epitaph for probation 'In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends' Martin Luther King, Jr
Silence from the Probation Association and the Probation Chief's Association. Silence from the Chiefs individually as they quietly look after their future's and apply to lead one of the 21 new Community Rehabilitation Companies.
Unfortunately feels like ACO/Directors/CO are fobbing staff off where we are. Feathering own nest. This is a bad idea all over, completely void of reason, so much evidence against this that. it will cost more/decrease service quality, lead to more SFO's and eventually just end up in the hands of private contractors.
ReplyDeleteIt is time to plan to things.
ReplyDelete1. What will my response me to the coming of outsourcing or what will I do to stop/delay/minimise it?
2. How might I contribute to the furtherance of the spirit of probation?
I consider that spirit has been dying since the inexact words, that formerly described its function - 'advice assist and befriend' were removed from the legislation that determined how probation service(s) personnel should approach those they supervise on behalf of the state, always recognising that ultimately, in spite of those words, probation service(s) had/have a higher duty to maintain the peace, which inevitably involves the deprivation of liberty for some people who happen to be resident in England or Wales now.
Above I typed a dyslexic "to", which my shoddy proof reading failed to discern.
ReplyDeleteThe first sentence was meant to read "It is time to plan two things."
LAURUS has spoken - gobbledegook about grief not how we are going to cut the spend by one third and do much more work than at present or how we will determine pay and redundancies.
ReplyDeleteI was so stunned at the crassness, my comments are not very coherent - I suspect Russel Webster won't publish them - time will tell.
I initially thought LAURUS was some consultant rather than the name of a newco Probation Mutual who have apparently appointed a chief executive ALREADY.
I have not investigated thoroughly, and hope I am having a nightmare from which I will wake up soon.
It seems that the probation trusts of "Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside" - public organisations - have already taken decisions to form a new organisation - yet I have seen nothing reported - who was at the meetings of those trusts - what do the Napo and Unison branches say, what is the state of consultations as - national probation staff terms and conditions are affected?
These are just spontaneous first thoughts - they may be wrong in detail - and certainly are not all that is to be said.
Presumably they are planning to contract to carry out work that is not even statutorily required yet as the Offender Management Bill has not even been enacted, let alone had an implementation date set.
Please can some folk employed in those trusts tell us more.
http://www.russellwebster.com/five-stages-to-spinning-out-a-probation-mutual/#comment-21809
Netnipper: This sophistry about how the five stages of grief, formulated to understand personal loss, is now allegedly applicable to organisational change – the 'spinning off of a mutual'. What absolute self-serving baloney. So the fault lies not in neoliberalism, not in zero-hours contracts, lower wages, not in fewer holidays and poorer protections in the event of sickness. No, none of these things matter – what matters most is the worker's ability to come to terms with the loss of all these conditions of service – getting over the anger and depression and reaching the hallowed ground of Acceptance. And those who fail to negotiate the five stages in a reasonable time frame, will be the morbid ones, pathologically unable to come to terms with change. This is Orwellian doublethink, not a process of grief – a process of self-indoctrination. By all means let those who want to climb greasy poles, climb; let those who see their future in Vichy, go there; let those who know the price of everything, pawn their birthrights...but save us from the lies and hypocrisy and crass justifications. The death of probation is not by natural causes. Reminds me of Shelley's Mask of Anarchy: 'I met murder on the way...'
ReplyDeleteFantastic post
DeleteI am wrong - thanks to Paul Senior for correcting me. Thus far Zaurus is a Mutual training organisation only - sorry if you were mislead.
DeleteRob/Netnipper,
DeleteI agree - a brilliant contribution and it will help enormously with my next post!
Thanks guys,
Jim
Outstanding post. Every word rings true. On the silence of the 'chiefs' CC Colton said, "when you have nothing to say, say nothing".
DeleteWe now live in The Land of Bullshit. The 5 stages of bullshit.
Right from the start the Probation Association, Probation Chiefs Association and the majority of probation senior management in England and Wales have failed to defend the probation service and our jobs. They are part of the problem and are not fit to fill these positions; they neither represent the views of our 18000 staff or the ethos of our 106 year old service. The truth is that many of them have been actively and willingly working with the MoJ to plan and implement our demise. Paul Senior is far to generous to refer to the probation senior management & co as 'our friends', when they have been as sneaky and underhanded as Judas. The only difference is that when probation is dead and we are all unemployed, they'll show no remorse for what they did for their thirty peices of silver.
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult to come to any other conclusion.......
DeleteWhat I really don't understand is how staff believe it will be OK in the future. That there might be a different name over the shop but the work is the same.
DeleteFrom my particular position in the organisation I have spoken to many people , friend and foe and there really is going to be a massive culture change.
As I have heard it said "There WILL be life jackets, but NOT enough for everybody!" .
So as the band plays on , there will be staff carrying on as the ship sinks into the cold grey depths
Providers are not prepared to pay for Trust staff T&C's ...FACT.
There will be a race to the bottom(pardon the pun!) and whether you are PSO/PO/ACO/CEO you may reach the safety of the lifeboat , but what will be there for you? NO providers can have dual salary schemes ! No provider will raise the wages of their own staff.
The future is bleak , even as the vultures pick over the barely cold carcass of this once fine service, we ALL stay silent , DO nothing and complain. It is clear there will be no support from senior managers,PA, PCA, MP's or the unions as they plan their own futures - we are all DOOMED.
Yes that's my reading of the situation too. Very succinctly put and I'm quite likely to quote what you say.
DeleteThanks,
Jim
Your post title is pretty apt today Jim, indeed it has all gone very quiet from those up above. The office seems to be full of fleeting and unfamiliar suit types coming and going from meetings with the bosses of which we know nothing. Feels like us lowly officers are hammering away to make sure targets continue to get met like idiots whilst we are being well and truly sold down the river.
ReplyDeleteTurkeys; Christmas
ReplyDeleteIt really has all gone quiet over there - woeful lack of leadership and communication - even if nothing's happening, tell people that nothing's happening. Surely you don't need an NVQ5 in management to know that. Finally puts the lie to all those statements of values though doesn't it? Not sure why anyone still bothers with all those performance things. Four star, one star, who cares - no-one I've ever met outside of trust head offices - certainly not stakeholders (dread word).
ReplyDeleteHow about these for some super crass tweets from Sarah Billiald who speaks for the Chiefs, first on the NPS appointments, then generally:-
Delete"I think it's important to have strong leadership in place to lead a huge transition and so welcome these appointments"
"I think people are concentrating on local leadership - well that's what I'm doing eg lots staff engagement & communications"
Makes you want to weep at the sheer vacuousness of some chiefs - mind you she never was a probation officer, but an accountant ffs!
Whatever happened to talk of an 'institute of probation' or some such professional body?
ReplyDeleteIt's still a possibility and I think has the support of the PA and PCA. Prof Paul Senior is known to be particularly enthusiastic.
DeleteNapoPaul Senior mentioned a probation institute possibility in his excellent speech at Brighton tonight
DeleteWhat is particularly irritating is when Trust CEO get up and say "we punch above our weight"
ReplyDelete....Well the punch drunk journeymen are here to take the prize and where are you now ?
Some honesty is needed here (probation [sic] 'values') in that we all know chiefs have been told to 'button it'. Sue Hall, the only one to stick her head above the parapet but now like other CEO is now focussing on 'mutuals', a Chris Grayling (going nowhere,lets keep the lefties with us, palm off.
ReplyDeleteAs for 'targets' the implied threat is that big brothers HR 'selection process' will be keen to shed the dissidents and shirkers...and by the way don't be sick!
Jim, I have reluctantly decided to take issue with you because I follow your blog and respect your views and your willingness to say what many of your colleagues are thinking. But you are both wrong and unfair in your criticism of the leadership of probation over the Government’s changes.
ReplyDeleteThe Probation Association, Probation Chiefs Association and many Trusts and individual leaders made their opposition to many of the proposed changes absolutely clear during the consultation period. They continue to provide candid advice as the changes are implemented, but in private.
It has to be in private for two very good reasons. We live in a democracy and the Government of the day has the right not only to introduce new policies but to expect public servants to implement them to the best of their ability. Think back to the changes that governments of the past have made that you supported. How would you have felt then if senior public servants had actively worked to frustrate them?
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the changes senior leaders have a personal responsibility to the public and to service users to ensure that they are made as sensibly and safely as possible. It is only through providing private advice whilst working constructively with officials at the MoJ that this will be achieved. Anything less would betray everything that probation stands for.
Senior leaders across the country are at the same time encouraging and supporting staff to consider forming mutuals (Trusts themselves are debarred from doing this) and working hard to ensure that staff are treated as fairly and transparently as possible as the changes work through.
Nothing I have said is meant to suggest that unions and their members should not continue to oppose policies they disgaree with, and seek to represent their members views and interests.
But please don’t let your frustration over Government policy lead you to blame the Probation leadership. They are doing their duty to everyone involved as well as they can in very difficult circumstances.
Whatever the rights or wrongs?
ReplyDeleteSenior leaders should be standing up and being counted for, leading the service and its employees forward. Not placing a foot in both camps ready to jump into which ever one looks best when the time comes.
If senior leaders dont want the critisism they seem to be attracting, then be more open and informative with the work force, and concentrate on whats right and fight against the wrongs.
I know your comments were directed to Jim, but I find them offensive.
Dont blame senior leaders for government policy. Well thats hard to do when it appears senior leaders keep having discussions with government that they are unwilling to share with the rest of the service.
The phrase 'grow a backbone' comes to mind.
What YOUR colleagues are thinking?
ReplyDeleteJust about sums it up!