I've just noticed that the last time I featured a blog post from the Napo General Secretary was in August, which probably says as much about the content as it does about my editorial skills. Anyway, here we have the latest blog post, somewhat belatedly referencing a year-old report from the National Audit Office and evidence from the Magistrates Association that's several months old:-
Just as was predicted at our recent AGM, the news of the current NPS pay offer has spooked CRC owners who are understandably worried that they will lose staff across to better paying employers, (well actually, the NPS to be precise). News reaches me of NPS vacancy pages on the internet receiving record numbers of hits, and examples already in of CRC staff voting with their feet despite taking a hit on continuity of service and deciding that reaching their pay maximum in a lot less time than they would have, is simply well worth it.
This is another example of the "pay war" that now blights the fragmented probation landscape and it's yet another scenario that Napo predicted ages ago once the idiots who perpetrated TR created a "free market".
Sodexo are of course one of the two big players in CRC world and the size of their organisation means that they could easily match the going pay rate (subject to the NPS offer being accepted by the unions). This is the same Sodexo who I remember asking us in the spirit of partnership some months ago to keep them posted on developments on NPS pay. Not unreasonably the unions asked for an urgent meeting to consider the implications of the NPS offer, but heard last week that this employer has just gone and done what it has always done (remember the great EVR avoidance scandal) and imposed a sub-standard award. Presumably, they hope that their employees will be so grateful to receive anything that they will not shout too loudly.
Cynical does not even begin to describe it. By the way, I am told that there are quite a few vacancies in the NPS within some of the areas where Sodexo is operating.
Magistrates join in to heap pressure on Ministers
Below are a few key headlines from the excellent response by the Magistrates Association to the MoJ "Strengthening Probation, Building Confidence" consultation that sits well against some of our key objectives in our reunification campaign.
To see the full document click HERE - but a number of key themes catch the eye:
Continuity is viewed as vital for successful rehabilitation and release. The MA stresses that continuity of the Probation Officer from sentence to release can improve desistance and help prisoners resettle. This runs contrary to the plans under the OMiC review to diminish the role of the community based practitioner.
It’s also suggested that Benches must write a report every time they sentence someone to 3 months custody or less which is especially supportive of our own and others campaigning to bring about the reduction or abolition of short term sentences.
Following on from one of the key aspects that featured at our professional session at AGM this year, the MA also says that Probation must provide bespoke interventions for vulnerable and minority groups such as women and BAME clients. Given the reluctance or inability of CRC providers to invest in this area it is something that the state must move to provide if it is serious in trying to move the recommendations of the Lammy Review into real actions.
On the need for a Licence to Practice, the Magistrates support the concept and point out that it should be mandatory for all providers, saying that it needs to be an assurance indicator of quality for the CRCs .
So does the NAO
The National Audit Office is another independent body who monitors the use of public money by our elected politicians. It never stops short of telling it like it is in terms of its findings about which particular drain the taxpayers money has gone down, and yet again it has come up trumps in identifying the mysteries of the bung money that has gone the way of the underperforming CRCs.
CLICK HERE
Coming as it does on the back of a raft of HMI Probation reports, and the strongly worded rebuke letter from Bob Neill and the JSC to David Gauke’s consultation, it is even more incredible that anyone seriously believes that a new round of CRC contracts will repair the damage.
Senedd pitches in on #reunification
Seems like it’s a long queue then, as news reaches me of the debate in last week’s plenary session at the Welsh Assembly where the Government called Probation a “national embarrassment” but its staff “heroic” as the Senedd debated the future of probation in Wales.
The decision to put Offender Management work back to the NPS is obviously welcome but anger over the apparent plans to leave interventions and programmes out there to some other bidder is as unpopular in Wales at is this side of the border.
Ian Lawrence
This from Napo News online:-
The Welsh government called probation a “national embarrassment” but its staff “heroic” as the Senedd debated the future of probation in Wales this week.
On 23rd October the Welsh Government debated the future of probation in the context of the new proposed model for Wales announced earlier this summer. Napo Cymru, and in particular Su McConnel, have worked tirelessly to keep the Senedd up to date on Napo’s position, campaigns and the view of Napo Cymru. With devolution becoming an increasingly debated topic, and particularly the devolution of justice to the Welsh government this was a well-attended and interesting debate.
Alun Davies, Cabinet Secretary for local government and public services, said that the Welsh government acknowledged that the probation service was in “chaos” around the split and was failing to protect victims. The debate focused on what has gone wrong but also on the importance of the Welsh government being involved from the outset of any future design for the service.
Leanne Wood, former probation officer, former leader of Plaid Cymru and member of the National Assembly said that probation had diminished to the point where offenders have not been monitored and public safety had been reduced with tragic consequences. She cited the murder of Conner Marshall, whose mother Nadine has campaigned alongside Napo about the dangers of TR and the impact of poor quality CRC case management. Leanne agree with Napo Cymru that to shoe horn probation into a market driven model will and has failed.
“Introduction of a profit element into the management of offender’s risk is obscene and should never have been considered in the first place”, she said. She also went on to highlight that staff have been treated appallingly in recent years.
Other Assembly members also raised the impact on staff. Julie Morgan quoted Napo Cymru and their briefings on a demoralised workforce. She called for a need to rebuild staff confidence and trust and pays tribute to officers who have struggled heroically in an impossible regime.
So strong is the Welsh government’s determination to take probation out of the private sector, even UKIP were onside in the debate. With Wales facing a very different model to England in the new round of contracts, Napo Cymru with national support will continue to lobby the Senedd on a unified public probation service. The future of probation in Wales is starting to look promising.
Tania Bassett, National Official
--oo00oo--
The Welsh government called probation a “national embarrassment” but its staff “heroic” as the Senedd debated the future of probation in Wales this week.
On 23rd October the Welsh Government debated the future of probation in the context of the new proposed model for Wales announced earlier this summer. Napo Cymru, and in particular Su McConnel, have worked tirelessly to keep the Senedd up to date on Napo’s position, campaigns and the view of Napo Cymru. With devolution becoming an increasingly debated topic, and particularly the devolution of justice to the Welsh government this was a well-attended and interesting debate.
Alun Davies, Cabinet Secretary for local government and public services, said that the Welsh government acknowledged that the probation service was in “chaos” around the split and was failing to protect victims. The debate focused on what has gone wrong but also on the importance of the Welsh government being involved from the outset of any future design for the service.
Leanne Wood, former probation officer, former leader of Plaid Cymru and member of the National Assembly said that probation had diminished to the point where offenders have not been monitored and public safety had been reduced with tragic consequences. She cited the murder of Conner Marshall, whose mother Nadine has campaigned alongside Napo about the dangers of TR and the impact of poor quality CRC case management. Leanne agree with Napo Cymru that to shoe horn probation into a market driven model will and has failed.
“Introduction of a profit element into the management of offender’s risk is obscene and should never have been considered in the first place”, she said. She also went on to highlight that staff have been treated appallingly in recent years.
Other Assembly members also raised the impact on staff. Julie Morgan quoted Napo Cymru and their briefings on a demoralised workforce. She called for a need to rebuild staff confidence and trust and pays tribute to officers who have struggled heroically in an impossible regime.
So strong is the Welsh government’s determination to take probation out of the private sector, even UKIP were onside in the debate. With Wales facing a very different model to England in the new round of contracts, Napo Cymru with national support will continue to lobby the Senedd on a unified public probation service. The future of probation in Wales is starting to look promising.
Tania Bassett, National Official
"but heard last week that this employer has just gone and done what it has always done (remember the great EVR avoidance scandal) and imposed a sub-standard award."
ReplyDeleteThe scandal I couldn't get my union, Napo, to do or say fuck all about? The scandal that tore my area apart, that ruined lives, that wrecked careers? That favoured bullies & collaborators? That led to hundreds of job losses. Yes
Ian, I do remember. And Napo's response? Legal challenge? Tribunal? Fight for the EVR you agreed at NNC?
No. You did a deal to pay for the legal costs of the severance packages & NDAs.
Don't you dare use that scenario to puff out your chest or plump up your feathers as a champion of probation. It was a disgraceful capitulation to the constructive dismissal of hundreds of probation staff, and the dismantling of the probation profession.
once the idiots who perpetrated TR created a "free market".
DeleteWho is Ian Lawrence to label look in the mirror you'll find a reflection dishonest weak collaborator. Evr jobs lost no fight nothing.
IL also says, 'By the way, I am told that there are quite a few vacancies in the NPS within some of the areas where Sodexo is operating'. If Napo was a more enabling union it would collate these vacancies and provide links for the membership.
DeleteNapo only do for napo
Deletehttps://iwradio.co.uk/2018/11/01/probation-service-covering-isle-of-wight-good-despite-staff-shortages/
ReplyDeleteDon't want to stray but this might be of interest. Overwhelming caseloads and staff shortages?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/kerri-mcauley-domestic-homicide-review-joe-storey-norfolk-murder-1-5760635
'Getafix
A domestic homicide review into the death of Kerri McAuley, murdered by Joe Storey in Norwich in January 2017, lifts the lid on a series of failings by organisations meant to protect her.
DeleteThe 32-year-old from Southalls Way in north Norwich suffered 19 injuries to her head and face following an attack by Storey, who smeared her blood on his face and took a selfie before leaving her to die.
The review by the Norfolk County Community Safety Partnership found:
Storey, now 28, violently attacked five previous girlfriends as far back as 2008, and at the time of the murder had three restraining orders to protect former partners
Ms McAuley, a mother-of-two, told police she feared Storey would kill her during an attack in July 2016. She later told a friend “I know he is going to kill me”
Storey was prosecuted for that attack, in which Ms McAuley escaped through a window, but prosecutors dropped the case
The probation service manager who took on Storey’s case was “overwhelmed” with work, failed to read his file and was not aware of the full background of domestic abuse
A risk assessment by probation services in 2008, when Storey was 18, found he had “the potential to inflict fatal harm upon his partner and unborn child”.
On Thursday the probation service admitted it did not have enough staff to do its job properly in this case.
And in the wake of the review, all agencies involved in the case said they accepted the findings and had already put some of the report’s 32 recommendations in place to stop similar mistakes in the future.
The 82-page report found that while staff “did act” none of this protected Ms McAuley and the threat Storey posed “was not recognised by the processes set up to protect her and deter him”.
Responding to the report, Ms McAuley’s mother Lesley, said: “I’m absolutely devastated. I feel that opportunities were missed. One of my main things is where was the communication between the authorities? That’s quite a huge thing, the communication between probation, the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), where was it to safeguard my daughter?
“I was reading the report but started to weep. I cried all the way through what I was reading, it’s soul destroying.
“You put it all together and they’ve failed. There’s just so much, so many failings, so many things that could’ve been done differently - it means my daughter could’ve been alive. I feel totally let down and totally disgusted.”
Meanwhile there are lots of keen new recruits or at least enquirers
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/events/1089689571208373
This event is free and for anyone interested in applying for Probation Services Officer (PSO) and Probation Officer (PO) roles within the National Probation Service, HM Prison and Probation Service.
DeleteThe day will provide attendees with an opportunity to gain a better understanding of Community Justice Learning and entry requirements for the PSO/PO roles. The day will also offer insight into the application and assessment centre process for these roles.
Attendees will hear from colleagues who undertake the different roles in the organisation and there are a number of activities to practice the skills required on the day.
Please be sure to register by 5 November 2018.
Today's Guardian:-
ReplyDeleteJails have emerged as a new frontline in fighting crime because advances in technology mean prison walls alone are no longer effective in stopping criminals, the justice secretary has told police chiefs.
David Gauke said organised gangs and networks were treating prisons as lucrative and captive markets to push drugs, mobile phones and other contraband, creating “a thriving illicit economy”.
Addressing the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) and National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), Gauke said there was a direct link between crime inside and outside prisons.
“I believe prisons have emerged as a new frontline in the fight against crime,” he said. “The fact is, new technology and sophisticated approaches mean that prison walls alone are no longer effective in stopping crime – inside or outside of prison.
“Offenders who commit crime in prison have a disruptive and often devastating impact on the prospects of those who are trying to turn their lives around and who see prison as a pivotal turning point in their lives.”
Gauke said recent successes in fighting organised crime behind bars included a joint operation by prison intelligence officers and police that broke up an organised crime gang that used drones to smuggle £1.2m worth of drugs, weapons and mobile phones into prisons across the UK.
In the last few weeks, Gauke said, 15 members of the same gang received prison sentences of up to 10 years.
The justice secretary last month announced a new financial investigations unit, which will aim to identify and disrupt organised crime gangs in prisons. The government is also spending £70m to improve the safety and stability of prisons, including equipment such as x-ray scanners to stem the influx of the drugs fuelling much of the violence.
Earlier at the APCC and NPCC summit, the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, said the UK was at risk of becoming a safe haven for organised criminals and terrorists under the government’s proposed terms to leave the European Union.
Abbott told the summit that Labour would vote down any deal that left the UK’s security and policing in a worse situation than before.
She warned that being outside Europol (the EU’s law enforcement agency), losing the use of the European arrest warrant and not having access to EU criminal databases would damage the UK’s ability to fight crime.
Abbott said: “Put simply, the government’s hard Brexit and its lack of progress on security matters contains a real risk that this country could become a safe haven for the terrorists, the Mafia-type criminals, the smugglers and the paedophiles on the run from the EU27. This is not a prospect either this country or the EU should contemplate.”
From BBC website:-
ReplyDeleteThere are "totally unacceptable delays" in transferring mentally-ill prisoners from a high-security jail to secure accommodation, a report has found. The delays at HMP Wakefield are exacerbating some inmates' conditions, inspectors said.
Chief inspector Peter Clarke will now take the "unusual step" of making a recommendation directly to the prisons minister calling for action. The government said the report would be used "to further develop" Wakefield.
The jail houses 700 men, including some of the most "challenging and complex prisoners", said the report. Inmates - who have included Soham killer, Ian Huntley and Milly Dowler's murderer, Levi Bellfield - are mostly sex or violent offenders serving long or indeterminate sentences.
Mr Clarke said the problem in transferring prisoners with mental health issues to hospital was "not unique to Wakefield" but "yet another example" of inmates not receiving the care they needed. The difficulty of dealing with prisoners with mental health problems was "acute" at Wakefield, he added.
Mr Clarke said his recommendation to the prisons minister would call for transfers to be completed under the Mental Health Act within a target of 14 days. "Because of the totally unacceptable delays . . . many prisoners across the prison estate are held in conditions that are not in any way therapeutic and indeed in many cases clearly exacerbate their condition," he said. "This is a national strategic issue to which we have made reference many times."
Off Piste but horrible story about the killing of Kerri McCauley by her violent partner. Probation Officer had caseload of 192 per cent. No time to read his file properly. Plus other stuff. There but for the grace of whomever go I at 173 per cent and have been for ages. Time we went to the papers. Union doing sweet FA as usual. They had the audacity to call at our office this week to discuss workloads when we have been like this for yonks even before TR. Managers sit back and make threats of capability. This service has gone to the dogs.Time to whistle blow.
ReplyDeleteI don’t see what this has to do with the probation officer. Whether the caseload was low or high, whether the probation service was top quality or not, the murder would have still occurred. I don’t see GP’s being blamed every time someone on their register dies, or their so called friends / colleagues starting with ‘but he/she had a caseload of 192 per cent’ !!
Delete“At the time of Miss McAuley's death the probation service was "significantly under-resourced", the National Probation Service eastern division director Steven Johnson-Proctor said. His probation officer had nearly double the expected workload, and the service tried to balance the court-imposed rehabilitation order with Storey's employment and "got that wrong", Mr Johnson-Proctor said.”
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-46060727
Well thank you Mr Johnson-Proctor, DD. Can always rely on Probation senior managers to throw their staff under the bus !!!