Congratulations must go to Private Eye and especially reporter Solomon Hughes who continues to delve into the deliberately opaque world of probation privatisation in order to expose the omnishambolic mess it has become. Thanks to some serious journalistic legwork he has discovered that a staggering 2,714 staff have been shed by the privateers whilst at the same time benefiting from a government handout of £500 million.
In a fascinating podcast linked to the article, Hughes explains that the story is generally 'under-reported' and the money 'not openly-declared'.
£Half-a-billion of taxpayer money.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the amount of taxpayers money involved is indeed criminal, still the most insidious aspect of privatisation is, in my view, the 'go ahead' implied that a bunch of profiteers are able to treat Orders of the Court (that belong to the Court) as a plaything to implement or not according to whether any cash is going to be made out of it. In my view this remains the true scandal which MUST come to light. Community Orders have been terminated by private companies without being completed, because to have returned them to Court would have resulted in financial penalty. Community Orders do not belong to French catering companies or the like.
ReplyDeleteAgreed - this aspect of probation work has largely been ignored in reporting since the whole Transforming Rehabilitation scandals began in 2012.
DeleteIt is obviously connected with the way judicial proceedings, or certainly judicial outcomes have seemingly too often become a mere executive function.
This is a major (perhaps ultimately the major) issue keen legal Parliamentarians might well ask some direct questions of Ministers
Well done Jim keep it going. This exposure of the Tory agenda to spend bailout cash on private companies for much less provision is amazing. We all know trusts had less operating cost than the folly privateers. This money bonanza is not ever going to provide comparable services than a unified service. They just don't want decent provision it's a sop. Why does Napo or unison ever publish any properly researched facts. They only comment after others events or reports. The government policy has been enabled by complacency.
ReplyDeleteThe other aspect is the way staff are treated. With the NPS it is no coincidence the pay deal was targeted for november last pay date before Xmas when exhausted and poorly paid staff are in a position yet they can pay that ludicrous amount to privateers. Then insult to injury the privateers do not match this low increase. The whole thing is a shambles CRC and NPS and those colleagues who now spout business mantras..... I wont even go there.
ReplyDeleteYet no-one in the media - or anywhere beyond a few select web pages - seems concerned when a report by HMI Probation contains observations like these:
ReplyDelete"The CRC’s overarching vision is unclear. The two key ingredients of quality services – addressing reoffending needs and managing risk of harm – are not well integrated in Northumbria."
"Managers focus too much on whether staff have complied with processes"
And when we read that "Just over half of male cases examined were assessed as domestic abuse perpetrators", it makes the blood run cold when we also read:
"In almost two-thirds of cases inspected, the quality of reviewing practice, when it came to focusing on keeping other people safe, was not good enough."
So (2/3 of 50%) of Northumbria CRC cases leave "other people" unsafe. Based on the figures provided, that suggests that in over 1,200 cases there are victims of Domestic Abuse left at risk e.g. partners, ex-partners, children, other family members.
And this Government is using vast sums of taxpayer money - on the sly - to financially prop up such pisspoor organisations rather than concede TR was a bad, mad, dangerous ideological social experiment.
An inspection of Northumbria Community Rehabilitation Company, Nov 2018.
I find this news shocking, and I'm no mathematician but the number of staff shed if calculated at just £25k pa comes to just short of £80m less in wage bills a year.
ReplyDeleteThe magic money tree must have flourished with this year's hot and dry summer.
'Getafix
Maybe they need to pay back the £80m Modernisation Fund money?
DeleteHere is another Link to The Private Eye article featured that may enable a little easier to reading and sharing.
ReplyDeletehttps://tinyurl.com/yaepyd7l
Or just buy a copy of Private Eye as a way of saying 'thank you' to Solomon Hughes for his journalistic efforts in trawling the records, compiling the spreadsheet, searching for the truth & breaking the news.
DeleteYes - I have long had my subscription.
DeleteStrangely early memories of buying it connect to my Liverpool Family Court Welfare work days.
At that time not all newsagents stocked it, but the bloke in Water Street outside the County Court did.
On the rare occasions I needed to attend - I had one case that made many occasions, I always bought a copy, I somehow felt as if I was not completely an organisation man with it folded into my jacket as I bowed on entering the court room.
That would have been around 1976/7.
They usually have special subscription offers around Christmas - as a first this year I have bought the annual also, I have not yet come across any probation references in the annual - but am only a few pages in so far.
I bought the cartoon history for my wife - a keen drawer - a few years ago.
https://www.subscription.co.uk/private-eye/store/subscription
Still shocking if not all that surprising . Where IS the money?? Interserve for one have been quick enough to take up the tens of millions of extra cash for each of their CRCs and yet their response? To SLASH the numbers of qualified and experienced staff , instead pimping them out to the NPS, claiming a need to save money! One can only hope that we may yet see their executives on the stand once their 'cost cutting' inevitably ends up costing lives as they roll out their plans for a largely Probation Officer free Probation Service. What's that? People have died? Well that is regrettable, of course, but we're sure you recognise that our first responsibility has to be toward our shareholders and our own bonus payments. WHERE'S THE MONEY INTERSERVE???
ReplyDeleteIf Interserve 'can't afford' to provide an adequate Probation service with a (contractually stipulated) sufficient number of suitably qualified staff, even with many millions of pounds in additional funding, then it has to be time for them to hand the service back. The impending collapse of their wider business is obvious enough to even the most casual of observers - from £7 per share to 28 pence in five years - and they can't be allowed to continue to place everyone's safety at risk by siphoning off public money meant to shore up their purple futures folly in a futile attempt to cover the spiralling cost of their incompetence and hubris in blundering around in other areas of business they plainly similalry have no clue about
ReplyDeletewww.building.co.uk/news/trade-body-tells-subbies-to-go-to-clients-direct-to-get-paid-on-interserve-jobs-/5096857.article
ReplyDeleteA leading trade body for subcontractors has told members working for Interserve to seek contractual assurances they will be paid by the contractor’s client in the event of its collapse.
DeleteRudi Klein, chief executive of trade body Specialist Engineering Contractors Group (SEC), also revealed that he has advised members not work for Interserve if possible.
Speaking at Building Live last week, Klein said: “In the last few days I’ve had numerous calls from companies in the industry saying they have been asked to work for Interserve and what can they do.
“I’ve said: ‘Well you can turn down the job. But if you feel you have got to do it tell the client they need to pay you directly if Interserve can’t pay you and agree that with Interserve to make it kosher legally, or get the client to set up a project bank account’.”
Last week SEC also called for a regulatory body to oversee procurement and payment practises in construction, as well as promote SME engagement and drive digitisation.
On Friday Interserve shares dropped to a new 34-year low, at 27p, following Kier’s announcement that it was looking to raise £264m in a rights issue.
Interserve announced last month it was heading for a £650m year-end net debt pile following multiple write-downs associated with four outstanding energy-from-waste jobs.
In April the contractor wrapped up a near-£300m refinancing deal.
A spokesperson for Interserve said: “Following the successful completion of the refinancing in April, [Interserve] has traded robustly in some challenging markets and continued to win significant new contracts.
“We are working with all stakeholders including contractors to put in place the right standards, services, governance and financing to deliver a stronger future for Interserve’s customers.”
Interserve share price continues to decline, dipping below 26p this morning, currently at 26p.
DeleteNot looking good folks.
Oh the idiotic optimism of the greedy during our long hot summer...
30 July 2018: "Ian Mulholland, Interserve’s Managing Director (public sector) leads Interserve’s justice business, which includes five CRCs.
He said: “The Government outlined its plans last Friday (27/7/18) and announced the start of a consultation process in which they are inviting feedback, and which closes on September 21st. Until that point, these are just proposals, but the proposals represent a positive step.
“In short, the Government, in agreement with the providers, proposes to reduce the contract length and have in place new CRC contracts by the end of 2020. The proposals also include exciting developments with regard to our Through the Gate provision"
How the 'cream' rises to the top, or you can never get rid of those 'floaters'?
DeleteOctober 2009 - "Prison governors face sack over scandal of swapped inmates...
Ian Mulholland, who ran Wandsworth, and Nick Leader at Pentonville were found to have been temporarily transferring difficult and vulnerable prisoners between the two jails just before inspection visits. Three other senior managers at the prisons, two of London's biggest, have also been charged with disciplinary offences."
13 Jan 2011 - "Two of the country’s leading prison governors could be reinvestigated after an email showed their involvement in the transfer of a vulnerable prisoner - from Streatham - who later killed himself.
The original investigation was prompted by a report from the former chief inspectors of prisons, who found five Wandsworth inmates were moved to Pentonville for the duration of an inspection, and six were moved in the opposite direction... But an email – sent from Mr Leader, who went on to be governor of the top-security Whitemoor jail, to Mr Mulholland, now head of custody in Wales – revealed the pair agreed to move another prisoner, Christopher Wardally, back to Wandsworth the day after its inspection finished."
2015, Prisoners' Education Trust conference - "Finishing with Ian Mulholland, Deputy Director, Public Sector Prisons, National Offender Management Service, we heard that 24% of efficiency savings have been made three quarters of the way through the benchmarking process. Whilst last year saw a stark increase in incidents of self harm and suicides, Ian argued that this cannot be simply equated with the reduction in the numbers of prison officers being recruited."
April 2016 – October 2016
Director of Public Sector Prisons, MoJ
October 2016 – Present
Director of Justice, INTERSERVE PLC
January 2018 – Present
Managing Director, Public Sector, INTERSERVE PLC
IRV sp now less than 25p... check parachute...
DeleteEmbattled outsourcing mid-cap Interserve PLC (LON:IRV) was under pressure again in late afternoon trading, down 8.9% to 25.50p as analysts fretted again about the firm’s survival in the wake of contracting peer Kier Group PLC’s (LON:KIE) move on Friday to raise cash to prop up its balance sheet.
DeletePublic servants need to realise that the purpose of the exercise is to siphon money out of the public sector into the hands of private individuals. Once you realise this, you will see that the whole exercise has been an unqualified success. Suggestions that changes will 'put it right' fails to acknowledge that, in terms of the intended outcome, it was never 'wrong'. This is like hoping that a burglar will help mitigate your losses by returning the stolen property.
ReplyDeleteThe FT has a headline today stating that all government contractors are operating a "bankrupt" business model.
DeleteCan anyone access it, it's paywall?
Some of Britain’s largest government outsourcers — including Capita, Serco, Interserve and Mitie — have “bankrupt” business models and worryingly weak balance sheets, according to a firm used by Whitehall departments to vet private sector bidders for outsourcing contracts.
DeleteAll four companies, whose services range from managing detention centres to cleaning government buildings, have financial health profiles that are “strikingly similar” to Carillion in the years before its collapse in January, with positive profit margins or cash, but little on their balance sheets to fall back on should the cash flow evaporate, said Company Watch.
“Our analysis points to the conclusion that the business model adopted by the major listed players in the market is essentially bankrupt,” said Jo Kettner, chief executive of Company Watch.
The analysis is used by government departments, including the Ministry of Defence, to help it decide which companies should be given contracts. It will raise fears that a sector that emerged out of Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s privatisation drive and pushed forward by New Labour under Tony Blair is vulnerable to another Carillion-style collapse.
The UK outsourcers are battling to rebuild their balance sheets following a series of profit warnings and contract blunders that have led to sharp falls in their share prices over the past five years.
Capita, Serco, Interserve and Mitie disputed Company Watch’s analysis, arguing that their recoveries were on track and that they had only suffered in the UK because contract risks had increased since 2010, when the government decided to extract more from its suppliers.
Another outsourcing contract ended early and to be retendered - "Disclosure and Barring Service"
ReplyDeleteVia Twitter
https://twitter.com/charleyallan/status/1069650049188208640
All staffing Interserve been reassigned roles. Only one office serving whole of Liverpool on a industrial estate. No new case management system as promised, where has all the money gone, we'll all be glad when the govt takes it back, can't happen soon enough.
ReplyDeleteSo Interserve's Ian Mullholland has form for abusing Prisoners to fiddle inspections?! What the hell is he doing anywhere near Probation..Oh wait...of course...he has form abusing prisoners to fiddle inspections. I guess that's seen as a qualification for running privatised probation.... https://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/oct/20/prisons-transfer-scandal-pentonville-wandsworth
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/interserve-seeks-subbies-for-a737-contract
ReplyDelete