Saturday 3 September 2022

Words or Action?

Looking back, it all seems to have started on Yorkshire Day August 1st when we learned of the 'bread and circuses' planned for 'Probation Day'. Quite rightly this cynical bit of management distraction attracted much scorn and opprobrium from within the ranks and of course we now know it was all part of preparing the ground for the 'insulting' pay offer that finally surfaced. Forget all that bollocks about dressing up in purple and baking fucking cakes, ex prison governor Amy Rees has been very quick to assert her true colours with some threats:-
“If this pay offer is rejected at ballot, we will revert to implementing a single year pay deal in line with the civil service pay remittance guidance for the 22/23 year”. … “we are confident that we have secured a good and fair pay offer for probation service staff”.

The tepid trade union response of 'neutrality' as the ballot opens must be music in the ears of HMPPS and MoJ and appears to have caused much anger amongst staff, well if responses on this blog are anything to go by. And that's an interesting point because I can't help but notice there's only been a muted discussion over on the 'secret' Facebook group. Why is this? Is it because the demographics are different, or is it fear of the MoJ thought police who undoubtedly monitor the site? Anonymity on here is an advantage, but are the demands for industrial action just so much venting of hot air and unlikely to be carried through? 

As we all know, the track record is not good and union membership has been in steady decline and now fragmented across several unions other than Napo. There's often been criticism of Napo leadership on here, but as is often also said, a union is its members and can only reflect their wishes. Having said that, I think many members might expect rather more from their weekly briefing than routine exhortations and the offer of branch 'goodies'. What, no General Secretary's update or Chair's response to imminent probation demise? Recent days have seen stirring stuff from the Probation Institute, Russell Webster and even HMI Probation all in shock and horror of the prison takeover with 'One HMPPS'. 

There's always that worrying feeling of 'going through the motions' with Napo. Yes they issued a statement but it was weeks ago. Surely a campaign is needed for goodness sake because the threat to probation as a distinct identity has never been greater. Now is the time to pile on the pressure with barristers showing the way and now even HMCTS legal advisers. This from the Law Gazette:-  

Magistrates' court staff to strike for nine days this month          

Magistrates’ court staff will begin nine days of strike action later this month over the rollout of HM Courts & Tribunals Service’s Common Platform, which trade union officials say is ‘fundamentally flawed’.

Legal advisers and court associates ‘voted overwhelmingly’ in favour of industrial action, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union announced last month, with 93% of those voting supporting a full strike – though only 61% of the 180 balloted members cast a vote.

The Common Platform – which has managed more than 158,000 criminal cases and is now live in 143 courts, with further rollouts planned up until February – has cost £236m as at the end of March 2021 and HMCTS says it is ‘key to modernising the court system’.

But the platform has been beset by problems since its launch in September 2020 and, according to the PCS, has sent work-related stress and anxiety levels among its members in HMCTS ‘through the roof’.

The union is demanding that no new cases are inputted onto the Common Platform, that HMCTS undertakes a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for the system and assurances that there will be no further job losses arising from the system.

PCS said this month’s strike action is in response to HMCTS having behaved ‘disgracefully’ by failing to approach the union to offer a meeting, ‘continuing to gaslight members’ over the ‘success’ of the rollout of the Common Platform and threatening to refuse to pay members if they did not use the platform.

HMCTS maintains that it has engaged extensively with the union and is committed to continuing discussions over the Common Platform.

The union has now served notice on HMCTS that legal advisers and court associates will strike from 10-18 September. It has also announced that a second group of its members working for HMCTS will be balloted from next week following the decision to ‘continue the national roll-out of the Common Platform after months of inaction by HMCTS to resolve the serious and fundamental concerns raised by PCS’.

A HMCTS spokesperson said: ‘We have been working with staff and unions on the rollout of Common Platform since September 2020 and it has already dealt with over 158,000 criminal cases. The Common Platform is key to modernising the court system, making it more efficient and fit for purpose.’

--oo00oo--

I'll round this off with what Russell Webster published the other day:-

The End of Probation?

Will the merger of the prison and probation services lead to the loss of probation identity?

A new leadership model

The MoJ has recently announced what it describes as ” a new leadership model” for HMPPS. Two new Director General (DG) posts will be created; DG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a DG Operations. The two new DG posts will replace the existing DG Prisons and DG Probation, Wales and Youth posts. This is described as being the first step on “our journey to becoming One HMPPS”. The one HMPPS model is promoted as having three main advantages which:
1. Allows for a “whole sentence” approach to the way we deliver our services, ensuring offender management services are better joined up across the whole of the offender journey; 
2. Empowers decision making at a regional level, enabling our leaders to ensure that the services they offer are tailored to the needs of and improve outcomes for users of our services; and 
3. Supports the sharing of resources, knowledge, information and skills through a new organisational structure that enables better outcomes and provides value for money.

 Probation concerns

Many probation folk have complained about being part of NOMS and HMPPS, feeling that they are the Cinderella part of the organisation with the greater size of and public interest in prisons meaning that probation concerns are always seen as a lower priority. Both the Probation Institute and the National Association of Probation Officers have issued strong statements protesting about the merger.

Both organisations question both the principle of the merger and its timing. In terms of timing, they argue that Probation has undergone too much turbulence over recent years with the decision to split and semi-privatise the service under Transforming Rehabilitation doing much damage to morale and causing many experienced probation officers to leave the service. The reunification of the service is still only 14 months old and very much a work in progress. The probation inspectorate is yet to find a delivery unit providing a good service. The HMPPS merger is seen as yet another poorly thought out and rushed initiative which will have long-standing (and possibly irreversible) impact on the probation service.

In terms of more fundamental opposition to the merger, both organisations point out the very different working cultures, vocational paths and values of the prison and probation service.

Some of the points made include:
  • Probation is a profession with a long-standing requirement for probation officers to be educated to Higher Education Level 6 while there is no equivalent professional qualification for prison officers.
  • Different cultures with the probation service more focused on desistance with the prison service more concerned with a safe prison environment.
  • Different leadership styles with the prison service operating in more of a command and control structure while the probation approach champions practitioner autonomy and individual professional judgment.
Fundamental to the concerns of both organisations is the discomfort that many probation people feel in being part of the civil service under the reunified arrangements. The Probation Institute spells out its concerns:

In our view the Civil Service is a wholly inappropriate location for the Probation Service. Indicators of this inappropriateness include:
  • Ministerial control taking precedence over professional advice (recent decisions concerning recommendations in Parole Reports)
  • Severe constraints on Probation Practitioners from sharing professional concerns in public arena, including publishing
  • Lack of external scrutiny (only the MOJ funded HMIPP Inspectorates currently scrutinise the work of the Probation Service.
Prison and probation services have been trying to implement a “whole sentence” approach for many years with little success despite the obvious benefits of improved “continuity of care” on prison release. I can understand the MoJ’s thinking (although not its rationale) that this would be easier to deliver within an integrated service.

Personally, my main concern is that a merger will destroy the last vestiges of probation being a local service, trying to meet the needs of both local communities and people on probation. The current regional structure is, to me, lacking in any meaning – the probation regions do not marry up with any other relevant public services (police, local authorities etc.) with the exception of the London, Greater Manchester & Wales areas.

One of the original driving forces behind the failed Transforming Rehabilitation experiment was to get probation officers out from in front of their computer screens so they could spend more time with people on supervision. The combination of COVID and the move to a central civil service structure, compounded by persistent under-staffing has resulted in a service which spends a disproportionate amount of its time writing assessments and risk management plans rather than helping people turn round their lives.

There are many dedicated and committed probation staff but neither the current working environment nor the planned merger seem likely to enable them to convert this positive attitude into constructive practice.

Russell Webster

49 comments:

  1. BBC News website:-

    South Wales Police apology 70 years after hanging injustice

    The family of a father who was wrongly convicted of murder have been given a police apology 70 years after he was executed in a British prison.

    Mahmood Mattan, a British Somali and former seaman, was hanged in 1952 after he was convicted of killing shopkeeper Lily Volpert in her store in Cardiff.

    His conviction was the first Criminal Case Review Commission referral to be quashed at the Court of Appeal in 1998.

    South Wales Police have apologised and admitted the prosecution was "flawed".

    "This is a case very much of its time - racism, bias and prejudice would have been prevalent throughout society, including the criminal justice system," said its chief constable, Jeremy Vaughan.

    "There is no doubt that Mahmood Mattan was the victim of a miscarriage of justice as a result of a flawed prosecution, of which policing was clearly a part.

    "It is right and proper that an apology is made on behalf of policing for what went so badly wrong in this case 70 years ago and for the terrible suffering of Mr Mattan's family and all those affected by this tragedy for many years."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62637770

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'll repost this here from a comment just in elsewhere and seems significant:-

    It seems to me that the guidance states 2 to 3% in years 22/23 (which is what was offered). It goes on to state higher rises can be put forward for various reasons including staff shortages, transformation etc. so I feel disappointed that in this year of high inflation we were not offered more when PS fits those criteria; however the next two years guidance are not yet set, so we are gambling the guidance will offer less than we have been offered. Which is likely.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pay-remit-guidance-2022-to-2023/civil-service-pay-remit-guidance-2022-to-2023.

    Given that early action by PCS upon publication of the Civil Service Pay remittance guidance has had no effect 6 months on, I feel very cautious about not accepting this offer. Two or three days strike action can equal a loss equivalent to 1, 2 or 3% very quickly and having certainty about my income feels better at this stage than a gamble on a very rigid government shifting its position.

    https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/civil-service-union-sets-out-plans-for-strike-vote-on-10-pay-claim.
    https://www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/news/pcs-call-civil-service-trade-dispute-if-demands-not-met

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PCS to call civil service trade dispute if demands not met

      The COO of the civil service must give PCS guarantees on our demands on pay, jobs, pensions and redundancy pay by 5pm on 2 September or we will call a trade dispute and ballot our members on a campaign of industrial action.

      Our general secretary Mark Serwokta has written to chief operating officer Alex Chisholm this week to call for our demands to be met, which are that:

      The terms of the PCS national pay claim, submitted on 23 December 2021, are met
      The recommendations of the scheme advisory board from 2019 in relation to the cost cap breach of the civil service pension scheme are implemented immediately
      A job security agreement for the civil service and its related areas is agreed with PCS; founded on an evidence-based assessment of resourcing needs; resulting in an appropriate staffing complement; including a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies; and access to hybrid working as a redundancy avoidance measure
      That there will be no further detrimental changes to the civil service compensation scheme.

      Multiple attacks

      Mark outlined how our members are facing attacks on multiple fronts.

      On pay, despite a cost-of-living crisis, and an inflation rate standing at 10.1% in July, our members have been subjected to a civil service pay remit cap of 2%.

      On pensions, compounding their financial difficulties, our members continue to overpay pension contributions by 2% due to the refusal of the government to accept the recommendations of the scheme advisory board from 2019 following the breach of the cost cap.

      On jobs, the government has announced its intention to implement job cuts of around 91,000 across the civil service and its related areas, despite clear evidence that the service is currently under resourced in many areas.

      On the civil service compensation scheme, the government has signalled its intention to make further cuts to our members redundancy terms.

      We have raised all of these matters with ministers and officials on numerous occasions both in meetings and in correspondence. We have not received any satisfactory assurances.

      He signs off by stressing that we remain ready to engage in further talks in order to “explore whether agreement is possible and to seek to make progress where we can.”

      He has also written to heads of government departments, agencies and non-departmental public bodies setting out these trade dispute terms.

      Ahead of our national industrial action ballot on pay, pensions, jobs and redundancy pay next month, we need all members in the civil service and related areas to get ballot-ready by updating the contact details we hold for you on our membership database through PCS Digital.

      Delete
    2. snippets from above referenced link to civil service pay guidance:

      * The percentage increase will refer to overall average pay awards within the department and individuals may receive a higher or lower award, as it is for departments to target their pay award based on their own workforce and business needs.

      * Departments paying an average award of more than 2% and up to 3% must demonstrate tangible outcomes based plans

      * The Government wants to ensure that it is attracting the best and brightest to work for the Civil Service, and rewarding hard working staff fairly.

      * A robust and thorough approach will be taken to assessing cases for pay flexibility higher than 3% in 2022/23, particularly cases that seek flexibility for multiple years, for example, to deliver transformational reform.

      * the types of business case that can be submitted:

      transformational pay and workforce reform (including introducing Capability-based pay frameworks)
      to address recruitment and retention issues (including adopting the Digital, Data, Technology and Cyber pay framework)

      * Senior civil servants (SCS) are not included within the scope of this Civil Service pay guidance.

      Delete
    3. Two headline probation issues: grotty pay offer and proposed merger with prisons, are one and the same. Its all about levelling down, and they are cracking on with it. Meanwhile civil service gears grind on and on, churning out recruitment and retention strategies in wilful disregard that the pay isnt enough and the working conditions are grim. Enough is enough, as they say.

      Delete
  3. So why probation unions so silent when other are speaking up?

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  4. I don't know why people are perceiving Amy Rees's words to be a threat. All she's pointing out is if the deal is rejected, the most we can hope for is 2-3% as a one year deal because that's all the government will allow. Whereas this deal increases the top of band 4 by 13.5% over 3 years.

    Is it a good deal? No. Is it the best deal that can be achieved? Probably yes. Which is why I've voted yes.

    Talk of indefinite strikes is not realistic. Very few people would strike and the work would be covered. The only winners from that would be the employer who would save on paying some wages. The losers would be those on strike.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amy’s ’take it or leave it and we’ll give you worse’ is a threat to all probation service staff. Just as your ‘you’ll all be worse of striking’ is a threat. This is what management do, manipulate the work force and prey on their fears and weaknesses. A good leadership will support and value their staff, and HMPPS is not known for that. Yes many may not strike and many are not even in a union, but in the long term to accept a pittance of a pay deal will have harsh financial consequences on us all for years to come.

      Delete
    2. 'Take it or leave it' is a gauntlet often thrown down by employers. What sometimes happens, and increasingly so in these tough economic times, is that the workers say they want more and will, if need be, strike. Lots of recent examples of where employers have had to eat their words as they have been obliged to settle disputes by increasing their offers. I don't expect probation staff will stand and fight their corner: they haven't for decades, so why would they start now?

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    3. My point exactly, being a keyboard warrior gives a sense of kicking back and sticking it to the man. The reality of standing outside and being berated by the very colleagues you are trying to help leaves a bad taste but MOJ have always applied the divide and rule principle to great effect

      Delete
  5. Which is why strong resistance is needed. HMI Probation and the Probation Institute have spoken against the prison merger/ takeover and now unions need to publicly oppose the pay deals. It’s already becoming a PR nightmare for Amy Rees when she wanted to revel in the backslaps and fist bumps from prison leadership on her new top job. Whether a handful of people or not, images of Probation workers striking outside offices, courts, prisons and APs will not go down well for HMPPS.

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  6. From Twitter:-

    "As I plough into another Sunday of working, having been handed yet more cases with sentence plans due and RAR days to prepare, I can’t help but consider spending some of that time browsing for a new job. Being paid a decent wage really seems the bare minimum at this point."

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    Replies
    1. From Twitter:-

      "Protect your wellbeing. We're all expected to work over and above sometimes. When it becomes 'the norm' then its time to say no and start paying less attention to arbitrary targets of senior management, so disconnected from the 'coal face' that they may as well be from the moon."

      Delete
  7. Look. Let’s be honest. In Probation, you only get paid more if you get promoted and move up the bands. Any increments are going to be too low for most people.

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  8. She won't care now she is safe in her ascendance. Prison officers will all be used to do all po work soon enough any action will just accelerate the take over. It is a shame the handover of professional work has been a stealth exercise. Be careful they may impose uniforms next. Colleagues need to realise the unions have no objections because they had no foresight to what comes next. The never anticipate what if we do this this. They operate in the ignorance of whether employment terms are breached and keep it as simple as they can. The leadership won't battle it out at any level. No chance as they just need a salary. Members have central direction divide to conquer runs on. Napo at least could have spotted the health and safety legislation and used it to ensure proper workloads weightings and breaks as things once we're. Instead the creep has set in and staff working weekends for free no way should that be happening. This union is lost the employers are out of control and we will be broken soon enough no way back.

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  9. Tomorrow the new PM will be announced. It looks like it might be Liz Truss.
    She has promised an attack on unions taking strike action within her first 30 days in office.
    It might be worth remembering that Truss was minister for justice in 2017 when the government won a court case preventing prison officers, as already the case with police officers, from being allowed to strike.
    I have a feeling, particularly under the all in one HMPPS banner, any rumblings of strike action from probation might see them joining police and prison officers in that small group of 'public protection' agencies that are no longer allowed to strike.
    As probation has too often said "who's going to protect the public if probation isn't a fully functioning service?"

    As an aside I saw this 2 year (initially) job advertised yesterday in the London area.
    I'm pretty sure coming from probation would be a big advantage.

    https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/45404

    'Getafix

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Police prison officers contracts are specifically written that disciplined service has a non-strike arrangement. The unions can talk up all sorts but Picketing outside the door ain't one of em.

      Delete
    2. If you’ve ever been at HMP Frankland during the ‘industrial action’ aka everyone taking their break at the same time era, you’ll see how it’s done

      Delete
  10. There has never been strong resistance 19:38 even when the service was being forced into full privatisation , due to the current demographic, I would wager that they have had no experience of strikes or the commitment it takes to carry it on, long after the ‘fun’ of standing outside your office with colleagues walking into work pleased that they are not you....in which case we need to protect ourselves and say no to excess cases and work loads.

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  11. Anyone remember john powls, prison governor, appointed london probation chief in about 2004. Did not understand
    Probation and the least successful london boss in recent times...

    ReplyDelete
  12. So let’s build strong resistance. Is this not where unions enter the breach, because if we keep repeating defeatist opinions then we’ll never make progress.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anon 11:48 " Anyone remember John Powls, prison governor, appointed London probation chief in about 2004. Did not understand Probation and the least successful London boss in recent times..."

    No! So I looked him up:-

    Guardian 2003:-

    "A London probation service director has been sent home on special leave after it emerged that no vetting checks have been carried out on 300 new recruits to the service to see if they any have a criminal past.

    The human resources director, Richard Mycroft, will not be at work after John Powls, London's chief probation officer, ordered that fast-track checks with the troubled criminal records bureau, the police and other agencies be undertaken urgently to clear the new trainee probation officers to work with offenders.

    It is believed that the Home Office took the situation so seriously that it considered suspending the 300 recruits pending background checks. But it has decided that each will undergo a risk assessment and will only work under the supervision of a fully qualified probation officer. They are not expected to undertake home visits to offenders."

    Law Society Gazette 2006:-

    "However, one related criminal justice IT project faces further delays. When the Home Office confessed that it had yet to start the first trial of the National Offender Management Service's IT system, C-NOMIS, at Albany prison in August (see 2006 Gazette, 17 August, 5), it stated that the system would be delayed by seven weeks. But John Powls, programme director for C-NOMIS, told a small seminar at the conference that C-NOMIS is far more delayed than that.

    The start date for the C-NOMIS pilot at HMP Albany is now the beginning of December, some five months after the intended start of July. Mr Powls said the pilot is 'slightly behind where we thought we would be', claiming C-NOMIS is only 'two to three months behind'. But the Home Office confirmed in August that the start date had originally been July.

    This means the first 'live' systems will not be started until April or May next year, Mr Powls said. The projected completion time of C-NOMIS was also finally given out as the end of 2008."

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  14. It wasn’t so long ago that Richard Garside of CCJS, a long term supporter of Napo, bemoaned the fact that Napo was no longer what it once was at a time when it needed one. Napo is an organisation with members from the probation service and family courts. It is both the professional association and the trade union for the probation service and family courts. There isn’t any other organisation that comes close. If you work for probation and are a practitioner then you should certainly be a member. But don’t ask what Napo can do for you but instead ask what you and others like you can do to make Napo stronger and steer them in the right direction to save probation and get us a better deal. I encourage all practitioners to join Napo now and then work actively to strengthen the unions voice to oppose the changes and to get a decent pay deal. If this means getting rid of the current leadership by votes of no confidence then so be it but a rapid influx of new members wanting reform and change will surely make a difference but it will be a tough fight. Of course this will not be popular with armchair warriors who will be questioning whether anyone will be arsed and the point of doing anything as it’s all inevitable etc or basically saying probation staff are an apathetic complacent bunch of ‘not really my problem’ ‘ leave it alone and it’ll be ok’ merchants. Prove them wrong and fight for your independence from prison but also the civil service and keep your profession in the interest of justice. If you don’t fight you will be assimilated into prisons with no say over what you will be doing or where you will be deployed and probation training will be reduced to a 10 week basic on the job course alongside prison staff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To join Napo for a Probation Officer to pay £27.20 per month or 326.40 per year is pretty steep for a union that does very little. Zero comment from Napo on the crappy pay offer and prison takeover of our jobs.

      Delete
    2. "If you don’t fight you will be assimilated into prisons with no say over what you will be doing or where you will be deployed and probation training will be reduced to a 10 week basic on the job course alongside prison staff."

      Completely agree!
      However, the position probation finds itself in today has been coming for years, and the writing has been on the wall and clear to see for years.
      Whether its apathy by staff, weak union leadership, political meddling, todays position has mainly been reached by many just sleepwalking onto it.
      The only real opposition I've witnessed through all the changes that have been foisted on probation in recent years was to TR, and my personal opinion is that that opposition was a piss poor showing.
      Again, just personal opinion, but I think it's probably to late for probation to salvage itself or rescue itself from the jaws of the shark that is the prison service and the civil service.
      I think it's become too entwined. Probations problems are not just external, they're also rooted within.
      I think the only way back for a probation service that is independent, has it's own unique identity and free from the control and command of the prison service ideology, is to extract a stem cell of how it used to be from the ailing service of today, and regrow it from scratch some place else.

      'Getafix

      Delete
    3. Maybe it's the appropriate time to remind members that the Napo AGM is not far off Oct 13-15th. Some members with long memories might say it's beginning to feel a bit like the Scarborough AGM.......

      Delete
    4. Anon 12:24 "It wasn’t so long ago that Richard Garside of CCJS, a long term supporter of Napo, bemoaned the fact that Napo was no longer what it once was at a time when it needed one."

      I've remembered where that was - it was after the 2021 Bill McWilliams Memorial lecture and referred to here by David Raho in his valedictory speech at the London Branch AGM later that year:-

      "I am told that it is one of Napo’s aims to extract the Probation Service from the Civil Service however I hear very little about any effective action being taken to achieve this and, much like Transition itself, if this is achieved it will not be as a result of union intervention but by virtue of the efforts of other movers and shakers with greater influence. The current lack of influence and voice is lamentable.

      "As Richard Garside, a good friend of Napo, recently pointed out in his response to Mark Drakeford’s Bill McWilliams lecture, ‘Napo is not as influential as it once was’. I must admit I thought of Star Wars and the demise of the Jedi when he said this but no matter. However, what Richard said is undoubtedly true and regrettable, but that is precisely why we should seriously consider a change in direction and very definitely a change in leadership and personnel in Napo at the very top to ensure that members have confidence in its leadership and the union best represents both its members and the probation profession we all want to see continue. We have a duty and responsibility in these bleak days to keep that flame alive and to aim for a better future."

      Delete
    5. I meant to include the link for the relevant blog post 'Towards a Dystopian Future'

      http://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2021/08/towards-dystopian-future.html

      Delete
    6. I remember Scarborough

      Delete
  15. From Twitter:-

    "This is potentially more of a threat to Probation than TR. If this happens everything will be subordinated to the prison juggernaut. Anyone remember when we tried to keep people out of prison as far as possible."

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  16. You are correct but I believe that prison assimilation is a done deal..

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    Replies
    1. I don’t think it’s a done deal. The response and opposition from Probation Institute, and more importantly HMI Probation is quite significant. We also have a new PM incoming so potentially change of cabinet, justice minister and a general election looming.

      Delete
    2. I hope you are right but the already announced Senior positions would suggest otherwise

      Delete
  17. Had a quick look around the internet for alternative employment. Now getting indundated by emails all of which on a theme, one of which says "I'd be a great fit with Probation". I think not. Off to refine my search criteria. I will have to erase decades of career from my cv and invent some keen shelf-stacking skills I reckon. I can pull a pint, I'm literate, "good with people". All suggestions welcome as to how any of you have found other opportunities.
    Perhaps we could start up a side-blog with tips for knackered but pretty decent Probation staff looking to secure alternative employment

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    Replies
    1. 14:49. You are selling yourself short. WORK ETHIC! Show any of us a job which makes us feel, with every effort, that we are making a genuine difference to the lives of both people who have done bad things, and those who were on the receiving end, (the Venn diagram is basically a circle) and you will have skilled dedicated professionals who will work tirelessly. Decent pay would be a bonus.

      Delete
    2. I'm always fascinated to see the career paths of former probation officers, such as recently that of Jane Furniss. Look her up on LinkedIn.

      Delete
  18. Anyone seen the top brass pay bands on C and D. £75-100k. Are these the national roles or local roles? Pretty generous

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    Replies
    1. Band C is Head of PDU grade.

      Delete
  19. From Twitter:-

    "Aldi and Lidl recruiting! No more OASys no WMT, work hours go home with a number of reduced items. Until probation gets an identity we doomed swallowed up by HMPPS where it’s about control and no autonomy. OMiC not fit for purpose."

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  20. Is it viable? Aldi website - Manager:- "Your starting salary will be £48,490, rising to £63,245 after just 4 years. And if you work within the M25 you will also receive an allowance of up to £4,120 dependent on location."

    Deputy Manager:- "You’ll get £11.50 per hour (rising to £12.40 per hour). Plus, an additional £4.00 per hour running the store. If you’re in London, you’ll get £12.95 rising to £13.25 per hour."

    Store Assistant:- You’ll get £10.50 per hour, rising to £11.40 per hour. If you're in London, you'll get £11.95 rising to £12.25 per hour."

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  21. From Twitter:-

    "The real lack of concern for frontline staff’s mental health is the biggest concern. Well-being sessions, mindfulness and resilience training does not address high workloads, stress and lack of workers at the coal face!"

    "Retail is all about control & no autonomy. No extra brew, chat or smoking breaks, no flexi time, no bank holidays off, no set days off & likely 20 days holiday initially with no full sick pay. There are issues with the PS but be under no illusion that retail is easier or better."

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    Replies
    1. Just some interesting stats on frontline staff I was reading this afternoon.

      "With the rise in the number of offenders being supervised, one might imagine that the numbers of probation officers would have experienced significant growth. This was not the case. Between 2002 and 2006, the number of qualified probation officers fell by 4 per cent and of trainee probation officers by 30 per cent. On the other hand, the numbers of probation services officers increased by 77 per cent. This trend reflects the experience of other areas of the public sector where less qualified staff supplement or substitute for, staff with higher levels of training. ‘Frontline’ staff have therefore increased by about a fifth but the mix has altered."

      'Getafix

      Delete
    2. I worked in Retail Management for 12 years before Probation. On my feet for 12 hours a day, heavy physical work, bullying Area Managers, no TOIL, worked every Saturday. Don’t be fooled that it’s easy money. They own you.

      Delete
  22. From Twitter:-

    "Any one who thinks working in retail is better than working in the Probation service has never worked in retail . I worked in food retail before I joined the probation service and whilst we’re currently having difficulties it beats most work places hands down , without doubt."

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  23. Hi, I'm Amy Rees, You all do a fantastic job under trying circumstances. There's £155m in the kitty, but that seems to have evaporated without much being shown for it. I smile a lot and praise you, but you won't get much of a pay rise. It's been so hard fought and negotiated that even though it affects your bottom line, it's been made complicated and cumbersome, just like much of Probation's red tape and processing. I've got a new Promotion now. Phew. I won't have to be insincere on National Probation meetings and smile when telling you that the pay rise is so convoluted and hard to understand that it's in keeping with Probation's principles of Obfuscation, Division and Purposelessness. I know we've milked your goodwill until the teat is raw, but hang in there, Change is Gonna Come. It might not be good for the first 3 years, but then within those 3 years other goalposts will be moved and as I check the Excel spreadsheet at the end of year 3, I'll find how many of you are left. By the way, we've dumbed down the PQIP: the Work-Based Learning Project is now 5,000 words down from 8,500; essays are one a module, not two and there's hardly any Court placements and virtually no PAROM required because so many were failing the PQIP. Will that make for better POs- we shall see. But it's all good fun, right, guys?
    Signing off, ever smiling, yours, Amy 'crisp white shirts' Rees.

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    Replies
    1. My area is further dumbing down the qualification to dangerous levels. The new intake, starting Monday, will not have any contact with PTAs for the first 7 months of their training programme. All assessment work (now one piece of evidence instead of two) will be completed in the last 8 months. This on top of the reduction in standards you mention.

      Dangerous dangerous dangerous!!!

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    2. From Twitter:-

      "Everyone I've spoke to on the 15 month route, who are due to qualify this month, are yet to work with RSO's or MAPPA nominals. They feel vastly underprepared and all wish they had longer to train. Because they did a uni module when they were 18, they have six month less training."

      "That’s a bit worrying. I was on the 21 month program, and had RSO’s from about month five. How can they have no MAPPA nominals??

      I’m not hugely surprised though. So much of the job is trial and error, which is pretty weird when the ‘error’ could be an SFO or recall."

      "I'm still yet to do RSO training at 15 month in! Everyone's experience of the programme seems very different. Not sure if it's my office, but I'm yet to meet a PO who likes their job! Half dropped out at 6m. I've not got a Plan B, however!"

      "My office has quite a few PO’s, who all seem pretty disenfranchised but genuinely believe in what they do. It’s really sad to this chipped away though and one my absolute stalwarts has been talking of leaving. Same pay, less stress, no out of working. No brainer really."

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    3. From Twitter:-

      "My experience was the same! I had a IIOC case a week before I qualified. I never managed a MAPPA nominal. I qualified and was placed in a city office, exposed to just about every kind of case. I had my first oral hearing in the first month. I felt so overwhelmed."

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  24. Just looking for a bit of light relief, I have got HIGNFY on iplayer, its running now. A bunch of people who enabled and and promoted Johnson, now trying to retrieve themselves. Too late to retreive themselves, I am thinking. It is no use wringing your hands after the event, I wouldnt feel this angry, or be writing this here if I was free to make any comments about the apalling governement, Johnson and his successors, in public, but it seems I cant, being a civil servant and all, and that is where we all in Probation are. Some of us have been culpable to this mess, some of us not, but none of us can call it out , except here. Grumpy

    ReplyDelete