Friday 24 February 2023

Probation in Wales

An interesting article published yesterday by Walesonline. Regarding the first guy interviewed - no mention of a PSR? Sentenced without one perhaps? Note the absence of any reference to 'POPs' - a sure sign Wales wants to go its own way methinks.

'Most people would run away from them - we try to run towards them': The probation officers working with Wales' offenders

They try to help people who break the law change their lives, while protecting the public from harm, and are always thinking about risk.

A convicted offender is having his first meeting with a probation officer in Swansea after being sentenced for stealing a substantial sum of money from his employer. He was given an eight-month sentence suspended for two years, meaning he will stay out of prison as long he complies with the Probation Service. He must also carry out 130 hours of unpaid work as part of a two-year community order.

The man is in his late 20s and it is his first offence. He sits down opposite probation officer Laura Gray for an induction meeting - and so begins another case for the Swansea Neath Port Talbot probation delivery unit, one of six such units in Wales. Housed over three floors of a dark-bricked office building on Orchard Street, the Probation Service works with prisoners - both those locked up and recently released - and those handed community orders for lesser offences. There are probation officers based at Swansea Prison and also in the city's courts.

As of November 2021, the Swansea Neath Port Talbot unit's total caseload was 1,900 - 977 people on community sentences, 525 individuals being supervised post-release from prison, and 398 still in custody. The service sets out to protect the public from harm and also help rehabilitate those who pass through its doors. Assessing and updating risk is a vital component. "You've got to come with an open mind and not be judgemental," says Laura. "You're working with them because you're trying to prevent future victims. With support, most people have got the ability to change their lives and be functioning members of the public."

Back in the meeting room, Laura explains to the first-time offender that a colleague of hers will be assigned to him, so she fills out some but not all of a lengthy pack which will form the basis of a sentencing plan. She takes contact details, where he is living and with whom, whether he works and if so doing what, and what both parties can expect from one another over the course of the next two years. She also asks him if he understood the sentence and how it came about. There is a pause. The man provides the information. It turns out the crime was committed in London a number of years ago.

She tells him that a home visit will take place in the next couple of weeks, and stresses that keeping in touch and turning up to appointments on time are key. "The whole point of being on probation is to support you so that you don't end up in this situation again," she tells him. The unpaid work will be arranged in due course and might involve litter picking, cutting grass or painting. It emerges that the man's wife lives overseas and that the plan was for him to join her. That won't be happening now for two years.

A few minutes later we are in another meeting room where Laura is talking to one of the 34 mostly medium and high risk offenders she has on her caseload. He lives with his partner, their daughter and a new-born son. There have been some noise complaints from a neighbour, which are being looked into. Laura asks the man, who has assault convictions, about his drinking - he previously had to wear a sweat-sampling alcohol tag around his ankle for 72 days - and is encouraged by his response. "Seeing people drunk around Swansea, I think, 'That could be me.' I just want to be with my family," he says.

Laura says he has engaged well with social and housing services, and that his risk category has dropped from high to medium. She is constantly asking questions, assessing risk and, it seems to me, looking for solutions. She tells me later: "I know so much about him, he has talked to me about things that have happened in the past, I have been to his house, I have met his partner. You become so involved with these people. You've got to be constantly curious." She says "professional curiosity" is integral to the role.

The probation service runs programmes and works with organisations to deliver others. They cover substance misuse, employment and housing support, mental health services and domestic violence awareness, among others. Running the service in Wales costs just under £80 million per year. There is additional probation officer training for managing sexual offenders, which is managed in partnership with police.

Laura, 32, qualified as a probation officer seven years ago. It was while studying sociology and criminology in Manchester that she first came into contact with the probation service - in what was then called Strangeways Prison. "I thought it was really interesting," she says. Returning to Swansea after graduating, she volunteered at Swansea Prison and later completed a 15-month professional qualification in probation.

Asked if there was one thing that really offenders really benefited from in their lives to make progress, she replies: "It's hard to say one thing. Having employment gives someone that sense of purpose, and a structure to the day. Support networks are such a huge thing. Then accommodation is another factor - it makes everything more settled for them."

Laura says cases where offenders have turned their lives around were very rewarding. She gives an example of a man who had been in and out of prison since he was 17 and had now hit 50. Prison, she says, had become much harder for him. She says he has dealt with his drug problems, that he has a flat, and has re-established contact with his adult children. "He came out (of prison) with a different mindset," she says. "He really worked with us. We are helping somebody to help themselves. That's when the satisfaction comes."

Equally, there was disappointment in other cases, particularly when someone's actions or behaviour warranted being remanded to custody. "It's difficult not to feel we have not let them down in some way," says Laura. "We do try to work with people, but it's ultimately down to them to decide if they do it."

Kristian Hooper, 36, qualified as a probation officer in 2020 after stints as a play worker, youth worker and drugs charity worker. "I always had an interest in criminology and psychology, and had a higher education certificate in counselling," he says. A good probation officer, in his view, had to be able to build a good rapport with someone and have an understanding of complex needs. His 26-odd cases are mainly high and very high risk. "It is a difficult job," says Kristian. "You do read about what people have done, which can be pretty horrific, but you need to be able to compartmentalise that. Most people would run away from them - we try to run towards them."

He says 60-70% of his time was spent on reports, the remainder on meetings with offenders. Trying to prioritise his work when "multiple things" were happening with "multiple cases" could be challenging. "It is relentless," says university graduate Kristian. But it suits him. "I don't think I would ever have a normal job," he says.

The Swansea Neath Port Talbot probation delivery unit was scrutinised by HM Inspectorate of Probation in autumn 2021, when Covid and the discovery of asbestos in the office building severely hampered operations. "The impact of both these events cannot be underestimated," said a foreword to the report by chief inspector of probation, Justin Russell. To have "kept the show on the road", he added, was to the credit of senior managers. But the report said the quality of work undertaken with people in probation was weak, and that there were shortfalls across all elements of case supervision. The unit was rated "inadequate".

Strengths were cited though, such as relationships with partner agencies, the positive impact of certain specialist teams, and senior management's high profile and commitment to improve. Inspectors made six improvement recommendations, and an action plan with target dates for completion was drawn up in response. Staff and managers at the unit say the disruption during Covid of face-to-face meetings with people in probation was immense.

"We were operating in a different way, which is inherently challenging," says head of the unit, Deanne Martin. "The impact of not being able to see people and rely on technology instead - it worked for some people, but not for others. Risk assessment is a really intuitive process. You need all your senses." Deanne has worked for 20 years in probation. Her role includes liaising with police, prisons, and councils, attending safeguarding meetings, and understanding the needs of staff and what pressure they might be under. A recall to custody - something not taken lightly, she says - or returning someone to court, would require her attention.

The unit has 139 staff, around three-quarters of whom are probation practitioners and senior probation staff. "Our colleagues come from all different walks of life, and for some people it's a second career," says Deanne. "It's still a vocation for a lot of people - they're really committed to it. "The most important this for us is protecting the public. Having a real emphasis on risk and understanding risk is really important. We have a dual focus on rehabilitation. That takes a lot of skill, time and effort. You've have got to be optimistic, but not unrealistic."

Deanne says she has seen people "come out the other side" that she didn't expect to. "That's wonderful," she says. "I see the worst and I see the best, and often I see the best." She adds: "I do think probation staff do an incredible job. It's a field which is really quite skilled. It's not always visible, but they really are true public servants."

Trainee probation officers joining this coming September will earn £23,637. Once qualified, the salary increases to £35,130 plus allowances.

There were 240,674 offenders supervised by the probation service in England and Wales at the end of last September, 2% more than a year previously. All these offenders have different needs. At a team meeting early in the day at the Swansea Neath Port Talbot office, a member of staff says one man she supervises rang her 10 times before 9am.

Laura is taking the meeting and goes through a list of questions, with input from a senior probation officer. Numerous acronyms are bandied about. A more recognisable word, "pancakes", also crops up a couple of times. I'm reminded later that it is Shrove Tuesday - considered in Christianity as a day for confessing and being absolved of sins.

Richard Youle
Local Democracy Reporter

Richard is covering Swansea and Carmarthenshire as part of the BBC's Local Democracy Reporter project, which is aimed at enhancing reporting from local authorities across the UK. He previously worked as a senior reporter covering Swansea.

--oo00oo--

It is of course official Napo policy to campaign for the probation service in Wales to free itself from the stranglehold of the MoJ and HMPPS. This was recently published:-

NAPO CYMRU PRESSING THE CAMPAIGN FOR DEVOLUTION

Here at Napo News we are always pleased to receive information about particular campaign initiatives that are being undertaken by our Branch activists. This just in from Napo Cymru.

Greetings from Wales! Siwmae! Napo Cymru branch reporting in.

In 2022 Napo Cymru won the support of NAPO to campaign for the devolution of Probation in Wales, and with it the uncoupling of Probation from the prison system.

Before this, Mark Drakeford, First Minister for Wales, argued for this in his Bill McWilliams lecture. Gordon Brown in his recent report on democracy and devolution, cited Probation and Youth Justice as functions that should be devolved Report of the Commission on the UK’s Future. A torrent of painful media reports is revealing the utter failure of the Probation Service under its current management.

Napo Cymru have been busy on the campaign, as mandated by you.
  • We are collaborating with the Wales Centre for Crime and Social Justice preparing a raft of evidenced based proposals for an alternative view of a future Probation Service in Wales.
  • We are linked up with other Justice Unions and have recently gained commitment from Welsh government for regular Welsh Justice Unions meetings and communications.
  • Napo Cymru has promoted a motion put to the Welsh Labour Conference in March: “Conference mandates the Welsh Labour Government to, as a matter of urgency, work with the UK Labour Party to progress the devolution of probation to Wales, along with other elements of the justice system including youth justice, removing it from the current unhealthy grip of the Westminster civil service and the prison service.”
  • Napo Cymru Vice Chair Su McConnel is a contributor to the Fabian Society’s publication “Solidarity, Equality and Opportunity: creating strong social justice systems for women” which was launched in Westminster in January. She argues for the devolution of Probation to Wales, and also for the return of full Pre-Sentence Reports.
Our work locally

We are of course, getting on with the day job of being a stalwart Napo branch. We have an increasing number of members and to all of you, Croeso! We have many members needing support and representation, and we welcome each of you. We welcome everyone that joins Napo in the spirit of solidarity with our belief that Probation can be better for our communities, our clients, and our workers. We believe in change.

To let Napo HQ know about any meetings that members may be having with their local members of Parliament or any aspect of campaigning in the locality, please contact: Tania Bassett or Tay Burke.

24 comments:

  1. https://www.fenews.co.uk/employability/3sc-to-deliver-new-coaching-programme-to-neurodiverse-people-on-probation-in-wales/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Over the course of a 2-year contract with the option to extend for a further 12 months," This, and the general sales pitch tone of the piece, make me uneasy. I am struggling to accept the brave new world of the Mixed Economy outsourcing probation model. Dont get me wrong, the needs of neurodiverse should be met: skilled pratictioners and agencies are always a great contribution to a sentence plan: if it goes really right, their contribution becomes the sentence plan. But the overcomplicated commissioning and contracting? My experience of this on the ground makes me very suspicious, and with a short time to embed in/with Probation the urgency will not be to do the right things, but to tick the right boxes, in order to secure the next short contract. The focus will always be in this contacting system, meeting the needs of the procurer not the customers. The procurer is waaaaaay to far removed from the customer, the person on probation, to get that right.
      A two year contract is shorter than some probation orders and licences. Lord knows, building a trusting and fruitful relationship often takes up a lot of that time: and we dont build up a relationship with these Providers: we are just instructed to refer to them.
      My son is autistic, late diagnosed as an adult, he has become the expert in this house on his autism, and has coached and educated me. I have taken all of this experience and knowledge to my work, and lo and behold, I do good engaging work with people on the spectrum. Wouldnt it be so much simpler for me to grab the cases where autism is a factor in my team? I am hyper aware of the local services and supports, I am finely tuned to needs and communication. Obvs even better for a "lived experience" practitioner, but I do get it. And I know where to go locally.

      Delete
    2. 3SC, a social enterprise company within Twin Group, has expanded its delivery of programmes of coaching to people on probation who identify as neurodiverse by winning contracts with all four Probation Delivery Units (PDUs) in Wales.

      This form of neurodiversity coaching builds on the pilot Autism programme that 3SC has been running for the past year in Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot. For the first time, the coaching will be available across Wales, with contracts covering Dyfed Powys, Gwent, North Wales and South Wales.

      Also new for the Probation Service in Wales is that the coaching will be offered to individuals with any form of neurodiversity, not just autism.

      Based on very successful programmes in the West Midlands and Thames Valley, 3SC’s unique approach to coaching includes a bespoke service for specific needs and 1-2-1 sessions. The aim is to help people living with a neurodiverse condition understand their own thoughts, emotions and behaviours and to help them identify coping strategies and mechanisms to help them to manage their condition day to day. Helping to understand and recognise triggers linked to their condition is essential to maintaining their wellbeing and improving their social interactions.

      Over the course of a 2-year contract with the option to extend for a further 12 months, 3SC will be working in Wales with a range of partner organisations, all of whom are accomplished providers of neurodiversity coaching with a comprehensive background of lived or professional experience. The team will include individual coaches who have brought innovative approaches to the justice and employability sectors.

      Among the partners will be micro-businesses and charities, demonstrating 3SC’s firm commitment to public sector procurement being an opportunity to open up the delivery of government services.

      Delete
  2. Senior good, frontline bad - Justin's mantra for every HMIProbation report. For whatever reason, he's blocked; he just can't bring himself to make that connection, i.e. regardless of how someone managed the logistics of inanimate objects like buildings & IT, they can't for the life of them get their teams to deliver good probation practice. So perhaps they ought to fuck off & work for a facilities management company rather than a probation provider?

    "The Swansea Neath Port Talbot probation delivery unit was scrutinised by HM Inspectorate of Probation in autumn 2021, when Covid and the discovery of asbestos in the office building severely hampered operations. "The impact of both these events cannot be underestimated," said a foreword to the report by chief inspector of probation, Justin Russell. To have "kept the show on the road", he added, was to the credit of senior managers. But the report said the quality of work undertaken with people in probation was weak, and that there were shortfalls across all elements of case supervision. The unit was rated "inadequate". "

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Trainee probation officers joining this coming September will earn £23,637. Once qualified, the salary increases to £35,130 plus allowances."

    So why is this on gov.uk?

    "When you start your training, you'll be working as a probation services officer (PSO), earning £22,924, plus £3,889 London weighting or £1,100 Market Force Allowance if you're a resident of one of the home counties.
    Once you've completed your training and qualified as a probation officer (PO), your salary will rise to £30,208, plus allowances (Band 4)."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2023/02/23/council-social-workers-offered-full-and-final-1925-pay-rise-for-2023-24/

      Delete
    2. From the link above, more examples of how extensively the tories care about public service provision for our communities:

      Latest data in relation to council adult social workers in England shows that:

      * Pay fell in the decade to September 2022.
      * The vacancy rate rose to 11.6%, up from 9.5% in September 2021 and 7.5% in 2022.
      * Turnover in the year to September 2022 increased to 17.1%, a record level, up from 15% in 2020-21 and 13.6% in 2019-20.
      * Days lost to sickness averaged 12.1 per social worker in 2021-22, another record and up from 10.3 the year before.

      The situation appears even worse in children’s services, according to the DfE’s annual workforce census, released today. This showed that:

      * 31,600 full-time equivalent (FTE) children’s social workers were in post in English councils as of September 2022, down 2.7% on the year before.
      * 820 of the 868 lost posts were in case holding roles – those that held cases but were not a senior practitioner or manager.
      * There were 14,910 case holding posts as of September 2022, down by 5.2% since September 2021 and 7.6% since September 2020.
      * The average caseload was 16.6, as measured by the DfE, up from 16.3 the year before.
      * One in five (20%) of posts were vacant, up from 16.7% in September 2021.
      * 18% of posts were held by agency workers, up from 15.5% as of September 2021

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  4. Napo Cymru - and Welsh Government whose policy this is - can slog away to devolve Probation. It wont be quick, which is probably a good thing, enough trauma and change now for a while. But it will and should happen.

    ReplyDelete
  5. https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/24/man-killed-wife-probation-joanna-simpson-violent-men?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16772666869507&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2023%2Ffeb%2F24%2Fman-killed-wife-probation-joanna-simpson-violent-men

    ReplyDelete
  6. In its annual report last year, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation found management of high-risk cases was, thankfully, improving, but the opposite was true for medium-risk ones, which make up the lion’s share of cases – including “tens of thousands of domestic abuse perpetrators” – and account for over half of homicides committed by people on probation. It’s the unglamorous, invisible and often underfunded cog in the justice machine. But without probation, everything else falls apart.

    A recent change in the law gave justice secretaries the power to override automatic early release in cases where prisoners are still felt to pose a very high risk of harm, and make them serve the full sentence. But whether those powers are used or not, the vast majority of violent offenders will still be free one day. Society has an obligation to prepare for that moment diligently, giving victims and the wider public the confidence to live with a potentially terrifying prospect.

    It’s always a leap of faith when a cell door is unlocked, and we’re all expected just to trust that overstretched prisons have still managed to achieve some kind of rehabilitation, or at least that if there’s any danger of a relapse someone will quickly step in. But without a properly functioning probation service, that leap of faith becomes just too big to make, and confidence in the rest of the system collapses. It shouldn’t be left to frightened individual families, fighting their own lonely battles, to make that point.

    Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

    ReplyDelete
  7. "In its annual report last year, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation found management of high-risk cases was, thankfully, improving, but the opposite was true for medium-risk ones, which make up the lion’s share of cases – including “tens of thousands of domestic abuse perpetrators” – and account for over half of homicides committed by people on probation. It’s the unglamorous, invisible and often underfunded cog in the justice machine. But without probation, everything else falls apart."
    Unglamorous and invisible, are the victims of domestic violence, and the cases, those tens of thousands of dv cases, rated as medium risk of harm. The system/state/press has for many years supressed the risk of harm of dv cases. Violence against women and girls is not a niche topic, its a pandemic. I see the disgraceful Braverman has to her credit called this out. Its a seam of our culture and a stain on our justice system. Why are they rated as medium risk of harm is the question, and the sorry answer it that its just the way it is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Domestic abuse cuts both ways. Perpetrators are both Male and female.

      https://www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11790319/amp/Prison-reform-boss-subjected-husband-15-years-abuse-jailed-four-years.html?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16773108445481&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-11790319%2FPrison-reform-boss-subjected-husband-15-years-abuse-jailed-four-years.html

      Delete
    2. "Hull Crown Court heard that Sheree Spencer was a mother of three young children and that many of the attacks on her husband had occured in the family home.

      It was described as 'a great irony' that Spencer had done so much work aimed at investigating the effect of custodial sentences on the family.

      She worked at the highest levels for HM Prison and Probation Service and bragged to friends that she had the ear of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

      Spencer, of upmarket Bubwith, East Yorkshire, was a project manager in the department's directorate of strategy and performance.

      A former friend said: 'She would brag about being only two down from the Prime Minister in her field and had meetings with Boris Johnson, who she spoke of as though he were a friend."

      Presumably one of HMPPS's "excellent leaders"...

      Delete
  8. “Laura is talking to one of the 34 mostly medium and high risk offenders she has on her caseload.” … Kristian “His 26-odd cases are mainly high and very high risk.”

    And we’d all be doing that too if we only had 25 cases or 34 cases. Perhaps even less stressed with lower priced accommodation in Wales. Us in the big cities have 60 cases for starters. I’m tired of reading this idealistic rubbish that glosses over the crisis in most probation offices. High caseloads, low morale, poor service.

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  9. Wales union unison actually made that claim there was a document to not breach cases under working links . Bad move because spouting and producing it are two different things . He never could and damaged the position of the dispute of course they promoted him now. Says it all.

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  10. Many CRCs were refusing to breach, recall or escalate to NPS. This is well known and many did it in a closed door way via their managers. Working links, Sodexo, Mtc novo, they were all in on it and their managers are now running PDUs across the probation service giving themselves awards. We all know what they did.

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  11. "We all know what they did."

    We all know who they are.

    Now it just needs someone with an oversight role & the cahonas to put it in a report & name & shame the whole lot of them. We'll never get our money back & the injustices will never be righted.

    Probably naming & shaming won't work either because they seem to have no shame.

    1. They sold out probation colleagues
    2. They stole public funds
    3. They corrupted the probation profession
    4. They lined their own pockets
    5. They helped ditch hundreds of experienced staff
    6. Their lies are responsible for the dire straits that probation now finds itself in

    But they are protected by the highest authorities because they were all in it together; they are protected by HMIProbation because MoJ-appointed Justin cannot bring himself to lay the extent of the catastrophic failure out there at the feet of those who are truly responsible, i.e. his chums, the incompetent ineffective myopic senior management.

    The deliberate delays in acknowledging anything might be 'wrong' simply allow time for the most culpable to escape down manufactured rabbit-holes aka appointments to new posts which distance them from the shitshow they have imposed upon everyone - staff, service users, and the public.

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  12. Yes the SPOs, Heads of PDUs, Heads of Operations and Regional Probation Directors. Every Probation Officer should take a long hard look at their managers and senior managers. This self-serving own-backside protecting bunch are the reason why the Probation Service will not be fixed anytime soon.

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  13. It’s won’t happen. These incompetent probation senior managers regurgitate around probation. Even when they’re found out or failing they then pop up in another region or PDU and tell us about the tidings they bring. Any other decent organisation would have sacked the lot of them for driving probation into the current crisis. Surrounding themselves with overworked and inexperienced probation staff means they can go a few more years radar without questions or challenges.

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  14. Surprised to read this lovely article about Deanne Martin, Head of PDU. Her role includes … understanding the needs of staff and what pressure they might be under.

    Initial thoughts …. Hahaha. No Heads of PDU care about needs of staff. If they did then the Probation Service would have staff. Sickness and resignation rates wouldn’t be through the roof. Probation offices wouldn’t be propped up by trainees inexperienced practitioners and incompetent managers. Or is it different in Wales? …. because everywhere else it is Command and Control (of probation officers)
    http://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2022/03/command-and-control.html?m=1

    and Lets Find Someone (probation officers) To Blame
    http://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2023/02/lets-find-someone-to-blame.html?m=1

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  15. …. Was probably leading on OneHMPPS!!

    Female prison reform boss is jailed for 'worst case of coercive behaviour' judge had ever seen: Senior manager subjected husband to 15 years of daily wine-fuelled abuse.

    Spencer worked at the highest levels for HM Prison and Probation Service and bragged to friends that she had the ear of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11790319/amp/Prison-reform-boss-subjected-husband-15-years-abuse-jailed-four-years.html

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  16. HMI probation on justice select committee next week

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  17. Mike. You forget where your bread was buttered. I thought you were a decent bloke too

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