Memo To Justin

On the day we hear that senior management at the British Museum are being forced into being accountable and a petition starts to make NHS senior managers accountable, we can but assume it's just a matter of time before senior probation managers become accountable as well, something that can't come soon enough! Meanwhile:-

This makes me so bloody angry! Of course any decent PO knows this and strives to spend as much time as possible building a positive relationship with service users. However in the current service since being forced into civil service we are now completely overwhelmed with beauracracy and endless exhausting assessments, part A,B,C, OASYS and reviews PAROM, AP referrals and housing referrals etc that the key supervision work is now sidelined in my view and squeezed into a tiny portion of the day by which time you you have had no time to prepare or think about completing those one to one programme sessions we are supposed to be doing for RAR days. As well as this you are bombarded with constant requests for targets or harassed to book on training etc.

The demands are impossible and that's why PO's are going off sick because they are basically broken by the impossible demands. It infuriates me that despite this we are never asked how we feel or how the job could be made more tolerable. The answer from faceless HMPPS is always to create even more bureaucracy which makes the situation worse and try to convince us they are doing something to improve situation which we know they are not. 

I feel desperately sorry for those coming into the service now who are lied to about the wonders of the job but will likely drop out very soon after completing training if not before. All the experienced officers will be gone, which seems to be what HMPPS want but what will be left behind will be an exhausted workforce who just do as they are told and tow the line but will ultimately vote with their feet and move on. That's why some service users are telling me they have had multiple changes of officer which is never good in terms of developing trust and working on long term issues.. Another thing, if staff are blowing the whistle about racism or any other discrimination then you bloody well listen, accept and sort it out.

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Justin Russell appears to have undertaken a great deal of research in order to discover the obvious! Surely we have known for decades that his research findings, namely that good client centred supervision helps outcomes and reduces reoffending? Why can't Justin Russell instead concentrate on calling out the toxic culture in Probation particularly it's problems with excessive workload, bullying and abuse of staff and it's miserable record of Senior Managers being anything other than "excellent"?

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"Ground-breaking new research by HM Inspectorate of Probation, analysing thousands of probation cases, has found that higher-quality probation supervision leads to significantly better sentence completion rates and reduced reoffending."

Turns out that Justin Splinterpants, he of fence-up-the-arse syndrome, is also suffering from a brass neck & an absence of shame. There must be something in the water; a brand only drunk by these highly paid myopic visionaries.

"Ground-breaking new research"

We are currently undertaking secondary analysis of our existing data to further develop this evidence base.

Key topics are as follows:

• examining the links between probation supervision and positive outcomes
• the role of engagement for positive outcomes in probation
• the quality of public protection work
• the quality of pre-sentence information and advice provided to courts.

Elsewhere on the HMIP site you can "Find out more about how a probation service’s leadership, management and set-up contribute to high performance."

"Inspirational leadership: A quality attributed to leaders who are able to create a culture of motivation and commitment. Inspiring leaders aim to create an environment of trust in which people can be creative and motivated to fulfil their potential. They tend to: have passion; have a sense of purpose; be honest and trustworthy; encourage others to share their vision; inspire others to achieve their potential." (The Investors in People Standard)

"high performance" = 35 inspections averaging less than 20%? Why such low scores?

Ah, here's the answer: the inspectorate expresses concern about "Cynicism amongst staff members can be a barrier to organisational change" Nowt to do with shit leaders who bully, harass & are generally incompetent in a sick organisation no longer fit for purpose.

But remember - none of the qualities we highlight in our research applies to the relationship between strong, excellent leaders & the cynical workshy fools on the frontline. Our research clearly shows that if they simply do what they're told, wondrous things can happen (like bonus targets being met, promotions, awards, etc)

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In our area the workload as measured is now below the threshold of overload, allegedly. Quick glance shows that qualified staff and PSOs who have been in post for more than a year are still excruciatingly overloaded, with the balance made up by newly recruited trainees and PSOs, That might offer some hope if the qualified weren't looking for every available escape route, be that other work, retirement or just collapsing into a sick-bed, and the newly recruited were staying. It's no different in the NHS, from what I hear from friends on the front line there. The pay is awful and deteriorating, but if the work was meaningful and rewarding, if there was a sense that things would get better if we stuck at it, I wouldn't feel so broken.

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I'll end by reminding people of this sobering fact:-

The reason for well over half (57.4%) of probation staff taking absence for sickness was mental and behavioural disorders. (Quarterly workforce figures)

Oh, and this from the Dorset Inspection:-

"Despite a full complement of middle managers, at the time of our inspection they had a 45 per cent vacancy rate for qualified probation officers."