Captures probation work so well. The probation officer job we read about in the history books and all came to do. Sadly it is not necessarily the job we’re allowed to do for various reasons.
fucking fascists - staff should be allowed to wear anything workplace-appropriate of their choice; *including* sharp suits if that's their bag. The focus should only ever be on the quality of work done with those sent to be assessed/supervised. But sadly armitage has no sense of the zeitgeist 2025, just rosy memories of what he left behind (including his dad). Meanwhile hmpps are taking the piss (as ever) & armitage has happily pocketed their coin.
Wonder who at hmpps is for the chop with the kia starmer*/roadkill reeves imminent car crash scenario? No doubt there'll be golden handshakes all-round for the useless eejits who created the clusterfuck, all funded by you & me & the uk taxpayer. Austerity? Not for them.
* The Kia Starmer is a hybrid low performance vehicle which runs on hot air & donations from unexpected benefactors.
I wrote this several years ago about being a Probation Officer and as I'm still a Probation Officer and like poetry it seemed too good an opportunity to miss being a published poet:
Locked into stress. Trying to perform. Hassled by idiots. Aargh! Forced to be helped by people who have no insight. More, more, more. More for less. Do more with less resource. Groan and take no rest.
You cannot win. Judge, criticise, patronise. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Talk, talk, talk. Repeat the same pattern and talk about the same failed solutions. Don't complain. Take a holiday. You'll be able to tolerate it more when you've had a break. Then you'll be able to do it again. Baaahh!
It's all on you. Change perception. Be positive, don't get stressed, don't worry. Perform to higher standards. Turn to those in authority who crack the whip, for a little less whipping. Really?!! Madness.
Turn to something else....Learn anger, hardness, resentment. Learn to withdraw, disengage, bite back. Swear and vent. Suffer. Calm down. Try this, try that. Run, paint. Listen. Don't talk. Don't interact. Lock yourself away. Tie yourself to the mast. Close your eyes and cry. Turn to darkness and silence.
It’s a great poem by Simon Armitage, but is this rose-tinted picture of yesteryear really a life in the day of what probation work is today? I don’t think so. Ode to probation is nothing short of propaganda if used in recruitment campaigns.
Blimey. The check-suit in the clip really is a London Head of Service... actually pretending to be a Probation Officer. Reality is there are probably no POs in post in his PDU at the moment. That, or a blatant grab for acclaim and limelight.
Email today to say that EMS are making an appearance on Dispatches next week. Undercover reporters got a job fitting tags and apparently have an expose on how the tagging situation is not protecting the public.
‘Dispatches’ - the delivery of Electronic Monitoring
Late last week Napo were alerted by HMPPS senior management to the planned broadcast on Channel 4 of an episode of the ‘Dispatches’ television programme on the 1st of April. At this stage we understand this will based on information obtained by undercover reporters employed by the private company involved in delivering electronically monitored ‘tagging’ and that allegations will be made about serious failures by them.
Napo have not been involved in the preparation of this programme, have not seen any footage or been provided with any information of the allegations to be made by the production company involved. If approached for comment prior to broadcast we will again robustly repeat the points made at various stages last year, both in representations to HMPPS as well as in comment to the media, about the failures of private companies and HMPPS in effectively delivering electronically monitored ‘tagging’, especially the additional work that our members have been asked to do because of others incompetence.
We will continue to meet with members of HMPPS senior management on specific issues arising from this programme as more information becomes available. Napo will issue a further statement on this programme as soon as possible after it is broadcast. Prior to and following that National Officers and Officials will support Branches – individual members or the wider membership depending on what Branch Officers believe they require – in the Regions involved in whatever way we can, and this offer has already been extended to them.
Napo this Comms is embarrassing you cannot offer to do anything because you have nothing to do. I am saddened the film makers don't think you are worthy of a commentary in what we all know about shoddy firms. Crikey the privatisation saga said it all. Napo distancing itself like this statement above looks cowardly and assimilates a position to the employers not us guvnor. Honest. Napo should have saying it would have been helpful to our cause to comment on the sham of the contracts and how pleased we are to have independent undercover proof of what we have said through member concerns for years. How brazen the companies are in goring their obligations to protect the public. Unlike our Napo members over pushed over pressured over working on meaningless tasks. Again Napo you appear ignorant of your role or too thick to appreciate who's side you are supposed to be on. Grow up get a backbone and criticise the employers and celebrate any evidence to expose the sham. Napo pathetic.
Well done looks like you have said it. Also sir Stephen fry today. From drug addiction burglar to knighthood. He has done some great work good luck to him.
"Too little attention was given to some very basic elements of decency. Women were given prison-issue clothing designed for men, and they did not receive enough underwear. They were not allowed to wash their own underwear in a washing machine."
"The Prison Group Director has instructed Governors that all women must be issued with seven pairs of underwear on arrival, and these can be washed in machines"
Holy Smoke!! Give Amy an OBE or a damehood or something!! Incredible. Amazing. What a result!!
"A professor from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) says the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme, designed to kick start the hospitality industry during lockdown, was responsible for a huge rise in deaths among the Bangladeshi and Pakistani community."
" final estimates from the OBR suggested the changes announced by Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, which included tightening the criteria for the personal independence payment (Pip), would not save the £5bn needed to meet Reeves’s self-imposed fiscal rules.
The chancellor is expected to announce an additional £500m in benefits cuts to make up part of the £1.6bn shortfall"
"MPs are to receive an inflation-busting 2.8 per cent pay rise this year - taking their wages to almost £94,000" PLUS their eyewatering expenses scheme, subsidised food & drink, freebies, etc.
So there's plenty of public money to shore up business, to assist non-doms avoid paying their way, to bail out failed energy companies & fund MPs' lifestyle choices, but nowt for the poverty-stricken, those with life-limiting conditions or those made unwell by the incompetence of a succession of governments.
"In 2023/24 approximately 3.12 million people used a food bank in the United Kingdom, an increase when compared with the previous year. Since 2008/09, the number of food bank users increased significantly, with just under 26,000 using food banks that year."
Permanent staff – wages and salaries £2.4billion Agency staff costs £54million Departures and severance payments £45million Total net costs = £3.3billion + Expenditure on consultancy was £4.1million
2024: "Probation chief warns 97% of service already failing"
Captures probation work so well. The probation officer job we read about in the history books and all came to do. Sadly it is not necessarily the job we’re allowed to do for various reasons.
ReplyDeleteWhy is a probation officer wearing a checked suit in the office? Somebody over-read the dress code policy!
ReplyDeleteThat’s a head of operations pretending to be a frontline PO.
Deletefucking fascists - staff should be allowed to wear anything workplace-appropriate of their choice; *including* sharp suits if that's their bag. The focus should only ever be on the quality of work done with those sent to be assessed/supervised. But sadly armitage has no sense of the zeitgeist 2025, just rosy memories of what he left behind (including his dad). Meanwhile hmpps are taking the piss (as ever) & armitage has happily pocketed their coin.
DeleteWonder who at hmpps is for the chop with the kia starmer*/roadkill reeves imminent car crash scenario? No doubt there'll be golden handshakes all-round for the useless eejits who created the clusterfuck, all funded by you & me & the uk taxpayer. Austerity? Not for them.
* The Kia Starmer is a hybrid low performance vehicle which runs on hot air & donations from unexpected benefactors.
I wrote this several years ago about being a Probation Officer and as I'm still a Probation Officer and like poetry it seemed too good an opportunity to miss being a published poet:
ReplyDeleteLocked into stress. Trying to perform. Hassled by idiots. Aargh! Forced to be helped by people who have no insight. More, more, more. More for less. Do more with less resource. Groan and take no rest.
You cannot win. Judge, criticise, patronise. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Talk, talk, talk. Repeat the same pattern and talk about the same failed solutions. Don't complain. Take a holiday. You'll be able to tolerate it more when you've had a break. Then you'll be able to do it again. Baaahh!
It's all on you. Change perception. Be positive, don't get stressed, don't worry. Perform to higher standards. Turn to those in authority who crack the whip, for a little less whipping. Really?!! Madness.
Turn to something else....Learn anger, hardness, resentment. Learn to withdraw, disengage, bite back. Swear and vent. Suffer. Calm down. Try this, try that. Run, paint. Listen. Don't talk. Don't interact. Lock yourself away. Tie yourself to the mast. Close your eyes and cry. Turn to darkness and silence.
This is certainly closer to my experience at work than the hmpps poem. Thank you.
DeleteJob Done Indeed !!! Nice One Simon wishing you and ALL our Probation Staff a kind/happy and good Sunday. Very Happy to repost too
ReplyDeleteIt’s a great poem by Simon Armitage, but is this rose-tinted picture of yesteryear really a life in the day of what probation work is today? I don’t think so. Ode to probation is nothing short of propaganda if used in recruitment campaigns.
ReplyDeleteTotally different ethos and culture then compared to the nonsense now
ReplyDeleteBlimey. The check-suit in the clip really is a London Head of Service... actually pretending to be a Probation Officer. Reality is there are probably no POs in post in his PDU at the moment. That, or a blatant grab for acclaim and limelight.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to reduce civil servants by 10,000 is to remove probation from the civil service and placing under local control, SLOP anyone.?
ReplyDeleteNo it's to remove probation full stop.
Delete2.2billion to save jobs to go a labour government. Is this a new reality. What have we elected. The Tories seem attractive now.
ReplyDeleteEmail today to say that EMS are making an appearance on Dispatches next week. Undercover reporters got a job fitting tags and apparently have an expose on how the tagging situation is not protecting the public.
ReplyDelete‘Dispatches’ - the delivery of Electronic Monitoring
DeleteLate last week Napo were alerted by HMPPS senior management to the planned broadcast on Channel 4 of an episode of the ‘Dispatches’ television programme on the 1st of April. At this stage we understand this will based on information obtained by undercover reporters employed by the private company involved in delivering electronically monitored ‘tagging’ and that allegations will be made about serious failures by them.
Napo have not been involved in the preparation of this programme, have not seen any footage or been provided with any information of the allegations to be made by the production company involved. If approached for comment prior to broadcast we will again robustly repeat the points made at various stages last year, both in representations to HMPPS as well as in comment to the media, about the failures of private companies and HMPPS in effectively delivering electronically monitored ‘tagging’, especially the additional work that our members have been asked to do because of others incompetence.
We will continue to meet with members of HMPPS senior management on specific issues arising from this programme as more information becomes available. Napo will issue a further statement on this programme as soon as possible after it is broadcast. Prior to and following that National Officers and Officials will support Branches – individual members or the wider membership depending on what Branch Officers believe they require – in the Regions involved in whatever way we can, and this offer has already been extended to them.
Best wishes,
Napo this Comms is embarrassing you cannot offer to do anything because you have nothing to do. I am saddened the film makers don't think you are worthy of a commentary in what we all know about shoddy firms. Crikey the privatisation saga said it all. Napo distancing itself like this statement above looks cowardly and assimilates a position to the employers not us guvnor. Honest. Napo should have saying it would have been helpful to our cause to comment on the sham of the contracts and how pleased we are to have independent undercover proof of what we have said through member concerns for years. How brazen the companies are in goring their obligations to protect the public. Unlike our Napo members over pushed over pressured over working on meaningless tasks. Again Napo you appear ignorant of your role or too thick to appreciate who's side you are supposed to be on. Grow up get a backbone and criticise the employers and celebrate any evidence to expose the sham. Napo pathetic.
DeleteWell done looks like you have said it. Also sir Stephen fry today. From drug addiction burglar to knighthood. He has done some great work good luck to him.
Deletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-thematic-inspection-what-helps-women-cope-in-prison
ReplyDeletehttps://hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_reports/time-to-care-what-helps-women-cope-in-prison/
"Too little attention was given to some very
basic elements of decency. Women were
given prison-issue clothing designed for men,
and they did not receive enough underwear.
They were not allowed to wash their own
underwear in a washing machine."
"The Prison Group Director has instructed Governors that all women must be issued with seven pairs of underwear on arrival, and these can be washed in machines"
Holy Smoke!! Give Amy an OBE or a damehood or something!! Incredible. Amazing. What a result!!
2020:
ReplyDeletehttps://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8978/
"Overall, £849 million was claimed under the Scheme"
https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2021/july/eat-out-to-help-out-caused-dramatic-rise-in-deaths.aspx
"A professor from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) says the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme, designed to kick start the hospitality industry during lockdown, was responsible for a huge rise in deaths among the Bangladeshi and Pakistani community."
2025:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/25/chancellor-to-increase-defence-spending-by-22bn-to-secure-britains-future
" final estimates from the OBR suggested the changes announced by Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, which included tightening the criteria for the personal independence payment (Pip), would not save the £5bn needed to meet Reeves’s self-imposed fiscal rules.
The chancellor is expected to announce an additional £500m in benefits cuts to make up part of the £1.6bn shortfall"
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mp-pay-rise-salary-per-cent-inflation-financial-year-b2720512.html
"MPs are to receive an inflation-busting 2.8 per cent pay rise this year - taking their wages to almost £94,000" PLUS their eyewatering expenses scheme, subsidised food & drink, freebies, etc.
So there's plenty of public money to shore up business, to assist non-doms avoid paying their way, to bail out failed energy companies & fund MPs' lifestyle choices, but nowt for the poverty-stricken, those with life-limiting conditions or those made unwell by the incompetence of a succession of governments.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/382695/uk-foodbank-users/
"In 2023/24 approximately 3.12 million people used a food bank in the United Kingdom, an increase when compared with the previous year. Since 2008/09, the number of food bank users increased significantly, with just under 26,000 using food banks that year."
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/11/how-britain-became-a-food-bank-nation
2010: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c0bc540f0b645ba3c65d5/noms-organogram-salaries.pdf
2023/4:
Permanent staff – wages and salaries £2.4billion
Agency staff costs £54million
Departures and severance payments £45million
Total net costs = £3.3billion
+ Expenditure on consultancy was £4.1million
2024: "Probation chief warns 97% of service already failing"