Parliamentary Bulletin 2

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Published 14th May 2014

Transforming Rehabilitation: Staffing Crisis

Since the implementation of the Coalition’s Transforming Rehabilitation programme, Napo is being inundated with information from members regarding staffing issues and workloads. Members describe the service being “in chaos and on its knees”. This bulletin highlights some of the examples we’ve been given regarding staffing and workloads which raise serious concerns about the ability of the Probation Service to function in the short and long term.

We would urge parliamentarians to rigorously scrutinise the process of privatising the Probation Service, as we believe its inability to run effectively will seriously compromise public protection.

  • Nationally there are 500 vacancies across the Probation Service (FOI Request by the Labour Party)
  • Derbyshire  – Probation Service Officers (PSOs) are currently at 90% on the workload management tool with a further 90 cases to be allocated between just 8 PSOs.
  • Gloucestershire  - Six staff to deliver the Sex Offender Treatment Programme across three areas. This leaves no room for leave or sickness cover.
  • London – Officers in the Integrated Offender Management unit have caseloads of 60+ which prevents them from doing intensive work with prolific offenders.
  • Northampton – Integrated Offender Management unit has just 1.6 Probation Officer in the NPS. Despite 50% of its cases being MAPPA or high risk of harm.
  • Cumbria – Managers currently transferring 300 cases between NPS and CRC but not enough staff on either side to do this. This means that Probation Officers in the CRC are holding low risk of harm cases and Probation Service Officers in the NPS are holding domestic violence cases. Good practice should be that PSOs do not hold domestic violence cases at all and it is a waste of highly skilled staff if Probation Officers are working with low risk cases.
  • Cambridge – Staff being relocated to fit the model are now expected to travel a 80 mile round trip for work.
  • Avon & Somerset – Three of the offices have just one NPS probation officer. Each has a caseload of 80+ high risk of harm offenders to supervise with no cover for leave or sickness. This is already contributing to high stress levels and could lead to errors or risk issues being missed.

Questions you may wish to ask

  1. What is the budget for training and recruitment within the NPS and the CRCs before share sale?
  2. What is the timetable for recruiting new staff for both NPS and CRCs?
  3. Will a national workload management tool be introduced for both the NPS and the CRCs and what is deemed a safe caseload for staff to be managing?

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