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June 07, 2009
WORKLOADS AND HAMPSHIRE PROBATION
The management side will be undertaking briefings on their new ‘workloads protocol’. Up until October last year there had been some prospect of an actual agreement being reached with the unions. But then the directives came down from the prison leadership in Noms and so-called efficiency savings took over. Most manifest of late is the conversion of SDRs to fast track reports. This is cutting frontline jobs, not saving jobs.
Look at London Probation now – to be funded for an extra 100 probation officers – in the wake of a tragedy. In Hampshire we have anxious trainee probation officers, not knowing if they will have jobs in a few months time. Is this an example of supporting frontline staff? Meanwhile a ‘management review’ proposes creating new management support and director posts and enhancing other posts with more money.
A workload tool from the perspective of the unions is fundamentally about staff care and manageable workloads, based on agreed timings. However, with the 70/30 target for reports the management side’s stance is that they must follow the instructions that come down from Noms, not least as Noms holds the purse strings and managerial clout...like apprentices probation areas compete to impress the Alan Sugars in Noms.
As with the elitist car parking diktat, this workloads diktat will not support frontline staff. In the last staff survey senior management were at their weakest when it came to helping staff prepare for and cope with change. What happened to pro-social modeling...?
A workload weighting tool that is not built around agreement on timings, that can be altered at will by the management side, is not a tool that is going to be in the interests of members.
As with fast delivery court reports you can see how output is maintained - by lowering practice standards and using fewer staff to achieve the same throughput.
This is the Noms - probation version of ‘demand management’: you meet the same demands with fewer resources by adjusting the timings for reports; you can also ‘down tier’ cases, you can reduce the timings allocated to tiers, you can adjust/change your targets, you can lower your practice standards. You can take risks with risk. You make your staff work faster: the ‘just - do – it’ mentality prevails. You tell frontline staff they are lucky to have a job, don’t shake the tree. But the new jobs in London and the capitulation by Humberside probation trust on compulsory redundancies shows what happens when the tree is shaken.
These developments, members report, have an impact on their job satisfaction and raise fears regarding the quality of the practice they deliver. Moreover, many staff currently experience excessive workloads and are struggling. We are receiving more reports of work - related stress. It seems that professional responsibility, heightened in the aftermath of an error strewn and avoidable tragedy, of decision-making on the frontline is little understood and barely acknowledged.
Overworked and unsupported? Officially you won't be. The tool is not to be relied upon to fairly reflect workload pressures, nor support staff. It’s a management tool that will further undermine professional standards.
Notably, the Noms investigation in the wake of the London murders recommends that chief officers and board chairs must report quarterly to the DOM on workloads, based on numerical factors such as caseloads, staffing levels, etc.
We will be discussing workloads at the branch AGM in June and seeking an agreed form of action/advice for members.
'Unless this issue about workload and capacity is looked at, unless there are far more staff for probation at the frontline and unless they are well supported and managed, these kinds of problems will recur.'
(Former chief probation officer, London)
“The serious errors in the Sonnex case resulted from management failures including resource allocation, workload pressure and practice standards. We should not blame frontline staff.”
(Current chief probation officer, London)
Posted by Hampshire at June 7, 2009 12:18 PM