Amy’s Message 14th April 2022

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Amy Rees – Director General Probation, Wales and Youth


Update message to staff – Thursday 14 April


Amy Rees - Director General for Probation

Firstly thank you for all the work you have been doing to make the necessary changes since we published our updated PPE and Safe Working Practice Guidance in response to the lifting of national COVID restrictions.  Everything you are doing is helping us ensure we move forward safely as a Probation Service and increase the delivery of our important services to victims, communities and to people on probation and I am very grateful to you all.

Kim Thornden-Edwards and team continue to progress with the Prioritising Probation project and are making changes wherever possible to reduce the pressure upon front line staff.  They have recently reviewed and simplified the Prioritisation Framework to make it easier to read and understand.  They are looking at how to simplify and improve a range of our existing processes including inductions based on your suggestions.  They are also exploring how central requests to regions could be better managed and streamlined.  Click on this link to read the latest updates on Prioritising Probation.

The next trainee probation officer recruitment campaign opens at the end of May.  As with previous campaigns, this will include opportunities for part-time or full-time courses.  The campaign will also be open to staff across MoJ and external candidates.  The team will be running webinars throughout May to introduce the programme and provide tips and guidance on the application process.  Look out for more details in Probation News.

As I set out in our recent all staff MS Teams live event (watch again here) we know that pay is an area you are concerned about and it is a key priority for us to address.  Ian Barrow and team are working with Trade Union colleagues on proposals for a multi- year pay deal which would be applicable to all Probation Service staff and include reform to the pay structure.  You can read the latest update from Ian on this work by following this link: Probation pay reform update.

I am delighted to have lots of congratulations to share with you this week:

Firstly, congratulations to the National Security Unit – East and South Central team for receiving a Chief Constable Congratulations from Hampshire Constabulary in recognition of their collaborative efforts to protect the public – well done to all involved.

Congratulations to Hester Knox from the North West region who was the recent winner of the monthly Permanent Secretary award for showing great initiative in producing a directory for the North West region to help improve understanding of roles and responsibilities post unification – well done Hester.

Finally, congratulations to all the Probation Service finalists for this year’s HMPPS staff awards and a big well done to the Gwent Community Payback team who are confirmed as this year’s Team of the Year.  I look forward to seeing you all at the ceremony in June. Please click on this link to find out who our finalists are this year: HMPPS Staff Awards 2022: finalists

I would like to send my sincere greetings to everyone observing the Holy month of Ramadan. You can find out more about Ramadan and how you can support your colleagues who are fasting here. Also sending my best wishes to everyone celebrating Vaisakhi today (14 April) – you can find out more here.

As the bank holiday weekend approaches, thank you in advance to all of you who are working including our Approved Premises, Community Payback and Electronic Monitoring teams. For those of you not at work, I hope you enjoy the long weekend and hopefully some nice weather.

As always, thank you for all you are doing.

Amy

Did you know?

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Ukraine Information Pack

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Amy’s Message 25th March 2022

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Amy Rees – Director General Probation, Wales and Youth


Update message to staff – Friday 25 March


Amy Rees - Director General for Probation

Wednesday this week was the second anniversary of the initial national lockdown in 2020 and the National Day of Reflection when we were encouraged to pause and remember those we have lost and support people who have been bereaved during the pandemic.  My thoughts continue to be with the families and friends of colleagues and people on probation effected.

Reflecting on the last two years, it really has been such a rollercoaster time with highs and lows, twists and turns whilst we responded to the pandemic personally and professionally.  What has however remained steadfast throughout the time is the compassion and care you have demonstrated towards each other and the people you supervise.  I continue to be so incredibly proud of you all and thank you for all you have done to keep delivering our important probation work during this time.

I was fortunate enough to have two recent opportunities to share my pride and gratitude to probation colleagues in person for their fantastic work at both the Butler Trust awards and the MoJ Awards ceremonies.  I was delighted to meet lots of our brilliant staff who had been shortlisted including the Youth Transitions programme team pictured here at the MoJ Awards.

Huge congratulations to all the very deserving winners and nominees from both events.

Today 25 March is the launch of the Great British Spring Clean which is run by the charity Keep Britain Tidy. This is an annual campaign running until 10 April and encourages communities to participate in litter picks of their local area. We are supporting this great initiative by mobilising our Community Payback teams across England and Wales to spruce up their local areas and improve local spaces during a dedicated Community Payback Spring Clean week between 25 March and 1 April.

We have a number of MPs and Police and Crime Commissioners coming out to visit projects in their local constituencies during the week and we hope to have lots of positive coverage in the media and on social media to highlight the importance of Community Payback and the role it can play in local communities. I look forward to visiting one of the projects myself next week and meeting colleagues and people on probation whilst I am there.  You will be able to read updates during the week on my twitter and on HMPPS Twitter and please speak to your regional teams to find out what projects are taking place in your area.

Staying with Community Payback, I really enjoyed reading about the fantastic project undertaken by the Norfolk team who have arranged for 130 knitted bobble hats produced by people on probation to be sent to the Ukraine.  You can read this story here and a huge well done to everyone involved.

On the subject of Ukraine, an information pack which has been collated to provide staff and people on probation with the details of the various Ukrainian support schemes, useful information on services accessible to Ukrainians coming to the UK as well as describing how we can support and enable staff to sign up to the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Finally, a huge warm welcome to all our new PQiP – trainee probation officers who commenced their training at the beginning of the month, I look forward to meeting some of you over the coming months.  Also a big thank you to all the mentors, Senior Probation Officers and Practice Tutor Assessors who provide invaluable support in helping our trainee officers throughout their journey.

As always, thank you for all you are doing.

Amy

EVENTS REMINDERS:

LGBT+ History Month – Art Exhibition 28.03.22

As part of the celebration of LGBT+ history month, an art exhibition focusing on the theme of “What does Belonging & Inclusion mean to you?”. It is being held at Newbold Revel Prison Service training college 10:00-12:30, event info & booking link is: here and is open to all staff across MoJ,

All Probation Staff MS Teams Live Event 30.03.22

We are holding our next all probation staff MS Teams live event 30 March at 10.30 – 12.00 where we will be updating you on a range of topics including the Race Survey and our Lived Experience work. I look forward to speaking to you then – please join via this link  All Staff Event

Digital Events 04.04.22

On Monday 4 April, Sonia Flynn, Chief Probation Officer together with Mark Stanley, Deputy Director, Digital Probation will be introducing two sessions focusing on the developments in Probation Digital which are aimed at making things simpler, clearer and faster for frontline staff.

To join the 10am session please click here – Link to 10am Session

To join the 2pm session please click here – Link to 2pm Session

SEEDS2 for Managers – book now

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Amy’s Message 11th March 2022

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Amy Rees – Director General Probation, Wales and Youth


Update message to staff – Friday 11 March


Amy Rees - Director General for Probation

My thoughts continue to be with people effected by the dreadful situation in Ukraine.  It is so difficult to watch the news coverage of these terrible events.  I know many of you will have friends or family members who are directly impacted, and I thank you for all the kindness and support you are showing to each other.  Please do remember that we have the Employee Assistance Line available for staff members which can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on: 0800 019 8988 and speak to your line manager if you have personal concerns. Please also continue to consider how we best support people on probation impacted and the organisations based in your region which may be able to help.

In response to recent announcements by the UK and Welsh Government regarding the removal of COVID restrictions, we have been reviewing what this means for how we all work and deliver probation services. We do need to now learn to live with COVID and safely manage the risk to ourselves and others.  We are developing new health and safety guidance which will be coming out to you soon but in the meantime, please do continue to follow the processes in place where you work.

As you will be aware, we are focusing on two key areas in response to your feedback from the People Survey:  Pay – we are continuing to do all we can to move forward our plans to secure a multi-year pay deal for probation staff effective from April 2022 and we will keep you updated on this.  Prioritising the frontline – Kim and the Prioritsing Probation team are working on a range of issues to try and reduce the pressure on front line staff.  You can read more about solutions they have found to speed up recruitment so new staff can join us more quickly with a particular big win being securing conditional offers – find out more here. I am also really pleased that we are on track and expect to meet our target of recruiting 1500 PQIP learners for 2021/22 – which will be verified by analysts shortly after. This will further strengthen our future workforce and look I forward to meeting lots of new joiners to the Probation Service over the coming months when I visit regions.

One of the best parts of my job as Director General is having the opportunity to present our staff with awards to recognise their brilliant work so I was so pleased to be able to do this last week when I joined colleagues in Cardiff for the annual HMPPS in Wales awards. It was lovely to hear the nomination stories and I was very moved to meet the widow of Allan Maguire who bravely attended to collect his posthumous award for the support he had provided probation colleagues in the Dyfed Powys probation region. Thank you to everyone involved in arranging the event and huge congratulations to all the deserving winners.

Finally, a few reminders of important dates for your diaries:

The festival of learning that is the Insights festival is back, running from 9 May until 20 May. There are over 500 free opportunities available to:

learn about the latest evidence and research

share good practice

connect with people across the criminal justice service (CJS)

celebrate success

Registration is now open to book the tickets for the events you are interested in via the Insights website

LGBT+ History Month – Art Exhibition 28.03.22

As part of the celebration of LGBT+ history month, an art exhibition focusing on the theme of “What does Belonging & Inclusion mean to you?”. It is being held at Newbold Revel Prison Service training college 10:00-12:30, event info & booking link is: here and is open to all staff across MoJ,

All Probation Staff MS Teams Live Event 30.03.22

We are holding our next all probation staff MS Teams live event 30 March at 10.30 – 12.00 where we will be updating you on a range of topics including the Race Action Programme and our Lived Experience work. I look forward to speaking to you then – please join via this link  All Staff Event

Digital Events 04.04.22

On Monday 4 April, Sonia Flynn, Chief Probation Officer together with Mark Stanley, Deputy Director, Digital Probation will be introducing two sessions focusing on the developments in Probation Digital which are aimed at making things simpler, clearer and faster for frontline staff.

To join the 10am session please click here – Link to 10am Session

To join the 2pm session please click here – Link to 2pm Session

As always, thank you for all you are doing.

Amy

Refer and Monitor Digital Round Up

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All the latest Refer and Monitor (R&M) fixes, improvements and developments.

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Amy’s Message 1st March 2022

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Amy Rees – Director General Probation, Wales and Youth


Update message to staff – Tuesday 1 March


Amy Rees - Director General for Probation

I wanted to firstly focus upon wider global issues and acknowledge that the conflict in Ukraine will undoubtedly be a source of concern for many of you and for many of the people on probation we work with.  Please do remember that we have the Employee Assistance Line available for staff members which can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on: 0800 019 8988 and speak to your line manager if you have particular personal concerns. For people on probation impacted, please consider any additional support which could be factored into their sentence plan and think about the locally based organisations which may be able to assist in your region.

Along with all government departments, we are closely monitoring the situation and reviewing our business contingency plans as a matter of course.  You will be informed of any updates or changes to how we work resulting from these reviews.  In the meantime, please do continue to support each other and those we work with in the way you are all so fantastic at doing and do speak to someone if you are finding things difficult yourself.

Turning back to Probation, I recently held my quarterly update event with senior leaders from across the organisation.  These discussions are an opportunity to reflect on what is happening, where we want to put our efforts and what we need to think about going forward.

When I became Director General three years ago, I set three priorities for us – getting the change right, professional recognition and maximising influence.

For the most part we have done well, especially given the backdrop of a global pandemic.  But to ensure we hold ourselves to account, we will be doing some work with external colleagues to identify what has been delivered and where we still need some focus.  There will be an opportunity for some of you to contribute to this review and we will share the details with you of how you can get involved.

Looking forward however, and in discussion with senior leaders, we believe the time is right to move away from these priorities and instead move to a single new priority of ‘Delivering excellent practice’.  We know the last three years have been all about transactional change, but the time is now right to move away and refocus on our delivery and all of you, our frontline staff.  Everything we do now must be about quality and ensuring the work we are doing is the right work, that we have the right numbers of staff and you have the right tools and environment to deliver that important work.  I will be discussing this with you in more detail at our next all staff live event on the 30th March and look forward to hearing your thoughts then.

Another area of discussion at the event was the recently released People Survey results.  This was of course the first time the Survey had been held post-unification and we do not therefore have a previous baseline to compare findings with but based on your feedback, two of the biggest areas of concern you have are Pay & Benefits and Resources & Workload.  Given the complexity of these areas, we are going to be taking these forward centrally through the Workforce Programme and the Prioritising Probation project. Alongside this, we have asked all regions to also identify two areas for regional/local focus.

Only a third of respondents believed we would act on the findings of the People Survey and I would like to personally assure you that we will act and, provide regular updates to keep you informed as to how this work is going.

In other news, I am delighted to update you on our Reduce Reoffending (RR) plans. In November’s Spending Review, we secured £550m to reduce reoffending – a transformational investment that gives us the opportunity to make a genuine difference by providing the people in our care with the support they need to lead a crime-free life.

Last year the RR team launched a new scheme to provide transitional housing to prison leavers.  We are working with education providers to create a new Prisoner Education Service and roll out local Employment Boards and Hubs across the country.  We are also strengthening the continuity of care for people with substance misuses issues.   To support all this work, we will be recruiting over 500 new staff – some based in prisons and some in the community – who will be responsible for driving this agenda at a local level.

This is exciting work being led by Matt Grey and his team in the Reducing Reoffending, Partnerships and Accommodation directorate and we will be keeping you up to date with progress.

Finally, today (1 March) is St David’s Day so wishing all Welsh colleagues Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus – A Happy St David’s Day and I look forward to joining the HMPPS in Wales awards ceremony being held today to celebrate the achievements of some of our staff in Wales.

As always, thank you for all you are doing.

Amy

Congratulations Lewis Wright

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zARCHIVED: Joint statement on Harmonisation

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Joint statement on Harmonisation – HMPPS/Trade Union

This note provides an update on the progress of the harmonisation negotiations currently underway between HMPPS and the 3 recognised Trade Unions; NAPO, UNISON and GMB SCOOP.

Harmonisation is the process by which staff who transferred to the Probation Service in June 2021 from Parent and Supply Chain organisations may have their pay, terms and conditions aligned to those of the Probation Service, subject to trade union members voting in favour of this in a forthcoming ballot.

Former Parent and Supply Chain organisation employees were transferred into the Probation Service on their former employer pay, terms and conditions. This will remain the case until agreement is reached on harmonisation.  For harmonisation to be successfully implemented, members of all 3 Trade Unions who are in scope of potential harmonisation must vote for the negotiated package via a ballot -only then can the terms be implemented. To vote in the ballot, you must be a member of a recognised Trade Union.

If accepted by members of all three Trade Unions at the ballot, harmonisation to Probation Service pay and conditions will take place prior to any onward transfer of former parent company and supply chain organisation employees assigned to roles in either HMPPS or MOJ functional roles.

The scope of harmonisation negotiation covers pay plus other contractual rights which were protected at point of transfer such as annual leave, allowances, entitlements, contractual hours etc. Negotiations will also consider the effective date for any changes to terms and conditions. The starting point for the negotiations are the terms in the National Staff Transfer and Protections Agreement which applied to CRC staff transferring into the Probation Service and we are aiming to replicate this as far as possible in terms of structure and content. You can read the terms of this agreement here.

We remain on track to be ready to move to staff ballot by the spring of this year. Discussions are proceeding well. That said, the negotiations remain complex with a number of issues to resolve. Together, we have a shared collective aim to achieve agreement on the terms to put to trade union members in the forthcoming ballot.

We appreciate you will want to know more detail but we cannot allow the negotiations to be jeopardised.  We are of course holding regular update sessions for both staff and line managers both of which involve contributions from TU colleagues. As soon as we have an agreed package, we’re committed to ensuring you all understand the proposed changes and what they will mean for you.

In the interim if you have any questions about your own situation then please contact your Trade Union representative. General queries about the harmonisation or secondary transfer process can be submitted to the harmonisation functional mailbox; HandSTenquiries@justice.gov.uk.

Amy’s Message 11th February 2022

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Amy Rees – Director General Probation, Wales and Youth


Update message to staff – Friday 11 February


Amy Rees - Director General for Probation

Thank you to everyone who joined the event we held on Tuesday to discuss the findings of the Race Survey we jointly conducted with our staff network RISE and our Trade Unions NAPO and UNISON.  Over a thousand of you were on the call and shared your thoughts and questions with us.  As I said during the call, I am saddened and disappointed by the findings of the survey – I want everyone who works for us to feel included and valued and able to be their very best at work. My senior team and I are absolutely committed to taking positive action across the Probation Service to achieve this.

We will continue to keep you updated on the action we are taking throughout the year and you can find details of regional and national events taking place here.  We are really keen to ensure these events are useful for you so if you did join us on Tuesday, please take a couple of minutes to let us know what you thought about the event by completing this short survey. This survey is entirely anonymous and the information will only be used to help us improve future events.

A few of you asked during the call how you can become involved with RISE and become a Race Ally.  I would really encourage you to do so and you can find the details of how to here

Please also remember we have established the Tackling Unacceptable Behaviours Unit (TUBU) – this is a confidential service to support any staff member experiencing unacceptable behaviour.  The helpline can be contacted on 0300 131 0052 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm (excluding Bank Holidays).  You can find out more here: Confidential Helpline – HMPPS Intranet (gsi.gov.uk)

Last week I was invited to join a ‘Confident about Cancer’ session to mark World Cancer Day.  It was incredibly moving to hear staff members with lived experience of cancer share their stories.  Thank you so much to the amazing Lou Horton for organising the event and the great work she is doing. You can read her story and find out more about sources of support for anyone with concerns about cancer here.

On Monday, Phil Copple (Director General for Prisons) and I launched the programme for Young Adult’s Awareness week. Phil and I were really pleased to have the opportunity to talk about our joint approach to this important work.  By working together across the system, we can make a real difference to the experiences of young adults and achieve better outcomes for them and the communities in which they live. I hope you have been able to join in one of the events taking place this week but if not, the recordings will be available for you to access on My Learning very soon.

On Thursday I joined the Deputy Prime Minister on a visit to HMP Prescoed. The visit focused on apprenticeships and employment outcomes and we went to Cilwrgi Farm where many of the men carry out purposeful activity. The visit was a brilliant reminder of the importance of our work to reduce reoffending and support the people we work with to change their lives. You may be interested to see some of the media coverage today (Friday) about the introduction of apprenticeships in English prisons.

Finally, as I have previously mentioned, this month is LGBT+ history month with lots of events happening to raise awareness and celebrate the history of our LGBT+ community.  I enjoyed having a sneak preview of some of the brilliant and very creative artwork, poems, films and models sent in by staff, people on probation and people in prisons for the art exhibition taking place on 24 February. It is organised by the Pride in Prisons and Probation (PiPP) staff network and NOVUS and centres on the theme of Inclusion. You can find out more about the exhibition and how you can get involved here. There are also many other events still to come this month. I have included details below so do have a look and join in whenever you can.

Thanks as ever for all you are doing

Amy

LGBT+ History Month Events:

14 February

15 February

16 February

17 February

21 February

23 February

24 February

zARCHIVED: Harmonisation of terms and conditions of former Parent Organisation and Supply Chain staff – update

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Harmonisation of terms and conditions of former Parent Organisation and Supply Chain staff – update

If you joined one of the recent staff update sessions, you will have heard that the harmonisation negotiation meetings with the 3 recognised Probation Trade Unions are progressing positively with much constructive dialogue.   If you were unable to join the update session for your group, you can watch them here Events – Welcome Hub (hmppsintranet.org.uk).

3 negotiation meetings so far may not sound much on the face of it, but please remember that collectively we are trying to harmonise the pay, terms and conditions (e.g. allowances and entitlements, contractual hours, annual and special leave, overtime, expenses, reward and recognition, notice periods etc.) from 5 Parent and 30 Supply Chain organisations to those of the Probation Service.  This means considerable preparation before each negotiation meeting in order to work through a large and complex landscape of former terms and conditions and the implications of aligning them to those of the Probation Service.  Both ourselves and the Trade Unions are absolutely committed to achieving the best outcome for impacted staff from this process and we appreciate your patience as the negotiations continue.

As you will have heard on the calls, the implementation of harmonisation is dependent upon a staff ballot and to have your individual voice heard in that ballot, you must be a member of one of the 3 recognised Probation Trade Unions ; NAPO, UNISON or GMB SCOOP. The unions’ role is to negotiate on your behalf and we strongly advise staff impacted by harmonisation to join; details can be found here:

A Q&A document has already been circulated to everyone in scope for harmonisation (and secondary transfer) and we will be adding some further FAQs on our dedicated harmonisation page very soon.  We have sent out invitations for the next set of staff and  line manager updates and the dates are below;


Line Manager drop-in sessions:

  • 15th February 1-2pm
  • 15th March 1-2pm

Staff support sessions:

For PO/SC staff working in the Probation Service

  • 1st March 9-10am
  • 4th March 2.30-3.30pm
  • 29th March 9-10am
  • 1st April 9-10am

 PO/SC staff working in functional roles in HMPPS or MoJ

  • 2nd March 2.30-3.30pm
  • 28th March 2-3pm

Should you have further queries about either harmonisation or secondary transfer, these can be directed to HandSTenquiries@justice.gov.uk

 

Refer and Monitor Digital Round Up January 2022

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The risk screen in R&M has been improved (from 28 January 2022). Here’s the latest three-page explainer with all you need to know

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Amy’s Message 28th January 2022

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Amy Rees – Director General Probation, Wales and Youth


Update message to staff – Friday 28 January


Amy Rees - Director General for Probation

As I am sure you will agree, it has been pleasing to hear and read more positive news regarding COVID during recent days with infection rates lowering and government restrictions being lifted. Our Gold Command team continue to meet daily and work closely with Regional Probation Directors to review probation delivery and what the changes mean for us.  We remain optimistic that we will be able to transition from Exceptional Delivery Model arrangements from Monday next week, enabling regions to implement the new Prioritisation Framework.  This new tool has been developed as part of the Prioritising Probation project and will give Regional Probation Directors more flexibility in bringing together wider workload management considerations and the ongoing response to COVID in your region.

Staying on the subject of Prioritising Probation, Kim and the team involved are making steady progress with work to reduce pressure on front line teams. You can find the latest developments here, including a review of how we recruit to speed up the process and bring in more recruits than ever for the service.

I really enjoyed having the opportunity to talk to some of you during the last fortnight at all staff calls hosted by Wales and by the Greater Manchester region and at a NAPO event this week.  I always appreciate opportunities to hear directly from you and to discuss examples of the great local initiatives taking place. Thank you to everyone who joined the calls and I look forward to the ones coming up in other regions over the next few months.

February sees two important events taking place which I wanted to highlight and encourage you to get involved in.  It is LGBT+ history month and there are lots of events taking place throughout the month to celebrate the rich history of our LBGT+ community.  You can find the details of these here.

February 7 sees the launch of HMPPS Young Adults Awareness week and I am very much looking forward to joining Phil Copple (Director General for Prisons) at the event we are hosting at 2.00pm that day – please do join us by following this link. There will be a programme of virtual events taking place throughout the week designed to improve understanding of the distinct needs of Young Adults and shine the spotlight on good practice, innovation and available tools. Further information on events taking place can be found here.

Finally, another reminder that the Prison and Probation Awards nomination process is now open.  You have until 23 February to nominate your colleagues for the fantastic work they do every day.  Nominations can be submitted via your PDU Head or your Head of Service so please do get involved – find out more here.

Thank you as ever for all you are doing

Amy Rees

Meet Julie Wilkinson, Programme Facilitator

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Meet Julie Wilkinson, Programme Facilitator

Read the full story of Julie’s career in the Probation Service on the HMPPS intranet.

Read the career journeys of more colleagues.

Further information

You can find more details about career pathways on the Probation Hub developing your career page.

Amy’s Message 14th January 2022

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Amy Rees – Director General Probation, Wales and Youth


Update message to staff – Friday 14 January


Amy Rees - Director General for Probation

Happy New Year to you all and a big thank you again to everyone who worked during the Christmas period to keep delivering frontline services – I know this will also have been hugely appreciated by lots of vulnerable people across our communities. Congratulations to all HMPPS and partnership recipients of the Queen’s New Years Honours List 2022 and the Butler Trust Awards including our very deserving Probation winners – Al Reid, Kathryn Munson, Lilian Malama and Vicky Walton – I am really proud of you all.

Nominations have now opened for this year’s Prison and Probation Awards, another opportunity for you to nominate your brilliant colleagues to be recognised for their work.  You have until 23 February to get your nominations in via your PDU Head or your Head of Service so please do get involved – find out more here.

Unfortunately we start the year continuing to respond to COVID in our personal and professional lives.  We have had to reinstate Exceptional Delivery Models for some of our work in England and Wales as a temporary measure but we are keeping this under close review.  There have been lots of developments with staff testing during recent weeks so please do make sure you understand how testing applies to you and your workplace – you can find out more in this week’s Probation News. Finally please can I continue to encourage you to take up the COVID vaccination and booster when this is offered to you – this remains our primary defence against the virus so do get yours and please remember to record this on SOP.

Notwithstanding the ongoing challenges of COVID, there are also positive updates to share with you as we begin 2022.  We have commenced a big recruitment campaign this week to employ  500 new Community Payback staff.  These roles help us make a huge difference to communities and support people to make positive changes to their lives. If you know people who may be interested please let them know we are looking.  Details can be found  here.

Staying with recruitment, January also sees the launch of the PQIP 12 recruitment campaign – for trainee Probation Officers.  We have three strands to this month’s campaign starting with applications for the PSO progression route which is live now and closes on the 16 January.  Applications for other internal MoJ colleagues open on 17 January and the external campaign opens on 31 January – find out more about all the routes and how to apply on the Probation Hub.

Kim Thornden-Edwards and team are making good progress with the Prioritising Probation work which we launched last month to look at practical ways in which pressure on front line staff can be reduced. You can read an update from Kim on the work here.

Finally, looking ahead to February, it is LGBT+ History month.  The Pride in Prisons and Probation staff network together with NOVUS have been working on a collective outcome for the month focusing on the theme of belonging.  This has included an Art Project for which they have had some excellent responses from people in probation and in prisons, but they would also like to include your thoughts on the theme which will take the form of postcards in the final collection. If you would like to share a few words on what ‘Belonging and Inclusion’ mean to you then please send your thoughts to pipp_hmpps@justice.gov.uk (please let them know when sending your email if you would like your name included in the postcard or whether you would prefer to remain anonymous.)

There will be lots of events and other opportunities coming up during February for you to celebrate the rich history of our LGBT+ community so please look out for more information coming soon.

Thank you as ever for all you are doing

Amy

Frequently Asked Questions

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from Probation Reform, Workforce & Recovery Programme


What’s covered in these FAQs?

We have collated answers which relate to the work undertaken by the Probation Reform Programme, Workforce Programme and the Recovery Programme. These answers are tailored with operational staff in mind as it’s really important to us that you have the answers to your questions and the information you need as quickly as possible.

This document provides answers to our most frequently asked questions. In some instances, for more detailed or specific questions, you should ask your line manager in the first instance.

What’s not covered in these FAQs?

These FAQs will not cover individual circumstances relating to Pay. For specific questions about your pay and your pay point, you will need to contact to Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL): MoJ-hr-enquiries@gov.sscl.com

Questions relating to your own region and transition arrangements should be taken up by your line manager.

Any HR related issue should be taken up by you line manager and/or HR Business Partner.

The FAQ document is available on the Intranet, please click here

Amy’s Message 14th December 2021

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Amy Rees – Director General Probation, Wales and Youth


Update message to staff – Tuesday 14 December


Amy Rees - Director General for Probation

COVID-19

COVID continues to dominate the news in relation to the new Omicron variant. Plan B of the UK Government strategy has been implemented in England and weekly reviews are being undertaken of guidance in Wales.

From a Probation perspective, we are monitoring and reviewing how we work on a daily basis through our Gold command structure and ensuring we follow the latest advice from the UK Health Security Agency and Public Health Wales.  Updates from Gold command will be shared with you via your Regional Probation Directors and Deputy Directors to ensure you are kept up to date and informed promptly of any changes to how you should be working.

Please continue to follow the latest guidance in terms of PPE and Safe Working practices in your place of work – you can find the latest version here.

Do speak to your line manager on what the guidance means for you and if you have any well-being concerns.

Regular testing and making sure we take up offers of the vaccination and booster vaccination continue to be incredibly important for us all and I cannot encourage you enough to do both.  You can find out the latest guidance in relation to accessing testing and vaccinations in England here and Wales here.

Prioritising Probation

Probation has always been a busy place to work but we know this year in particular has presented many challenges through COVID, work to deliver unification and difficulties in some teams recruiting and retaining staff. I know things are tough for some of you at the moment and I am committed to doing all I can to help.

Last week we launched Prioritising Probation, a new action-focussed initiative to identify and bring together what can be done over the next three months to ease some the pressure.

Kim Thornden-Edwards is leading this work and you can read all about it in Kim’s blog. You can help shape the next steps by filling in a very short form or emailing a dedicated mailbox with ideas about how we can reduce the burden on teams and allow you to focus on the most important thing of all: operational delivery. We really want to hear from you on what you think would make a difference.

Prisons White Paper and Drug Strategy

Last week, the government published the Prisons Strategy White Paper and the cross-Government Ten Year Drug Strategy.

They bring-together the work we have in progress through our various programmes but also present us with a significant opportunity to look again at how we work across prisons and probation and with other sectors such as healthcare.

MoJ Permanent Secretary Awards

I would like to draw your attention to The Ministry of Justice Permanent Secretary Awards. These are a great opportunity for you to nominate a colleague or team for an award by completing Permanent Secretary award nomination form. The awards run every month with nominations due by the 18th, please agree with the nominees line manager before you submit and cc DirectorGeneralProbation@justice.gov.uk.

Finally, I know that the re-emergence of COVID and the new variant will be a worry for many people so now more than ever it is really important that we support each other. If you are finding things difficult please do speak to your line manager or a colleague.  You can also find information on sources of well being support on the intranet.

Thank you for everything you continue to do

Amy Rees

Prioritising Probation

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Prioritising Probation Rolling Updates


3rd August – New version of Prioritisation Framework and recording of staff event available


Hello everyone

Here is a quick update on a couple of things from the Prioritising Probation project.

Prioritisation Framework

A new version of the Prioritisation Framework is now available on Equip here: Prioritising Framework for Sentence Management Phase 3 Version 8.

Colleagues from the Prioritising Probation team recently hosted two all staff events to talk through the Prioritisation Framework. Thanks to everyone who came along and apologies for the slight technical difficulties.

If you were unable to attend, but would like to find out more, a recording of July’s session is available on Equip and can be viewed here: Prioritisation Framework Meeting Recording along with the Q&As from the events: Prioritising Framework Frequently Asked Questions.

Undergraduate recruitment campaign

I’m pleased to report that 451 applicants passed the initial sift and a number of regions have now proceeded to interviews. I’ll update you on progress with this again in September.

Next steps

Work continues to shape what the Prioritising Probation team will be working on over the coming months. We are in the process of concluding the work already in train, designing our next set of activities and refreshing our project plan. As always, we want to hear your suggestions so do get in touch via PrioritisingProbation@justice.gov.uk.  I’ll keep you posted on developments.

Best wishes

Kim

Prioritisating Probation image


30th June – Undergraduate marketing campaign success


Hello everyone

Here is the latest from the Prioritising Probation project team.

Undergraduate recruitment campaign

I am delighted to tell you that we had a brilliant response to our nationwide recruitment campaign, using paid-for marketing to target undergraduates to apply for over 300 part time admin roles. The campaign closed this week and we received over 900 applications. The idea to recruit undergrads to admin roles originally came through as a staff suggestion, which we picked up and made happen.

This great result is thanks to a significant amount of external recruitment marketing, in addition to local profiling of the vacancies by regions, and all of you who have signposted family and friends to these opportunities. I anticipate that the success of this targeted marketing approach will influence future recruitment activity with further campaigns aimed at attracting different groups.

The shortlisting process will now begin and big thanks to all the HQ volunteers who have offered to help regional colleagues with sifting and interviews. I will let you know in a future update how many of the applications result in hires.

Prioritisation Framework

On Thursday 14 July at 2pm – 2:45pm, we will be hosting a second online event to talk Probation colleagues through the latest version of the Prioritisation Framework. Come along to find out how the Framework helps regions respond flexibly to current pressures and to ask questions about what this means for you.

To join this event, click here

A recording will be made available for those who can’t make it.

Process improvements

I have been attending the Probation Officer engagement sessions and hearing about some of the issues and frustrations you encounter daily. Many of these are due to the various clunky and cumbersome processes that exist. Please rest assured that we are doing all that we can make this better.

Continuous Improvement colleagues are now working closely with the EQuiP team to refine and streamline many processes (including the recall process) and to strip out inefficiencies. As part of digital reforms, work has been carried out to understand some of the challenges with OASys. This will inform the design and development of a new digital solution to better support operational colleagues in assessing the risk needs and strengths of people on probation.

Next steps

Prioritising Probation was originally meant to be a three month initiative to identify and bring together things that could easily be done to help to ease the pressures on the front line. We now realise this has the potential to be more than a short quick win project as there is so much more we can do.

We are currently designing the next phase of the project and seeking feedback to shape our work over the next 12-18 months.  Please keep talking to us and keep your suggestions coming in via our dedicated mailbox PrioritisingProbation@justice.gov.uk and watch this space for further updates over the coming weeks.

Best wishes

Kim

Prioritisating Probation image


30th May – Version 3 of Prioritisation Framework and nationwide admin roles campaign


Hello everyone

I’m really pleased to tell you what the Prioritising Probation team have been doing over the past few weeks to support the frontline.

Prioritisation Framework

Version 3 of the Prioritisation Framework is now available on EQuiP. The Framework continues to be an evolving tool and this latest version has been simplified in response to your feedback that previous editions were overly complex.  The Prioritising Probation project team will be offering teach-in sessions in June for anyone who wants to find out more, so look out for invites to those when they come through. A stand-alone teaching tool will also be made available.

Undergraduate recruitment campaign

I am delighted to say that we have just launched a nationwide recruitment campaign for 300 part-time admin roles. The campaign is primarily targeted at undergraduates but is open to anyone. We are advertising this campaign widely through a specialist recruitment marketing company who will deliver regional specific campaigns, including paid for advertising in social media.

As well as filling current vacancies and helping to ease resourcing pressures, these new recruits will develop valuable experience should they then decide on a future career in the Probation Service.

Please visit this friends and family page and spread the word to anyone you know looking for part-time work.

Joining up recruitment

We have started a piece of work to identify other ways to develop our recruitment pipeline. We are talking to colleagues from across the MoJ and HMPPS who are working on a wide range of different recruitment related activity. We want to work with them to create a set of national approaches and products for regions to use as part of their local recruitment efforts, such as careers fairs and talks.

We are also looking at enhancing our engagement with educational institutes, other government departments like the DWP and public sector organisations such as the Police and Fire Brigade to raise our profile and encourage people to apply for probation jobs.

As always, feel free to contact us via our dedicated mailbox PrioritisingProbation@justice.gov.uk with any questions for suggestions you may have.

Best wishes

Kim

Prioritisating Probation image


13th April – Simplified Prioritisation Framework and process improvements


Hello everyone

The project team continue to find practical ways to prioritise the frontline and help you focus on your work with people on probation to protect the public.

Prioritisation Framework

The Prioritisation Framework has been revised and greatly simplified to make it easier to read and understand. The new version was made available to Regional Probation Directors on Friday 8 April and is now on EQuiP. If you are not already aware what status your PDU is in on the framework your local manager or Head of Operations will be able to let you know. In late April/early May (dates TBA), learning events will be offered to help people better understand the framework.

Requests from HQ to regions

The Prioritising Probation team have initiated a piece of work to gain a better understanding of the range of commissions and information requests going out to regions. To do this we are taking a snapshot of activity over a  2-week period and have asked regions to forward ALL requests they receive from HQ between Monday 4 April to Monday 18 April. This will help us identify how we could adjust current systems and processes to be directed to a central gateway to enable more efficient and effective ways to respond to requests.

Simplifying processes

Over the past few weeks I have met with a number of frontline probation staff to get more insights into what else we could be looking at. Much of the feedback has been around some of the unnecessarily elaborate admin processes that exist. Many issues (such as double data entry) will be resolved once new digital systems are in place, but we should do what we can now to be more efficient. Here is a summary of some changes that are in train or have already gone live:


The MAPPA referral  form is currently being updated to separate the referral from the rest of the information necessary for the first MAPPA meeting. This means probation practitioners will no longer have to provide the latter until the referral has been accepted. This will save time in areas with high rejection rates. Areas with low rejection rates are already saving time by not filling in rejected referrals. The national MAPPA team will be launching this immediately.

Following feedback from stakeholder groups, we are reducing the number of assessments currently required for a home visits, to just one linked to NDelius. We are currently doing the final due diligence checks and hope get this more efficient process out as soon as possible. The EQuiP process map and NDelius will be amended to reflect this process change and will be communicated through the usual routes.

The EQuiP Team and Process Owner have recently reviewed the Person on Probation Travel content in EQuiP to streamline and clarify the content to ensure that clear, concise, accurate and up to date guidance is available to Probation colleagues. The refreshed EQuiP process can be viewed here – People on Probation Travel (Master) (rocstac.com)

Colleagues within the Yorkshire & the Humber region are taking an in-depth look at induction. We plan to use the outcome of this work to enrich the induction process across all of the regions, including an improved induction checklist which will be made available over the coming weeks.

Following feedback from probation staff, the requirement for the Person on Probation to meet in-person with their Probation Practitioner for the first induction appointment has been waived in cases where a Person on Probation is sentenced to an Approved Premises (AP) requirement in premises located far away from the allocated Probation Office. The appointment will instead be carried out via video call (and recorded as Initial Appointment by Video Contact on NDelius). The in-person appointment with the Probation Practitioner will be conducted at the earliest possible opportunity (and within 7 days from start of licence/supervision). A new version of the SL04 and SL05 national performance report will be published to reflect this change.

An end to end review of the recall process to look at where efficiencies can be made has commenced. The review is expected to run until the end of June 2022.


Feedback loops

There are a number of ways you can make suggestions on how things could be improved, including:

Please keep revisiting this page for more updates on what we’re doing to Prioritise Probation over the coming weeks.

Best wishes
Kim


9th March – Speeding up recruitment and response to your suggestions


Hello everyone

The Prioritising Probation project team continue to identify ways that contribute to protecting the frontline, which is one of the Senior Leadership Team’s top priorities in response to the People Survey.

Since my last update, significant progress has been made on ways to speed up recruitment, which I am pleased to share with you today.

Our big win is that we are now able to make conditional offers. This shaves time off the recruitment processes as people can start work before vetting is complete. Over 400 candidates have now been offered roles subject to passing the final stage of vetting post-employment.

Each region has also identified key candidates who are currently ‘stuck’ in the recruitment system, so we can unblock them.

Other things that will speed up recruitment include:

  • MoJ Resourcing will soon be providing bespoke support through a dedicated Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for London and seven other regions with the greatest recruitment need. This service may then be rolled out across all regions.
  • Our agency staff provider has agreed that if they can’t fill a post immediately, they will go to other agencies to source candidates. Previously there was a two-week delay.
  • The Recruitment Task Force has begun a process mapping exercise across the recruitment system to identify and improve delays and blockages.

I will report back on the impact of these initiatives in further updates.

Your suggestions and ideas

I want to let you know what we’re doing with your ideas and suggestions to help ease the pressures on the frontline.

We have worked with colleagues across functions to carefully review all the suggestions made. I want to be honest with you and say that some cannot be taken forward due to Civil Service rules, but I’m pleased to update you on how the following suggestions are being progressed:

What you said and what we are doing


This suggestion is spot on, as speeding up recruitment is our priority. As outlined above, a dedicated team within MoJ Resourcing will support regions with the greatest recruitment need. This model may then be extended to all regions in the future.

The Probation Reform programme and Business Strategy & Change teams are continually reviewing the sequencing and impact of change. Where appropriate, implementation timescales for new initiatives or TOM deliverables have been extended to support regions in managing the pace of change. To date, this work has resulted in:

  • staggering the release of new policy frameworks
  • moved roll out of Workload Management Tool from December 21 to April 22 to accommodate targeted support for staff using the new tool
  • extending the implementation period for onboarding new structured interventions.

We will continue to keep all further changes under review.

The POD structure is a key component of the TOM and will be operating across all regions by December 2022.  The end state POD model is designed to support collaborative working across the team rather than delegation of PO tasks to PSOs. RPDs can flexibly deploy the POD model now to facilitate support from PSOs to POs to address current workload and capacity issues.

This can be done. The TOM provides regions with the flexibility to establish a separate team to manage stand-alone unpaid work cases or to hold these cases within mixed teams.

This can be done. Probation regions have the flexibility to engage retired staff on sessional contracts to support service delivery.

The new Home Visits Policy Framework launched on 17 November 2021 and provides Probation Practitioners with guidance to determine when home visits should be undertaken.

Where regions are operating within the Prioritisation Framework due to significant capacity and resourcing concerns, Regional Probation Directors can decide to undertake home visits in line with National Standards as a minimum.

This can be done. Regional Probation Directors have offered part-time staff additional hours either on a temporary or permanent basis and this remains an option for regions to consider.

This has been done. All HQ functions have been sent a guide to communications contacts and channels and asked to ensure that all communications are routed through and agreed with their programme or business communication lead.

In addition, it has also been asked that all commissions and change requests are routed through the Regional Implementation team and/or Business Strategy & Change teams to reduce the amount of information sent out to the regions or asked for from the regions.

We have this covered. The Reform Programme are leading a working group responsible for reviewing and streamlining the induction process and paperwork.  We will share further information with you as soon as possible.

We are doing this. The Probation Workforce Programme are currently in the process of reviewing all mandatory training. This work will conclude by Summer 2022 and we will share the outcome.


The Prioritising Probation project team and I are grateful everyone who has taken the time to share their ideas. We are continuing to explore if and how we can take forward more of your suggestions.

Feel free to contact us with your thoughts at any time via our dedicated mailbox PrioritisingProbation@justice.gov.uk

Best wishes

Kim


9th February – Prioritisation Framework now live


Hello everyone

The Prioritising Probation project continues to build momentum with its aim of taking pressure off the frontline. This update highlights two initiatives that are now live and two others that are progressing

Initiatives now live

We have launched phase one of the Prioritisation Framework. This new tool went live on 31 January and has been created in response to your feedback requesting clarity on what we absolutely must do versus the things that we could, in the right circumstances, stop doing or do differently.

At its heart is the list of mandatory activities that are the cornerstone of sentence management and are directly referenced in legislation or policy guidance and must be protected. Under the Framework RPDs have the discretion to determine the trigger points for swiftly activating different parts of the Framework in order to stop and/or reduce other activities to alleviate pressure points.

You told us that OASys is a significant pressure point, so within the Prioritisation Framework we have included guidance on supporting changes to the OASys review system if certain criteria are met.

Now that we have launched phase one of the Framework, we will work quickly to review and refine it further and ensure its development is informed by a data and evidence driven approach.

Vetting

As I updated last time, we had hoped to move to a system where candidates could take up post with certain safeguards in place prior to vetting being completed. Regrettably we haven’t been able to do this at the moment for various reasons.

However, the good news is that we have secured support from the vetting and security team to root out cases that are currently stuck in the vetting system and unblock them. The team will focus on administrative and PSO roles as we know these are the main pressure points for you.

This work will make a difference right now and help us get new recruits into the business as fast as possible.

Initiatives coming up

Our two emerging initiatives to expand our capacity and get roles filled are progressing well.

We are advancing our proposals to actively target undergraduates to work for us in part time roles such as admin, accredited programme support, health and safety cover etc.

One region is already on board to pilot a scheme to develop the talent within our people on probation pool and support them to take up posts in UPW, administrative and other roles.

I’ll keep you updated on both initiatives as they develop.

Your suggestions

All the things we are doing have come from your suggestions. We are still exploring options around the other great ideas that you have put forward, so watch this space for an update on this.

I hope you are assured of our commitment to help you prioritise probation, we have lots in train and there is more to come.  Please keep visiting this page for the latest updates and feel free to contact us at  PrioritingProbation@justice.gov.uk.

Best wishes

Kim


26th January – Vetting support and prioritisation framework form part of next steps


Hello everyone

There has been a lot of activity going on behind the scenes, and I’m pleased to share with you the latest developments for each of the Prioritising Probation workstreams.

Speeding up recruitment and increasing the number of staff

I was hoping to be able to tell you that we are now able to make conditional job offers prior to vetting being complete.  I have got to be honest that despite our best efforts, due to the risks involved this is not going to be possible at the volumes we wanted.  Whilst this is a disappointment for us, we are determined to understand whether there are other elements of the recruitment process that we can improve so that we can hold on to our original aim of speeding things up to get people in post as fast as possible. We have therefore commissioned a fast review of the processes so that we can focus in on changing those that are taking too long. We will report on this when it is finished. While we wait for this, we are taking forward two specific actions:

  • We are training more people to become Vetting Contact Points. This will mean speedier vetting.
  • Regional Implementation Leads (RILs) working within the Reform programme are supporting regions with the upcoming unpaid work recruitment and interviews.

We are working with the MoJ Resourcing team on targeted recruitment of undergraduates for specific roles. We’ll be talking to RPDs to find out which roles they think would be a good fit and how many vacancies they have. We are also doing some scoping work with our Prison colleagues on a new ‘Year in Business’ initiative to place undergraduates in prisons or probation for a year.

Work continues on looking at how we can employ people with lived experience with the right package of support, including L&D. We’re talking to HR colleagues about developing a proposal on how we could best support this group with their job applications for our roles, specifically in the last 3 months of their order.

Giving your region more flexibility to pause or stop non-essential activity

We are very close to finalising phase one roll out our new Prioritisation Framework which sets out what activities should be undertaken against different capacity percentages. We have made significant changes to the original draft following feedback from RPDs and Trade Unions and will be able to go live as soon as we exit out of EDMs.

Simplifying or stopping some processes

There has been a lot of activity to get ideas from across the regions on reducing demand or increasing capacity. A short list of these ideas was shared with senior leadership colleagues and we are now doing further consultation with RPDs on priority areas for the Prioritising Probation project team to focus on. Thanks to everyone who contributed either through our short survey, event break out groups or regional workshops.

Lessening the amount of changes or spreading them out more during 2022

We have created a Change Load Tracking Tool to help us to visualise all planned and upcoming change activity and to indicate the impact of this, based on the level of effort required by staff to implement the change and the volume of staff affected by it. This tool informs a regular review of our delivery plans, to identify where potential changes are too burdensome on operational delivery and make the necessary changes.  A revised change map will go out to regions early next month.

Reducing or better managing requests from HQ to regions

We are working on a strategy for managing loans and secondments. Our aim is to have clearer, fairer process in place to make the system work better for everyone.  We want to ensure that we don’t make resourcing pressures worse by taking people away from the front line unnecessarily. We are also exploring alternative ways to get the expertise needed for HQ functions from frontline practitioners. We are planning to launch our first draft of this at the Senior Leaders event on the 17 February as we know we need to move this quickly.

We are continuing to work at pace to influence the shape of future delivery, increase capacity and drive progress.

Please keep visiting this page for the latest updates and feel free to contact us at  PrioritingProbation@justice.gov.uk.

Best wishes

Kim


12th January – First workload support changes implemented


Hello everyone

The Prioritising Probation project has been motoring along and I’m pleased to be able to update you on what we have been doing and what’s happening next.

Speeding up recruitment and increasing the number of staff

The process to extend agency staff has been reviewed and significantly streamlined. The new, leaner process will save time for regional staff as HR Business Partners are now taking responsibility to submit regional business cases for approval. Full details are on EQuiP, which has been updated with the new process.

We are very close to securing the ability to give conditional job offers to successful job applicants, enabling you to onboard new starters before vetting has concluded.  We’ve submitted an application to the Civil Service Commission to seek permission to proceed, so watch this space for a further update as soon as we hear back.

We are looking into how we can target advertising of part time admin roles to university undergraduates and elsewhere work is underway to set up a scheme to employ people with lived experience who have the potential to take on productive roles within UPW or administration. Please visit the Going Forward into Employment page to find out more about this.

Giving your region more flexibility to pause or stop non-essential activity

We have been consulting with RPDs and Trade Unions on a new Prioritisation Framework which sets out what activities should be undertaken against different capacity percentages to help regions prioritise work. This was due to be launched in early January, but is currently paused due to our return to Exceptional Delivery Models as a result of the Omicron variant. However, we will continue to maintain momentum on this piece of work and spend the rest of this month refining the guidance in light of RPD and TU feedback with the aim of going live as soon as EDMs are terminated.

In addition, the new OASys guidance has been launched and incorporated into the EDM documentation, this can be utilised when capacity issues make it hard to do full reviews.

Simplifying or stopping some processes

We are in the process of consulting colleagues across the regions on this. We have asked Equip process owners for feedback on what could be changed and have been running regional workshops on what we might stop or do differently as well as taking a second look at the ideas that have come through the Great & Good scheme. We are currently analysing all of the input we’ve received to come up with a definitive list to talk to RPDs about.

Lessening the amount of changes or spreading them out more during 2022

We have now put in place a process to oversee the level of change on the Regions from programmes and other initiatives. We will review our delivery plans and their impact to identify any pinch points where potential changes are too burdensome on operational delivery and make the necessary changes. We will share a revised change map with you so you can see what to expect and when.

Reducing or better managing requests from HQ to regions

We will design a better system to control and prioritise HQ secondment opportunities to minimise the impact of secondments on the front line. We are also looking at the number of information requests to the regions to see if responses could be provided in a more efficient way and reviewing the volume of communications coming from the centre with an aim to reduce this.

Questions and Feedback

I am confident that we will start seeing some tangible results over the coming weeks, so do keep returning to this page for the latest updates. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us via our dedicated mailbox  PrioritingProbation@justice.gov.uk.

Best wishes

Kim


21st December – First workload support changes being finalised


Hello everyone

Since the launch of the Prioritising Probation initiative last week, we have moved quickly and I’m really pleased to tell you that we are very close to finalising the first changes to help with workloads. We are talking to RPDs about the sequencing of these changes and I will update you on progress early in January.

Your feedback

Many of you have taken a couple of minutes to give your thoughts using this very short form which will stay open until the end of this week. In addition, almost 300 colleagues attended last week’s senior leaders’ event and put forward a range of great suggestions.

All of your input shows that there is a collective motivation to do something about this.  We are closely looking at all of the ideas that have come through and assigning these to the relevant Prioritising Probation workstreams to action where possible.

Don’t forget, you can also contact us with your views via our dedicated mailbox: PrioritisingProbation@justice.gov.uk.

Small changes, quick wins

I want to thank everyone for getting behind this so enthusiastically. By putting together all of our ideas, however small they are, together they will have a big impact and help you prioritise your valuable probation work.

Wishing you all a safe and peaceful festive period.

Kim


9th December – Introduction from Kim Thornden-Edwards


I’m Kim, Deputy Director for the Probation Workforce Programme, and I joined the Probation Service from Interserve in June as part of unification.  With over 25 years operational experience delivering probation services across the country, I know how tough things are out there at the moment. We have heard the messages you have been giving us, and are committed to doing something about it.

Taking action now

We know many of the issues around workload are caused by staff shortages, complex processes, the constant demands of change, alongside the backdrop of Covid. Whilst we must protect our core business,  we need to prioritise the essential activities, and stop or pause others.

So today [9th December 2021] I’m really pleased to tell you about Prioritising Probation, a new action-focussed initiative to identify and bring together what can be done over the next three months to ease the pressures on the front line and enable you to focus on the important work you do with people on probation to protect the public.

Prioritising Probation is our response to what you have told us. We will review how we are currently working and identify if there are practical and quick ways to:

  • Speed up recruitment and increase the number of staff
  • Give your region more flexibility to pause or stop non-essential activity
  • Simplify or stop some processes
  • Lessen the amount of changes or spread them out more during 2022
  • Reduce or better manage requests from HQ to regions

Get involved

We are still working on the detail, but we want to be brave and bold. I’ll be talking to senior leaders about these ideas on Monday and in addition I am keen to hear from you. So, please tell us what you feel is most important using this short form, so that we can ensure that we focus on the right things.  You can also share your views using the dedicated mailbox: PrioritisingProbation@justice.gov.uk


Stay informed

We will keep updating you on progress in a range of ways including this rolling news feed, Probation News, and through other channels. We want you to hold us to account on this, so please keep checking here for updates.

Thank you

Kim

Helen Amor’s Career Journey

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Meet Helen Amor, Senior Probation Officer, Offender Management, South Tyneside


Helen lives in South Shields with her husband and two children.  She was working for Durham Youth Offender Service, when she saw a PSO role advertised which caught her interest.  She was looking to do more, and the role felt perfect and a natural next step.  She talks about her early naivety to the complexity of the service and the people it supports, to recognising her love of learning & development.

What’s been your favourite role so far and why?

In my early role working for the Youth Offending Service I was acutely aware of the impact on children, but Probation opened my eyes to the importance of family dynamics.  Coming in as a Group worker PSO introduced me to the interventions and learning that underpins the work of probation practitioners.  The training I received in order to deliver accredited programmes was ground-breaking for me. It explained so much and put in place the theory behind the learning.  It all made sense and cemented a passion I have for learning & development and that I continue to have to this day.

It’s the part of my job that I have loved the most – staff training and development, the importance of being reflective, giving and receiving feedback and continuous development.  I continue to be passionate about this and ensure that I embed this in my management role and keep my hand in with training as my career in Probation develops.

Who helped or inspired you along the way?

I have been extremely fortunate with the support I’ve received and role models I’ve met whilst working in South of Tyne. Karin O’Neill – NE Head of Operations, has always been there as my senior directly or indirectly.  I remember when I worked in group work, I was a fire warden and she was the Team and Building Manager.  I was young and thought, ‘you don’t talk to senior managers.  Karin changed all that and showed me what true leadership was all about.  Approachable and encouraging – she is a great role model.  She has been incredibly supportive throughout my career and I continue to run things past her and seek advice when needed.

In my Learning & Development role, Sharon Stephenson – Learning and Development Team Manager, really brought out my confidence in delivering and designing training.  Whilst I had the skills and background in delivering group to POPs, she gave me tasks that stretched me (and scared me) in terms of training and development of staff. With her ongoing support I developed a belief in myself – I was surprised with what I was able to achieve.

My current manager, Karen Blackburn, Head of South Tyneside and Gateshead PDU, is another person who has been incredibly ‘supportive’ of my professional development, ambitions and developing my confidence. She’s encouraging, and I’ve been able to express my passions and desire to follow my love of L&D within my current role.

Career overview

2007 PSO in the accredited programmes team delivering DIDP, ASRO, Thinking Skills and CDVP people on probation (POPs)

2008 A1 NVQ Assessor alongside this role assessing and supporting PSOs to complete their NVQ Level 3s

2010 Learning and Development Officer designing and delivering training with a specific remit of accredited programmes and PSO Development

2011 Trainee Probation Officer under the Probation Qualification Framework- working within a generic Offender Management Team

2014 Qualified Probation Officer generic offender management team

2018 Senior Probation Officer Offender Management – specific lead in Sexual Offending, Domestic Abuse, Female Offenders and Foreign Nationals

Continued to deliver training since leaving the learning and development unit and have lead roll outs such as New Me MOT and Skills for Relationships Toolkit.

There’s a pattern within the Probation Service of supportive people, be it managers or colleagues.  I’ve had the pleasure of working with many wonderful people – all of whom inspire me in some way.

As a manager myself I now lead a team of inspiring, committed and passionate Probation Practitioners.  I have never felt prouder of the team than seeing how everyone pulled together during the COVID-19 pandemic.  It’s been a difficult time, but we’ve come through.

What’s the best advice you could give to a colleague who’s interested in looking at other opportunities within the Probation Service or broader?

Follow your heart.  Take chances.  Consider your interests.  I’ve avoided promotions; doubting my skills and experience.  But I would encourage people to push themselves.  Don’t be afraid of failure – it’s a great way to understand what you don’t know, and you can put effort into developing those skills and knowledge that failure highlights.

All jobs are fair game so if you know what you want, go for it.  And if you’re not sure, talk to those people who have supported you.  Reflect on what stimulates you and gets you up in the morning.

I’ve recently had opportunities to mentor others, and it feels great!

Read about the career journeys of more colleages.

Further information

You can find more details about career pathways on the Probation Hub developing your career page.