Amy Rees message – 25 June

Amy Rees

Director General for Probation & Wales

We are finally here – on the eve of unification! At midnight tonight, we officially become a new unified Probation Service and welcome all colleagues joining us.  I cannot thank you all enough for everything you have done as individuals and teams to get us to what will be a momentous milestone in our probation history.

Today also marks the end of an era and I know some of you will have mixed feelings, which is totally understandable and natural when going through a big period change. I also know that we are fortunate to have an incredibly committed and compassionate group of staff and you will be supporting each other over the coming days and weeks as we settle into our new Probation Service.  Please do reach out and speak to someone if you have any questions or are finding things difficult.

If you are experiencing any practical problems relating to unification or have any queries – please do speak to your line manager.  There is also lots of information and guidance and dedicated staff support pages on the Welcome Hub.

On Monday 28 June, we are holding an all staff ‘Welcome to the Probation Service’ call at 4pm using MS Teams live where I will be joined by our Prisons and Probation Minister Alex Chalk and HMPPS CEO and our Second Permanent Secretary Jo Farrar to discuss unification and our hopes and plans for the future of probation.  I really hope you will be able to join us – to do so, please click the link here.

I have mentioned previously my commitment to building a more inclusive culture for our new Probation Service – where everyone feels they are valued, belong and can be themselves.  I was really pleased that we launched the Tackling Unacceptable Behaviours Unit (TUBU) across HMPPS last year – a unit set up to help colleagues experiencing any form of bullying, harassment, discrimination or victimisation in the workplace.  It aims to help address these serious issues and drive the right behaviour to positively change our culture and enable everyone to be their best.  TUBU offers lots of important services including a confidential helpline and mediation which can really assist in early resolution of problems when they arise. So I wanted to make sure you were aware of TUBU and how to access their support (further information below).

In other news, our Recovery work continues and we are making steady progress increasing delivery on a regional basis.  Some of our Probation Delivery Units in the South West and London have been able to move to ‘green’ status in their Exceptional Delivery Models, meaning they can see more people on probation in person and increase home visits.  Other regions are unfortunately seeing higher rates of infection and are making adjustments to maintain the health and safety of staff and people on probation.

Please do continue to take up home testing wherever this is available to you. This supports in identifying early infections and asymptomatic cases so remains very important in our Recovery approach and keeping colleagues safe.  If you do not know how to access a home testing kit, please speak to your line manager.

We will closely review the next set of announcements by UK and Welsh governments and let you know if these lead to any changes in how we are working.

Finally, I wanted to say congratulations and a big well done to some recent probation winners:

• Kimberley Wright – Probation Officer from the London region for winning the Individual Award in the recent Permanent Secretary monthly awards in recognition of her work in helping a female on probation break her long-standing cycle of being on probation supervision
• Janet Thomas – Head of Public Protection – OBE for services to probation
• Sue Taylor – Deputy Director Community Interventions Residential and Accommodation Support Services- CBE for services to HMPPS

Well done to Kimberly, Janet and Sue – really proud of you all.

Thank you, as ever, for your hard work.  I look forward to being one new ‘team Probation’ from Monday and to speaking to as many of you as possible on our call.

Amy