Rob Thomas,
Chairman of Napo,
(the trade union of operatives who working for the crisis ridden CAFCASS organisation) makes some shocking admissions: |
Napo chaiman publicly admits that NAPO CAFASS OPERATIVES continue
to write reports on children in divorce in spite there being “no
national training strategy; no
systematic induction programme for new staff; no training to allow private
practitioners to take on public work and vice versa ... ” (see below)”, yet
he vows that in spite of such failings:
“We will defend our members from anyone motivated by
self interest – a self interest often driven by sexist attitudes to childcare”.
Adress
to the October 2003 Napo Conference by Chairman Rob Thomas (sections highlighted in yellow relate to the writing of secret reports about children and their fathers in English Family Courts): |
Chair’s
Speech AGM 2003
Welcome to Scarborough
For those first time attendees at AGM, this is the slot where the Chair has his or her chance to sum up what has happened over the last year and to lay markers down for the coming year. Being Welsh has some advantages at the moment – on the privatisation front, there are not going to be foundation trusts in Wales. In Probation, one of the Welsh areas saw its chief removed, partly because of his ham-fisted handling of the industrial action. Probation staff are now seconded to the Welsh assembly, to improve access for clients to housing; and I can’t resist this - in football, Wales are still on course to qualify for the European Championships – wish I could say the same about the prospects for our rugby team.
What about England and Northern Ireland? Firstly, sticking with the good news, Social Work is alive and well in Probation in Northern Ireland, as I hope many of you will find out if you attend the planned Professional Conference in Belfast next spring. Sorry about the Celtic bias ; and sorry about the having to turn to bad news when it comes to England. On a whole host of different issues our members are facing problems, not just of course in England but throughout the UK. Wherever you look - at workloads in Probation or Cafcass; pay rates for Probation staff; use of new technology such as eOASys, professional standards slipping , for example with standard format PSR’s ,or clients just signing in at Probation Offices; race issues for asylum seekers, staff who still suffer racism during the course of their working lives; resourcing levels in Cafcass as well as the NPS, Health and Safety issues; lack of a work-life balance for members – these are the problems……… I make no apologies for sounding negative. All I am doing is reflecting what our members tell us. However, during the course of this speech I will also make sure that I recognise some of the progress that has been made as well.
On workloads in Probation, I believe we have made progress. The threat of strike action across England & Wales which led to 8 areas actually striking in January did bring about change. When it came down to it, local management and local boards did realise that members felt so strongly that they were prepared to withdraw their labour and branch officials are now reporting a new willingness to engage in further meaningful discussions. Many local areas have reduced caseloads and overall workloads. The NPD has accepted that it played its part in setting unrealistic targets for all the local areas. When I was out on the picket lines on that cold day in January, more than one member told me that at last they felt they were having their own say, and that it was doing more for their morale than anything else they could remember. Membership has continued to rise since January - there were even examples of lapsed members rejoining so that they could legitimately take part in the strike. So much for those who say that strikes stop people joining unions.
Of course it would have been better if we had not had to resort to those strikes in the first place. If the NPD had been fully committed to introducing a workload measurement tool, then members’ workloads may have already been brought down to realistic levels. It seems that the industrial action has had a good effect on that work too. As many of you will know, the first pilots have been completed in 7 areas and the tool should be ready for national use next year. Only when there is a properly transparent system for measuring workloads will there be a proper chance of Napo members being able to keep their work commitments within reasonable boundaries.
Workloads in Cafcass too are an issue – I will come back to that. Before I do, I want to stay on a positive note regarding Cafcass. Firstly, the creation of a chidren’s minister this summer and the announcement that there will be a Children’s Commissioner in England to join those already created in Wales and Northern Ireland is good news on the wider political front. Within Cafcass itself, after long and often difficult negotiations, between the employers, the Cafcass section executive committee met in February and agreed to recommend acceptance of a harmonisation package to all Napo members. That package was then accepted by an overwhelming majority of the membership. Of course there were compromises that had to be made along the way, but the fact that most members now will be able to reach a maximum point of £30,000 on their pay scale is a major achievement for this union. The vast majority of our members will benefit significantly from this package, even if the benefits may be slower arriving than we had hoped. This union has stuck by the maxim of the greatest good for the greatest number ; and that is what we believe we have delivered as far as the overall package is concerned.
This harmonisation package has even had a positive effect on the pay and reward negotiations in Probation. We have been able to use this example as a marker which helps us to set a bottom line for an increase in salary which we believe has been long overdue. Although we are setting our sights as high as we can for the Probation Officer grade, we are doing this with the express intent of dragging up PSO grade pay. Alongside of the job evaluation process that is still in being, we are determined to improve pay and conditions of service for PSOs. As you know from Napo news, the timetable has slipped. One of the main reasons for this that we have said to the employers over and over again during the last six months that there is no point in talking about harmonisation of conditions of service across the grades unless there is substantial extra money on the table. So, Probation staff have slipped further and further behind and that slide just has to be halted We have still not reached the point where the extra money is on offer and negotiations may still break down, but we believe that the employers want progress just as much as we do – so we will dig in and wait for some real cash to be put on the table. Only if that happens will we even think about putting out a package for acceptance by the membership as a whole.
Fortunately, in relation to the separate negotiations for this year’s pay round in Probation, there was extra money on the table. Settlements of 4.7% for trainees; 4.4% for many P.S.O’s; 3.9% for P.O’s on the maximum of their scale and a minimum of 3.7% for SPO’s is above the going rate for the public sector in this year’s pay round. That too must be regarded as a real achievement for Napo.
On the professional side, we must welcome the reduction in numerical targets in relation to accredited programmes, (although they are still too high) ; and an apparent willingness to go back to basics in relation to spending more time addressing employment, accommodation and educational attainment for the people we supervise. Also we must welcome the planned appointment of another 1000 trainee probation officers this year.
In the field of Equal Rights, the picture is less clear. Internally, Napo has completed revision of it’s anti-racism policicy and all members should have received that with their Napo News this week. We continue to try and support autonomous groups and will be telling the NPD that some of the strings they attach to funding of groups like ABPO, LAGIP and NAAPS are unacceptable. On a wider front, Napo proposed an amendment to TUC motions on the rise of the BNP and the ill treatment of asylum seekers. That amendment called for repeal of the section of the Immigration Act which removes benefits from asylum seekers. It was immediately accepted by the movers of the motion and is now official TUC policy. However, within the Probation Service, we are still having to defend too many members from racist treatment at the hands of our employers and we are still concerned about the under-representation of Asian staff in the NPS.
Over sexual orientation, there was good news and bad news. At long last, that odious piece of legislation known in the vernacular as section 28 has come off the statute books. Napo wants to pay tribute to organisations such as Stonewall which we support and who worked so hard to have it removed. We also are glad to see the imminent introduction of regulations on sexual orientation, which should start to remove discrimination on the grounds of sexuality in the fields of employment , housing and associated areas. However we are dismayed at the fact that the government has chosen to exempt on religious grounds churches and other bodies, as this could even worsen the current position for our lesbian gay bisexual and transgender members not improve it. We have been active within the TUC in framing opposition to these religious exemptions and will continue to support all affected members.
Over disability, we still remain hugely dissatisfied with the failure of the NPD to make new technological developments such as eOASys fully accessible to all staff. The NPD have been put on notice that they must produce a timetable for making such technology usable by all staff and that we will take action to defend our members if an acceptable timetable is not forthcoming. At this point, I want to make special mention of two members who have worked tirelessly in the field of assistive technology – John Hague of our Trade Union Organisation Committee and David Quarmby, chair of Equal Rights. David has been recently been seconded to the NPD to work on the IT replacement for CRAMS. Your reputation has clearly gone before you David, as I heard that you got an office space and desk far quicker than most new recruits!
And now to some of the more sticky areas. In Cafcass, we also have workload problems, as the agency is not able to recruit sufficient staff. Currently Cafcass estimates that over 600 public law cases are unallocated and 4 to 500 private law cases. Our members know only too well the cost of this to children and parents who are waiting far too long to have major decisions made about their futures – but they are powerless to do anything about it. When local management in one region turned their attention to the problem they came up with a novel solution !! They asked staff to take on 25% more work. Rather than looking at ways of controlling its flow. Once again, under-funding has devastating effects, both for staff and service users alike. What they all need is a strong voice at the heart of government to argue the case for more priority to be given to resources for family court work. The new Minister for Children, Margaret Hodge, needs more clout .She needs a seat in the Cabinet. The Officers Group support this position and I hope you will too when we come to debate this subject later this weekend. Children everywhere need a strong voice at the heart of government.
Another important motion for our conference will be the one on Workloads for managers in Cafcass. Napo remains committed to defending all our members from unrealistic and oppressive workloads – whatever service they work for and whatever grade they are employed on.
On the introduction of OASys and eOASys, it cannot get much stickier. Last year’s AGM sent the officers away with a mandate to resist the roll out of OASys until an acceptable workload limitation policy was in place. It very quickly became apparent that it was going to be impossible to successfully negotiate a halt to the roll out of OASys. Nevertheless, as you all know, the union has been totally committed to putting in place acceptable workload limitation policies. All branches eventually agreed local settlements over workloads and we are still negotiating on a national level to introduce a national workloads agreement. The progress being made on a workload measurement tool should greatly increase the chances of us reaching that agreement. The Officers group therefore reported to the NEC that we would concentrate on trying to issue guidance to members as to how best to ameliorate the problems caused by widespread use of OASys and to undertake substantial independent academic research into the effectiveness of this tool. Negotiations have already commenced with a well respected academic, which should mean that some research will commence within the next four months.
On the health and safety and assistive technology front we have been demanding full ergonomic and health and safety risk assessments of eOASys. Despite a poor initial response from the NPD, we now know that release version two of eOASys is being ergonomically assessed. Napo has completed a model health and safety risk assessment letter, which we hope will be of real assistance to local Napo officials.
I know that this is not enough to satisfy many members, but the union, through its democratically elected NEC, has decided to put the ball back in the employers court. Napo was not responsible for the introduction of OASys – that responsibility lies clearly with the NPD. It is for them to pick up the tab if professional standards suffer – not this union. We will continue to push for proper health and safety safeguards and for accessibility for all. I promise we will not give up on that score.
Over a related subject, resources and budgets for Probation staff, people who know me, know that I am not prone to exaggeration, so I hope that all those responsible for funding decisions are prepared to heed the message that I give out today. There is an impending crisis in the Probation Service, caused by a lack of funds and a miss-direction of staff resources. Too many staff are tied up with delivering accredited programmes when the targets set for throughput to these groups are too high. The £70 million uplift in funding during this financial year has been sucked into increased property charges - IT costs; increased staffing and other costs for hostels; and pension increases. Area budgets, already hit hard by ludicrously high estate management fees caused by privatisation, are now facing the double whammy of further cuts imposed from within. 37 out of 42 Probation Areas have had tens of thousands; even hundreds of thousands of pounds clawed back from this year’s budget.
I say there is a looming crisis because we are already getting reports of areas looking to economise on their staffing budgets next year. If we are not careful, the National Probation Service will get sucked into a downward spiral which could destroy it. This dangerous spiral will be caused by staff bailing out – leaving in ever increasing numbers because they are being asked to do the impossible. Probation Officers still being asked to write too many court reports- supervise too many cases. Probation Service Officers are being asked to take on more and more tasks and not getting the rate for the job. Middle mangers being asked to perform the equivalent of turning water into wine – trying to meet impossible targets and being conned into asking other staff to work miracles. I know the Probation Service has often managed to achieve the impossible, but miracle workers we are not. Even new entrants to the Probation Service are recognising this. Napo’s Training Committee is receiving reports of Trainee Probation Officers saying that they only intend to stay for the minimum amount of time possible after qualifying – usually two years- because they do not like what they see in today’s Probation Service. They do not like the increasing amount of time spent in front of a computer screen when they believe they should be involved in more face- to-face work. Neither do they enjoy having to fill in the gaps left by experienced officers leaving, even whist they are still training. What a tragic waste of resources. Napo has not been standing idly by when faced with these facts. For virtually the whole of this year, we have been writing regularly to the NPD and to ministers saying that the extra money they have allocated to the NPS has just not gone to front-line services. I am sad to say that we have still not had a straight answer to our questions on funding. As a result, we have now written to the Commons Public Accounts Committee to ask parliament to investigate the way the Probation Service is funded. We await their reply with interest, because if something is not done to a) start spending probation budgets more wisely and b) making sure that funding streams are at the right level, then the Probation Service as we know it could disappear without trace, only to be replaced by separate privatised agencies such as securicor or Group 4. We know that the National Probation Directorate has been holding talks with these private companies in recent months. This has been made easier by at least one area asking a private company to transport clients to groups. Why on earth should we have any faith in privatisation delivering better, or even cheaper services – just look at the scandal of the Morrison’s contract for estate management. That is where much of the extra £70 million uplift in funding went; and we are still waiting for a public admission of that fact.
Faced with these problems, I am deeply worried about the direction in which local probation areas are being driven. Because of the inordinate amount of time it takes to complete OASys or eOASys with a Pre-Sentence report, areas are trying to cut corners. There is now a bewildering number of different names being given to court reports. We have PSRs, SSRs, SFRs, even ……….. All with the express aim of cutting corners by making them shorter through cutting and pasting from OASys or not doing proper risk assessments at all. I have a name for this process – it is called selling the family silver. The courts are bound to see through this soon and say that they no longer want our services because they have been thoroughly devalued.
So, the Probation Service is in a poor state of health. What is the cure for the patient? Firstly political parties have to stop using criminal justice agencies as political footballs. They have to be prepared to adopt a rational approach to sentencing policies instead of ratcheting up public opinion by always giving the impression that the only thing that works is custody. Earlier this year, statistics were released that showed for the first time that community based sentences were more effective than prison at cutting crime. Re-offending rates of 44% for those who had undertaken community based sentences compared to 56% those who went to custody. That research related to work done by our members before 1997. It is ironic that these stats relate to a time before the widespread use of accredited programmes. So they must heavily reinforce the notion that there is more to life than these programmes. Yes Napo supports properly targeted accredited programmes ; but we would welcome Martin Narey’s apparent approach to our work – namely that we should not have put all our eggs in one basket . That we should be going back to spending time with clients looking at their employment, literacy and accommodation problems. And ministers must then give the Probation Service the time to prove that a blend of different interventions is what is needed – not a one size fits all strategy.
Then there might be some chance of us reducing the overall numbers sent into custody. The latest figures we have, show over 74,000 in our prisons. A rise of 13, 000, yes, 13,000 since new Labour came to power. Napo has long condemned such policies and we will continue to do so. Now though, we have been joined by leaders of virtually every other Criminal Justice agency. Within the last three months we have seen the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf , the head of the prison service, Phil Wheatley, and even the new Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. McDonald all call for a reduction in the number of people we send to prison. Need I say any more, except to say to Mr. Blunket , you are now totally isolated, totally misguided and set on a course which will ruin tens thousands of lives of some of the most disadvantaged members of our society.
So much for the health of the Criminal Justice system - what about Cafcass. I have already pointed to one or two healthy signs, but it would be plain wrong to ignore the difficulties facing that organisation . Two years ago there appeared to be some sound management intentions in many areas of family court work., but they have not been followed through. With IT, there are no plans to computerise the case records of children, no strategy to show how electronic data will be kept and no integrated system, which means practitioners may have to record information on six or more unrelated systems.
With or without IT support, staff in Cafcass still experiencing real obstacles in the way of them doing their job- the job of safeguarding the interests of vulnerable children. In too many regions, staff cannot access easily information from other agencies, including the Probation Service, such as criminal records. In the area of training, there is no national training strategy; no systematic induction programme for new staff; no training to allow private practitioners to take on public work and vice versa.
On top of all of this, there are the external threats faced by staff. Groups such as Families need fathers and Fathers for Justice have been involved in a sustained campaign of letter writing and even publicising names of staff who they alleged gave insufficient attention to the wishes of fathers. Over this summer and autumn, there has been a worrying escalation in the level of threat. In August, offices across England and Wales received dozens of suspect packages. The Police are still trying to track down who sent them. During October, Fathers for Justice have threatened to – quote – “step up our campaign of non violent direct action against Family Courts” – unquote. They go on to say in a letter to the Minister for Children ; Judge Elizabeth Butler- Sloss and the Chief Executive of Cafcass, quote – “If our demands are not met within the allotted time we will launch an unprecedented rising against every court in the UK” – unquote. Note the fact that this letter was addressed to Cafcass as well as the courts and the minister. Currently, Cafcass managers appear to be doing what they can to protect staff from these threats. Napo will also do everything within its power to support our members in the face of such threats. We will defend our members from anyone motivated by self interest – a self interest often driven by sexist attitudes to childcare.
Returning to our members in Probation. I must say a particular word about members employed on the PSO grade. The Officers group are only too conscious of the heavy burden currently on your shoulders. We know that the introduction of E.C.P. alongside of the hugely increased participation by PSO’s in case management and accredited programmes means that many of those staff are not being paid the rate for the job. That is why we have invested so much time and energy in the job evaluation process and the pay and reward negotiations that I have already mentioned. The preliminary results of job evaluation are already indicating that most PSO’s are underpaid. But sadly, it is not enough to just make the case out, we then have to fight hard to persuade the employers and ultimately the Treasury in Whitehall to hand over the money. Personally I feel a sense of frustration that we do not have a deal to put in front of members right now- but I can assure you that we are still hanging on in there. Please listen to the debate on the Pay and Reward review which should take place here tomorrow for the negotiating committee’s stance on this.
I want to try and wind up by sounding a more optimistic note. It is right to talk about the threats facing both Cafcass and the Probation Service, but I still believe that there are real opportunities out there too. You have heard me say that in the field of Criminal Justice, most of the senior figures in the important agencies have called for less people to be sent to prison, or if they actually are sent there, to receive far shorter sentences. If ex-offenders are going to spend a lot more time out in the community, then it is Napo and Unison members who will be most likely to end up working with them. In my contacts with Probation staff around the country, I still see staff of all grades who are able and willing to engage with some of the most difficult people in society. They can do that because they use they still somehow find the time to be creative when faced by some of the intractable problems of our clients. They understand the basic fact that when working with people who have committed offences, you can only help them to unlock their own potential – you cannot preach at them or wave a magic wand to cure them. If you do, then they just retreat even further into their shells. If our members are going to be able to carry on, against all the odds, to help clients to change, then they must be given the space to use their own talents –their own ingenuity in their day-to-day work. I still believe that they are doing that when given the proper opportunities. Our work across the whole spectrum, from Drug Testing and Treatment orders through to Community Punishment Orders and work inside prisons is still unbelievably good. But staff need to spend less time in front of a computer screen and more time in interview rooms and even out there in the communities of the people we work with. Fortunately we still possess the know-how to deliver such work. But the challenge for the National Probation Directorate is to free up the time of our staff so that they can deliver. They need to shift some resources away from accredited programmes so that clients can have the chance once again to develop a relationship with whoever is their frontline supervisor. They need to support staff who know that with certain groups of offenders, such as ethnic minorities; women; those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender; or disabled you need to pay special attention to their particular needs – because if you do not, then you will never even get them onto a programme or get them through an order. Exactly the same principles apply to our members in Cafcass. They are dedicated people who carry on, often in the face of extreme hostility from service users, to put the interests of children first. They too, deserve better support from their agencies –better IT, more consistent administrative systems, more attention to the needs of their diverse client base.
So I say to Eithne Wallis; to Martin Narey; to Jonathan Tross; trust in the abilities of the staff you direct. Allow local management to use the creativity of the staff they supervise. Fight for the resources your service needs to deliver decent levels of pay and working conditions. If you do that, then all Napo members will be behind you and this time next year, my speech will be only half as long. Thank-you all.
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