Ian Lawrence's Blog

How timely, just ahead of our AGM, come two damning reports. The first by HMI Probation into the performance of private provider RRP in Derbyshire and the second, from the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee into what they describe as the...Read more

23rd Sep 2016

I hope that followers on Twitter noticed the regular snippets about proceedings that Yvonne Pattison and I sent out over the course of the Trade Union Congress in Brighton this week. If you didn’t see them then let me tell you that Napo played a...Read more

16th Sep 2016

There will not have been anyone (except perhaps the architects of the E3 programme) who was not hoping that the outcome of the three appealed jobs (AP Manager, AP Residential Worker and Victim Liaison Officer) that were the subject of fresh...Read more

09th Sep 2016

It’s very clear that a number of CRC owners are having some difficulty with NOMS over the impact of the Weighted Annualised Volumes (WAVS). This is the measure which shows the actual numbers of clients on the CRC's books (which NOMS says are...Read more

02nd Sep 2016

As all our members in probation will know only too well, Transforming Rehabilitation resulted in many changes for individuals. One such example was that the arrangements that sessional workers had with the former Probation Trusts came to an end...Read more

26th Aug 2016

Some time ago NOMS, and a number of CRC employers, signalled their wish to reform the current National Negotiating Council (NNC) and Standing Committee for Chief Officer Grades (SCCOG) machinery.

Napo’s Probation Negotiating Committee and...Read more

19th Aug 2016

Just how seriously we have been taking our work in the ongoing discussions between NOMS And the trade unions on the appealed E3 Job evaluations has been demonstrated by the sheer effort and staying power of all those involved in the long pre-...Read more

12th Aug 2016

A 30 minute break from what is as I expected, a testing but extremely thorough E3 Job Evaluation meeting with senior NOMS management, gives me an opportunity to bury any notion that Napo has entered the appeal mechanism having already decided...Read more

05th Aug 2016

Our introductory meeting on Tuesday with Liz Truss the new Secretary of State for Justice and Sam Gyimah, the Probations and Prisons Minister, turned out to be a very positive exchange. Despite a tight timescale, the probation unions offered a...Read more

29th Jul 2016

In terms of political frenzy it’s been pretty much more of the same whilst I was away on a short break.

My long time prediction here at Chivalry Road that Theresa May would see off all ‘would be’ Prime ministers proved correct, and as a...Read more

22nd Jul 2016

Pages