As many of you will be aware, the new Civil Service Attendance Management Policy was implemented by NOMS into the NPS on 5th January 2017.
Welcome back for the start of a year that surely can be no worse than the last in terms of social discord, incredible turn ups for the political book, and further reductions in the living standards of millions of working people.
In terms of Napo’s huge bargaining agenda we have our fair share of immediate challenges, not least the intention of NOMS and a number of CRC’s to abandon the National Negotiating Council in order to introduce separate employer specific negotiating arrangements.
We issued information to all probation members last week and this is a reminder to check your preferred mail boxes and ensure that you respond to the indicative questions that will appear before you with a firm ‘Yes’ vote.
Please also make every effort to attend local consultative meetings for which your reps have been issued with briefing materials.
This is an important piece of membership engagement and your help is needed please.
Offender management review gathers pace
‘It couldn’t get any worse as these things go.’ That was my opening line in the full and frank meeting yesterday between the trade unions, MTC Novo and the Director of Probation.
It was an honest exchange of views where the unions heard about the urgent remedial steps that MTC Novo are putting in place to try and deal with the litany of abject failure that they have presided over and which has given Dame Glenys Stacey so much to report on.
www.napo.org.uk/blogs/hmi-probation-publish-damning-report-london-crc
So where next?
Press Statement
14 December 2016. Embargoed: 00.05 15 December 2016
HMIP London – Damning report of probation services in London says public are more at risk due to poor management by the private sector.
Last Wednesday’s meeting of the National Negotiating Council (NNC) was something of a fraught affair. As largely expected, the National Probation Service indicated its intention to withdraw from the NNC and Standing Committee for Chief Officer Grades (SCCOG).
It was great news to see the initiative by the Guardian this week in seeking the views of the public as to their opinions on the current state of the probation service. We constantly send them our media releases and other information and it was good to see that they feel it’s an important enough subject to add to their online survey features.
We have separately mailed the link out to members to try and give it maximum promotion, and it is hoped that it can be recycled via social media links to wherever and whomever you can.
Over the last week Napo has been seeking urgent action with different employers over a range of issues where the impact of excessive workloads on the health of our members has featured highly.
One of the last actions from our enlivening AGM in Wales was the debate around the emergency motion that alerted conference to the fact that Clause 29 of the Government’s Children and Social Work Bill, published the week before in committee, would give powers to exempt local Councils from their current legal duties affecting all social care services for children.
Given current developments on a number of fronts I will be posting a new blog this coming Friday as normal.
Meanwhile here is the message of solidarity to our brothers and sisters in the POA that we sent across earlier today.
Mike Rolfe
POA Chair
Dear Mike,
Napo message of solidarity
