ilawrence@napo.org.uk's blog

Here is the Joint communique issued by Napo and Unison this afternoon in response to the announcements of intended staff reductions across the Purple Futures CRC's.

As you would expect Napo has incorporated this depressing news into a comprehensive briefing ahead of next Wednesday's Oppositiion day debate on Prisons and Probation in Parliament.

CRC RESTRUCTURING AND JOB LOSSES

Some weeks ago I described the NOMS E3 project as the operational structure that ought to have been designed well before the actual pre- TR split of the probation workforce took place.

Everything that I have seen since convinces me that our decision to engage with the programme was correct; and this has been borne out by the tremendous contributions that many of our members have made in the fields of job design workshops and evaluation panels, attendance at engagement events and, via our Professional Committee, offering an expert critique on the E3 Blueprint.

Hot after the Xmas break during which Napo got some respectable coverage in national media and local radio outlets, comes more dreadful news from Staffordshire and West Midlands and the Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northampton and Rutland CRC’s. They have announced an intention to reduce 90 front line practitioner posts across the former, and substantial (but as yet unknown) reductions in Leicester at the latter.

Christmas and bad news are synonymous, especially if you are employed within one of the three Working Links (WL) Community Rehabilitation Companies covering Wales and the South West of England.

Napo was as delighted as anyone to hear that the Lord Chancellor Michael Gove has decided to abolish the Criminal Court Charge. This was introduced by the previous Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling. Like all his hapless reforms it had a huge impact such as: having a disproportionate impact on offenders and giving no discretion to sentencers, oh, and it directly contributed to over 50 Magistrates resigning from the Bench.

JOB LOSSES LOOM AS HUGE OPERATING CUTS ARE ANNOUNCED

No chance of a restful weekend with attendance at a major summit being run by tbe General Federation of Trade Unions in Stafford with a hotfoot back to London today for the privilege of addressing a packed Central Hall for the TUCG rally against austerity. Here I was able to illustrate the impact of the TR disaster and why its part and parcel of this Governments attempt to privatise anything that moves and at the same time seek to knock the stuffing out of the organised workforce.

Here is what I said if you are interested in seeing it: