Published 2 February 2016
Job Cuts in Community Rehabilitation Companies
Sodexo:
Sodexo own 6 of the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC’s) in England and Wales, Northumbria, Cumbria & Lancashire, Essex, South Yorkshire, East Anglia and Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire Cambridgeshire & Hertfordshire. Last year Sodexo announced 600 redundancies across all 6 CRC’s. The unions have managed to reduce this number to 450 but this is still a significant loss of staff who have already shown extreme resilience to the changes they have faced in the last 18 months.
On top of the proposed job cuts proposed by Sodexo Napo has also taken issue with their proposed estates strategy. Sodexo had proposed open plan offices for staff to work with offenders. At Napo’s AGM in October 2015, Napo passed an emergency motion demanding that Sodexo halt their estate strategy. The motion highlighted a number of serious concerns about the design layouts of the offices, the associated health and safety risks posed to both members and clients and the inappropriateness of using open plan offices and “interview booths” within the context of probation work, as it compromises the confidentiality of clients attending interviews.
It is clear that Sodexo do not understand the nature of the work carried out by probation. They have dismissed our well evidenced representations and reasonable demands and are pushing ahead with their plans. Some CRCs have now moved into new premises with these open plan layouts. Infuriatingly, in these offices, members are now feeding back to us the very concerns that we originally highlighted to Sodexo.
IT SYSTEMS CHAOS
Those CRC’s that have already moved into new offices and transferred to the new IT systems have reported the new IT systems are failing. We have received a number of reports from members that the IT systems are simply not delivering and not, it seems, fit for purpose. One welcome consequence of the ensuing IT chaos is that some of the CRCs have not yet moved to new premises and have delayed their moves until these issues can be resolved.
However, those members struggling to work with the new IT systems are finding they are leading to even greater levels of stress and anxiety; ironically “Solution
Line” (IT Helpdesk) is adding to frustration rather than offering solutions to IT problems,
The following are some areas of concerns that have been reported:
- New systems are not fully assistive technology compliant and therefore potentially in breach of the Equality Act 2010.
- Staff experiencing remote log-on problems.
- Communication failures between the old and new systems.
- No printing or scanning facilities available.
- WiFi in offices not working.
SODEXO’s OPERATIONAL MODEL: STRESS AND WORKLOADS
The original proposals in the Sodexo operational model had as their aim the goal of reducing the staffing profile of their six CRCs by 650 full-time equivalents (FTE). The unions successfully managed to reduce this number to 450 FTEs.
Even though CRCs are still working towards reaching their final “steady state” numbers for staffing, we constantly hear of the fact that staff are having to manage excessive caseloads and that the new operating model development by Sodexo is a long way from being implemented. This means that CRCs are managing their clients under the old system, but having to do so with a massively reduced workforce. Our members are consistently reporting back that they have excessive caseloads, unrealistic targets, and increasing levels of stress and anxiety.
Working Links
Working Links own 4 of the 21 CRC’s, these are Wales, Bristol, Gloucester Wiltshire and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall and Dorset. They have recently announced job cuts of more than 40% across the 4 CRC’s which equates to approximately 600 jobs with Wales seeing the highest reduction of 200 jobs. Despite saying that they do not want to lose frontline staff, Napo believes that even if they lose all of the administration staff they will still not reach their proposed staffing figure and will inevitably have to lose experienced and highly skilled offender managers. Working Links have already made 38% cuts to their employability section after a number of DWP contracts came to an end. There are now real concerns about the financial viability of the organisation and urge the Government to intervene and review these proposals before 4 CRC’s are decimated by job cuts. If the organisations financial stability is in question then Napo calls for the 4 CRC’s to be brought back into public ownership as a matter of urgency.
Other job cut proposals
Purple Futures – Currently own 5 of the 21 CRC’s: Cheshire & Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Yorkshire, East Coast and Hampshire & Isle of Wight. They have recently begun initial discussions with the unions regarding proposed job cuts which can now confirm to be approximately 230. These are disproportionally spread out across the CRC’s with some areas being more affected than others. As we are still in early discussions, details of the job cuts and the rationale behind them have yet to be fully explored but Napo will update MP’s as and when the information arises.
Of note Purple Futures were at the centre of negative press coverage on 16th January 2016 when the Mirror disclosed poor offender management in the Company’s Unpaid Work department. CRC’s are responsible for overseeing all Unpaid Work Orders (where and offender is sentenced to work in the community as reparation for their offence). The Mirror exposed that in some areas owned by Purple Futures the unpaid work carried out was minimal and many offenders did less than half a days work. If managed correctly Unpaid work a punitive sentence that enables the offender to pay reparation for their offence whilst also benefitting communities. However, this report clearly shows that CRC’s are failing to deliver on this.
RRP – Currently own 2 of the 21 CRC’s, Staffordshire West Midlands and East Midlands. They have recently announced job cuts in both areas. Whilst the figure is relatively low in comparison to other job cuts, 12% in Staffordshire West Midlands, they have said that they are specifically cutting back on Probation Officers and Senior Probation Officers. The figures are roughly 90 per CRC but discussions are still in the very early stages and details at the time of writing this briefing are limited. At this stage it is believed that RRP will not be offering voluntary redundancies but will be moving straight to compulsory redundancies.
These job cuts are deeply worrying to Napo and probation staff across the country. As supported by the HMIP report published last (please see Briefing for details) it is clear that CRC’s are already struggling to deliver on services and quality and we question their ability to do so with an ever decreasing number of staff of the ground. As stated in the HMIP report provision of Through The Gate services, and integral part of the Transforming Rehabilitation is patchy and a long way from the seamless service envisioned to improve rehabilitation of prisoners moving back into the community. Napo believes that RC’s will not be able to provide this service if they have even fewer staff.
The NPS is currently short staffed but those losing their jobs in the CRC’s will not automatically transfer to the public sector. They will be expected to apply for jobs as external applicants. Furthermore the MOJ says it cannot guarantee that staff employed from CRC’s will maintain terms and conditions that they have accrued over their years of service, in particular salary, annual leave entitlement, maternity and paternity leave.
This is yet another example of how badly the government have treated Probation staff in the last 18 months whilst still expecting them to deliver a high quality service. We believe the Government must now show that they genuinely value probation staff who carry out such a vital public service.
Questions you may wish to ask:
What if any steps have the MOJ taken to mitigate any proposed job losses within the CRC’s?
What commitments will the MOJ make to ensure that staff losing their jobs in the CRC’s will be able to apply for NPS positions and maintain their accrued terms and conditions?
Has the MOJ scrutinized the operating models of the CRC’s and can they give evidence based assurances that the models are safe and will meet the objective of reducing re-offending and protecting the public?
What penalties will the MOJ impose on those CRC’s, namely Sodexo who have refused to honor the Staff Transfer Agreement that states that all staff subject to redundancy will be offered Enhanced Voluntary Redundancy pay?