News and experiences from UK justice, including courts, YOTs, Probation offices, practitioner recruitment and training.
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By Andrew Thorne, MD
As we are all aware the new financial year started last week. Here’s a quick look at what we can expect over the next few months:
Local government and probation spending: This is being squeezed however you look at it with a reduction in front line jobs in all sectors but particularly for youth work and youth justice. Cost savings are the priority for local government and we can expect further pressures on jobs throughout this year.
Because of this continuing squeeze I have briefly listed some factors that will help you get through these challenging times:
CV: Make sure your CV is up to date AND attractive. That means two pages long with a short paragraph at the top detailing why YOU should be chosen over the 20 or so other CVs in the pile. A manager should be able to see your good points within five seconds otherwise your CV will end up in the bin.
Transferable skills: Make sure that any transferable skills and qualifications are highly visible (in bold if necessary). This ensures a greater chance of being successful in jobs away from your core area.
Flexibility: Be prepared to work in areas away from your core specialisations, with additional travel time and for less money. This may not sound attractive, however it’s a sensible short term survival strategy. Those who adapt have the best chance of working through this difficult time and enhancing their skills. When better times return they will be well-placed to take advantage.
Interviews: Make sure you fully understand the role you’re going for. If in doubt, ASK your consultant before the interview as there will be no second chance. Also, if you interview poorly this can affect your chances at subsequent opportunities due to long corporate memories! So prepare fully for the interview and be sure to ‘sell’ your skills and what you can bring to the role – this will differentiate you from others.
Your performance at work: There is a LOT to be said for ‘office etiquette’; believe me as a recruiter. Turn up on time. Dress appropriately. Ensure your timesheet hours match your work hours. Be helpful, friendly and useful whenever you can. Basically, make yourself indispensable and it will be taken into account when decisions are made about extending/renewing contracts.
So yes, these are tough times for all of us. However, times have been worse and this challenge – as the saying goes – will only make us all stronger. We will do our best for you; however you must also do the best for yourself.
If you have any questions or suggestions about the above please do not hesitate to contact me or your consultant.
For an inspiring and moving take on how lives are affected by substance misuse, please take some time to visit the art show put on by Westminster Drug Project (WDP) entitled ‘Framing the Future’.
WDP Wandsworth service users have taken this opportunity to showcase how creative expression has helped support their recovery from drug and alcohol dependency.
The art will be displayed at the Putney Arts Theatre (Ravenna Road, Putney, London, SW15 6AW) from 8th-19th March. The gallery is open at various times throughout the day, Monday to Saturday. It is open to everyone and admission is free. Please call the box office for opening times: 0208 788 6943.
For further information about the Putney Art Theatre show, ‘Framing the Future’, or the services offered by WDP Wandsworth, please contact Hannah hpheasy@wdp-drugs.org.uk or Lucy lfieldhouse@wdp-drugs.org.uk.
“I think it is right to describe these reforms as both radical and realistic……. Our plans represent a fundamental break with the failed and expensive policies of the past.” So wrote Ken Clarke in the introduction. So how radical and realistic is this for front line staff? In paragraph 203 they spell their vision out in more detail:
“We will…help develop a new approach to standards which give much greater discretion to professionals in the way they manage offenders and enable them to focus on results. We expect to start introducing this new approach from April 2011. We will change probation guidance to avoid unnecessary supervision requirements and allow the maximum freedom for probation staff to use their expertise to secure the greatest reduction in reoffending.”
So here we seem to have a manifesto for cutting unnecessary bureaucracy and giving discretion to frontline professionals both for the Probation and Youth Justice sectors. Sounds too good to be true, but is it?
My thoughts are that in all probability something along these lines will occur due to a major overriding factor – the desire to cut costs. Bureaucracy costs loads of money as we are all aware. You need the infrastructure to monitor performance and then the infrastructure to monitor the monitors who are monitoring performance, etc (thanks management consultants for that one; and you were paid for it as well?!). Cutting swathes of bureaucracy out will reduce spend and allow remaining resources to be targeted at frontline staff. Because there no longer is the infrastructure to monitor staff you have to empower the frontline to make decisions because there is no other realistic alternative. I am indebted to a more cynical viewpoint than mine for making this point!
So yes, we are now entering the era of practitioner discretion, and bureaucratic dismantlement. On those terms the Green Paper is radical and realistic. Whether it is a charter for practitioners the jury is out. If it means sensible line management, minimal targets set around successful outcomes for clients/service users rather than faux management goals, along with fully staffed frontline offices then we are in business. Don’t hold your breath though.
If you are interested in hearing more about the Green Paper, Backstop will be holding a free seminar on this with an expert panel on Thursday 3rd February. We have limited spaces still available so if you would like to attend be quick in replying to book your space! Email info@backstop.org.uk for details.
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke and his justice reform proposals outlined in last week’s Green Paper have been dominating the news over the past few days. Under the proposals, judges will be given greater discretion to decide for how long killers should be jailed – raising fears that serious violent offenders will be handed shorter sentences (Daily Mail, 8th December). Clarke came under heavy criticism from his own party for contradicting its age-old adage that “prison works”, as Breaking the Cycle “ditches not only David Cameron’s election campaign pledge to jail anyone convicted of carrying a knife but also Nick Clegg’s promise to phase out short-term prison sentences under six months” (Guardian, 8th December).
The headlines during November pointed the spotlight largely on the future of children’s services. It has been argued that investing resources into early intervention is worthwhile and necessary as it addresses families’ difficulties before they escalate to create “lifetimes of misery and ruinously costly social problems”. But when local authorities must make ruthless budget cuts the issue is not only how well a particular preventive programme works, but also how any future benefits are weighed in terms of hard cash when there are expensive “acute” emergencies to pay for (Guardian, 11th November). Westminster council, for one, has stressed the importance of comprehensive family services that deal with the family as a whole, rather than separate teams to work with the adults and children (Children & Young People Now, 10th November). Further to this, Professor Eileen Munro, who is reviewing child protection for the government, has said that there is growing evidence that many children are falling through a service provision gap, where children are beyond the help of early intervention services but do not meet the child protection thresholds (Community Care, 17th November). The Fatherhood Institute has added to the debate by warning of social workers endangering the lives of vulnerable children by failing to engage with men in child protection cases (Children & Young People Now, 9th November). Another concern is that of allowing vicious cycles to emerge: it has been reported that children coming from broken homes are nine times more likely to commit crimes (Telegraph, 4th November) and that girls who have disrupted childhood get pregnant younger (Guardian, 10th November).
The prison service has been under heavy scrutiny lately, with the government intending to reduce the overall number of prisons (Independent, 6th November) and Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke’s plans to lower the number of prisoners (Guardian, 21st November). Amongst all this, the value of prisons has been put into question, with a general agreement on the fact that prison is a “colossal failure” due to the level of reoffending (Guardian, 4th November). Indeed, it has been proven that three quarters of offenders never leave a life of crime (Telegraph, 4th November). It has been suggested that this should trigger a revision of the rehabilitation scheme where short sentences are considered an obstacle to the rehabilitation itself which actually prevents criminals from breaking the cycle of reoffending (BBC News, 12th November).
Similar issues have been under debate with regard to the treatment of young offenders. Indeed, young offenders’ institutions are not considered to be useful to rehabilitation and a list of the most violent institutions has been released by justice minister Crispin Blunt (Children & Young People Now, 10th November). Support for this theory comes from a report for the prisons watchdog and Youth Justice Board (YJB), which shows that the 51 per cent of teenage criminals currently in custody said they had not done anything inside that would make them less likely to reoffend on release (Telegraph, 18th November). The debate continues with the emphasis on prevention, with charity leaders calling on more support for young people themselves to prevent youth violence. Indeed, during the panel debate at the annual Young Minds lecture, Mark Johnson, founder of charity User Voice and a former offender, has said that longevity of support, a form of confinement and the location where help was delivered were key to breaking a young person’s cycle of violence (Children & Young People Now, 17th November).
It was noticeable for me that the recent YJB conference had a kind of ‘end-of-era’ feel about it. Compared to the first, with Norman Warner lambasting us youth justice staff for being stuck in the past and saying that our practice was neanderthal, this was very low key. There were discussions about what might happen to the YJB in the future, but very few hard facts about how the transfer over to the Ministry of Justice will take place.
What is clear is that an era is ending; one which can be easily named the era of managerialism. It was the era when the process became more important than the outcome for the young person, for which YOTs were not held accountable. How and why are two words that spring to mind when you consider the logic behind that methodology for reducing re-offending. Now, by contrast, no team can afford to employ managers who just measure targets as budgets are under severe threat.
The question is how will we respond as managers and practitioners? Some might say that if you removed the targets, the average practitioner wouldn’t know what to do; so institutionalised have they become by the targets culture. The concept of building a real relationship with an “offender” as a means of preventing them reoffending would be an alien concept: much easier to hide behind a computer screen. I do not believe this, mainly because I’ve interviewed hundreds of people now working in the youth justice system over the last few years. For most, targets have been an unwelcome distraction from their real work. However the real work is about to start so welcome to the new paradigm!
YOTs bloated by bureaucracy created by pointless targets, just like the YJB itself, are on a massive slim down. Some people suggest they will be reduced to a skeleton framework working around a court, supervising orders, writing PSRs, etc. This may happen in some areas. However in other areas YOTs can become a dynamic force, working with young people to divert them from deeper involvement in the youth justice system.
So goodbye, Youth Justice Board. Some would say good riddance. For me the feelings are more ones of disappointment. There was an opportunity to set up a dynamic, far-seeing organisation dedicated to bringing out good practice. Instead we found ourselves with an organisation unsure of its mission with an increasingly bureaucratic mindset. So much potential, so little realised!
I’ve taken a fair amount of stick from colleagues in the office for my use of the word ‘Schadenfreude’ in our recent newsletter; “pretentious” being one of the kinder expressions. So why did I use this strange and almost unheard-of word?
Two main reasons:
One: it sums up the reality of what Backstop is all about. Backstop was set up by me because, on the whole, I was surrounded in my last Youth Offending Team by agency staff who were not up to it (with some honourable exceptions, of course). My main pleasure at Backstop is making placements where the candidate is well matched to the role. The misfortune belongs to the Local Authority who ends up needing a temporary locum. The crux of the matter is: should there really be a space for agency workers at all? And the answer is probably not, if personnel and recruitment were managed more effectively.
So here is the irony that exists at the heart of Backstop. In an ideal world we shouldn’t exist…but we do, so we’ll do the best we can to fill the gaps in the most effective way we can. Where we’ll be deriving pleasure from is a job well done.
This issue is particularly relevant in the current situation because the outcome is so predictable (link to previous blog). You cannot keep on cutting frontline posts without there being a long term impact on the effectiveness and health of the remaining team members. I will derive a brittle pleasure from my predictions becoming reality.
Secondly, and on a lighter note, I am working on my Professional Doctorate. I could never get away with using such a word in my academic work so I’m afraid you good people will have to bear the brunt of my literary excesses instead!
Some timesheet tips from your friendly team in Backstop accounts:
As we’re all more than aware, news from the past month is all about the government cuts which will be sweeping the board when it comes to who will be affected – from housing to social care to prisons.
Social housing has been a hot topic this month, with Labour MP John Cruddas accusing the ConDem government of “deliberate social and economic cleansing” when poor families are priced out of London as a result of coalition benefit cuts (Guardian, 24th October). This was echoed by charity Catch-22, who raised concerns that vulnerable teenagers living in London will “face barriers” in their transition to adulthood. It argues that the proposed housing benefit cap will “further displace vulnerable young people who have either left care or are living on their own due to difficulties they have experienced at home” (Children & Young People Now, 28th October).
In terms of social care, the entire sector is set to be rocked by severe reductions in personnel. This, says Andy Sawford of the Local Government Information Unit, will be putting the social care sector at risk of further failings similar to the Baby P case at a time when the situation in social care is already delicate, according to his analysis of the spending review (Community Care, 25th October). The Guardian criticised the increase in court fees for care proceedings on behalf of vulnerable children following a campaign by childcare professionals, lawyers and judges, who argue that the greater expense might encourage cash-strapped local authorities to give violent or neglectful parents “one more chance” (Guardian, 28th October). Further to this, the abolition of organisations such as the Youth Justice Board, according to Andrew Webb of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, will cause early intervention and prevention services commissioned by local authorities to suffer (Children & Young People Now, 19th October). The YJB also stressed the importance of youth justice services ‘aggressively selling’ their success stories to the media to show the difference their programmes can make to young offenders (Children & Young People Now, 12th October).
Another controversy sees prisons undergoing decisive cuts, on the one hand affecting the number of criminals jailed (Telegraph, 21st October), and on the other hand the undermined role of probation. Figures from the Ministry of Justice show that almost 200 serious offences have been committed by dangerous criminals under supervision (Telegraph, 28th October). The debate on prisons continues with a report released by the Howard League for Penal Reform, which suggests that short prison sentences “do not reduce crime and are used excessively” (BBC News, 14th October). This comes as Ken Clarke, justice secretary, proposed to end “enforced idleness” in jails with 40-hour weeks and a proportion of cash earned going to victims (Guardian, 5th October).
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January news round-up
27 Jan 2011, 4:32 pm | Written by Backstop
It was announced last week that under the Health and Social Care Bill the NHS is to be overhauled which will mean significant implications for its relationship with social care. This means that to promote joint working between health and social care, consortia will be required to become members of new health and well-being boards that will be set up in each local authority. The bill also includes provision to abolish the General Social Care Council and vest responsibility for regulating social work in England with the Health Professions Council – which would be renamed the Health and Care Professions Council (Community Care, 19th January).
Last week it was reported that BASW intended to rebrand as “BASW – the College of Social Work” and promote itself as an alternative to the similarly-named College of Social Work under development as part of the social work reform programme in England (Community Care, 24th January). It revealed plans to secure 51% of social workers in its membership by 2015, through a “massive investment in growth”. However the Guardian reported the next day that leading figures in the social care sector had called for an immediate end to the bitter feud that has led to the creation of two rival colleges of social work. In angry exchanges, BASW has accused the board of the “official” college of breach of faith in agreeing a partnership deal with Unison (Guardian, 25th January). The row will be seen as hugely embarrassing for social work, suggesting that the profession is unable to mount a united front even on a well-funded plan to enhance its credibility and public standing.
Proposals to replace all custody units for young offenders under the age of 18 with “young offenders academies” have been unveiled by the Foyer Federation project. Rod Morgan, former chair of the Youth Justice Board and steering group member, said: “The young offenders academy is a robust, local, community-based model for reducing the use of custody by effectively addressing the multiple problems young offenders typically have, and the model deserves to be trialled (CYPNow, 20th January).
The government’s public sector cuts continue to bite, with reports of children’s services up and down the country facing significant scale-downs, as well as organizations such as the Youth Action Network facing closure. Plans for the social care sector are being announced on an almost daily basis so it remains to be seen which models will succeed under the current reshaping.