CRC - Taken for a ride?

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THERE’S a ride at Blackpool called the Big One which after a slow start hurls you around in every possible direction at a breakneck speed. Eventually you end up back where you started, but with your hair still standing on end.

It was Joe Kuipers who got me thinking about a roller coaster ride yesterday when he tweeted,  "A two year roller coaster ahead?" in regards to the twists, turns and dips of privatisation. 

Unfortunately, the analogy eventually breaks down because I think it unlikely that we will ever get back to where we started. I would be surprised, and very pleased, if Sadiq Khan ever gets his hands on any unsigned TR contracts in 2015.

Indeed, Probation workers  have been taken on a ride, and the privatising of the Probation Trusts has been a dark and scary hair raising experience with plenty of dips, turns and twists. 

So, brace yourself, it looks like the ride is set to continue, and in South Yorkshire we have the following self descriptions of nine bidders who are invited to tender their CRC bids for August 2014. 

The Goverment hope to award contracts to the successful bidders by December 2014, for a possible delivery date of April 2015. 

1) CRR Partnership is a joint venture between Carillion, Reed in Partnership and the Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust (RAPt). Together we bring combined strengths and experience to the Home Affairs and Justice market, along with a shared vision and a commitment to improving our society, reducing crime and making communities safer. We do this by breaking the cycle of offending and giving offenders the opportunity, confidence and ability to make positive and long term changes to their lives.

All three partners have extensive experience of helping offenders turn their lives around, achieve personal satisfaction and contribute fully towards society.

As a partnership we have considerable experience of building sustainable supply chains, transferring of staff, mobilisation of large scale, multi-site operations, management of payment-by-results contracts, risk management and the development of innovative end-to-end integrated solutions.

Transforming Rehabilitation

Transforming Rehabilitation is the Government’s project for the most radical overhaul of the probation service in its 106 year history. The Ministry of Justice plans to retain the supervision of high-risk offenders within the public sector, and commission work with low and medium risk offenders to the private and voluntary sectors. The Government intends that new providers will be delivering rehabilitation services from April 2015.

We are excited at the opportunity that Transforming Rehabilitation gives us to bring our combined expertise together to reduce re-offending.

2) A4e we’re committed to tackling the underlying causes of crime and offending, and to giving offenders and ex-offenders a ‘second chance’. To achieve this, we deliver programmes that help those being released from prison or serving a sentence in the community. Programmes that deal with the root causes of their offending, so they can live a crime free life and make a positive contribution to society.

We believe that every prisoner or offender should be engaged in work-focused activities. To give them the chance to build the practical and vocational skills they need to survive in the labour market. And we’ve helped tens of thousands of people with a criminal record to develop skills and qualifications while either in prison, serving a community sentence, or on Unpaid Work/ Community Payback.

We also deliver through-the-gate and resettlement support to people leaving custody. This includes helping offenders get free, independent advice on debt issues through our national Money Advice Service. And we help them find work through contracts like the Work Programme – where individuals can sign-up for employment support before being released. We’ve also provided specialist support to former substance misusers and the homeless, through initiatives such as progress2work.

Today we employ over 1,000 people working in prisons across England, and we’re the largest private provider of the Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS).

Probation Futures

Over the last six months, A4e has been working with the Innovation Unit on a co-design project to explore how we might fundamentally rethink probation. We have worked with a wide range of stakeholder groups, including Probation professionals, academics, policy makers, service users and the police to gather insight and perspectives on the role and purpose of Probation.

3) Interserve is working to create safer communities, prevent future victims of crime and support hard-to-reach members of society.

We work closely with public authorities across Justice and Home Office departments towards a shared objective: to improve the way services are delivered and achieve the best possible value for public money. Together, we are redesigning services and investing in Britain's justice infrastructure.

Our involvement also means we embrace the voluntary sector, which provides vital front-line support to victims, ex-offenders and some of society's most vulnerable people. Based on the principles of our Charity Charter, we are establishing lasting partnerships with charities and not-for-profit organisations. This harnesses crucial skills and knowledge to create more effective and cost-efficient justice services.

Our team of senior justice professionals is renowned for its calibre and vast experience. Their fresh thinking distinguishes our approach to:

The design, construction and operation of secure environments, custodial facilities, courts and immigration centres

Strategic support services for the Home Office and Metropolitan Police Service

The redesign of crucial rehabilitative and pathway services.

In many cases, Interserve works on a payment by results basis. This demonstrates our commitment to delivering truly measurable outcomes and better value across the justice sector.

4) Sodexo Justice Services (formerly “Kalyx”) has been running justice services which change lives for the better since 1993. We do this in over 120 sites across the world, including the total operation of 4 prisons in the UK. We have a reputation for delivering excellent, ethical, innovative and rehabilitative services, which provide comprehensive solutions to address our clients’ requirements. Delivering wider services

As part of a wider global outsourcing specialist we are equipped to deliver a range of diverse services, including not only prison and probation work, but in addition broader support and core services across the justice and home affairs sphere – be it food services, hard facilities management, custody, case management or more.

Delivering better for less. In future we welcome building upon existing relationships and strengthening partnerships with government to deliver better for less in policing, courts and other operations within home affairs and justice.

5) MTC Amey is a joint venture between the Management & Training Corporation (MTC) and Amey. We believe that we bring something fresh to the social justice market in terms of our vision, corporate and social values and proven success in delivering the best solutions for our customers.

Our approach to Transforming Rehabilitation. Our vision is to provide every service user with the opportunity to improve their lives and effect a successful integration into their local communities. To do this, we will:

Set the highest standards and expectations in everything that we do

Bring genuine innovation and do things differently to achieve a positive breakthrough in performance and results

Deliver rehabilitation programmes that have been proven to deliver a step change in reoffending

Work collaboratively with strategic partners to protect local communities and strengthen the crucial pathways and networks needed to break the cycle of offending and re-offending

Build excellent relationships with key stakeholders and delivery partners in the Voluntary & Community Sector (VCS) in order to understand and deliver what will make a difference

Develop a modern, progressive and values-led culture where every team member is a catalyst for change

We have a clear vision about what is required to transform rehabilitation. We recognise that every Contract Package Area (CPA) is different; and that tackling reoffending is complex due to the diverse needs of the offender population.

MTC Amey will therefore ensure our approach is flexible to reflect this whilst ensuring risks are managed effectively. We will build on the best and most innovative practice that currently exists and work with organisations that are leading their field and making the biggest difference to people’s lives.

Delivery of services will be localised as MTC Amey believe the importance of local knowledge and expertise cannot be overstated. We believe that where possible local supply partnerships should take a lead role when it comes to local service delivery and MTC Amey will facilitate this process.

We are keen to engage with potential Tier 2 and Tier 3 providers to help establish our partnership network. We want to listen and then jointly develop our solutions so they meet the specific needs of each locality.

6) EOS provides, as part of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) Welfare to Work programme, services designed to return the longer term unemployed back into sustainable employment. This encompasses the Youth Contract Wage Incentive Scheme aimed at creating work opportunities for 18-24 year olds and Support for Families to overcome any issues families and lone parents may have that could be a barrier to finding work.

Welfare to Work

The Work Programme is part funded by the European Social Fund (ESF), and delivered by EOS on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions is part of the government’s wider Welfare to Work initiative that seeks to reduce benefit dependency by addressing broader social issues and break the cycles of long-term joblessness. EOS through its employment centres in Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country provides practical training for many job functions and tailored support to help unemployed people back into sustainable employment.

The Youth Contract helps 18-24 year olds into sustainable work whilst offering prospective employers the chance to create new vacancies with financial support from the Wage Incentive Scheme designed to reduce employee set-up costs when expanding their businesses.

Support for Families is a programme part funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and designed to help families and lone parents overcome the problems of long-term unemployment or the return to work after a prolonged absence, and to identify and address domestic and social issues that might otherwise be a barrier to finding work. EOS delivers this programme in conjunction with specialist training providers and local councils in its contract areas.

7) Prospects plays a vital role in helping to reduce reoffending as a one of the largest providers of multi-disciplinary careers information services in the community and in custody.

We are one of the largest providers of custodial careers information and advice in the UK, delivering the National Careers Service In Custody to offenders in prisons across Greater London (including the new Thameside Prison) and in Yorkshire and the Humber. Our work covers all types of custodial establishments and security categories, including a privately-run prison in Doncaster and young offenders institutions in both regions. 

Last year, Prospects helped more than 9,000 individuals access 15,000 career advice sessions and held over 1,400 “induction” sessions for offenders in London 

Prospects in custody services increase opportunities for offenders, helping them to access support and tackle their barriers to employment, working closely with many other agencies, the voluntary sector and Jobcentre Plus. 

Our team of expert advisers support offenders though to resettlement. We help offenders to assess their skills, identify learning and employment needs and set medium and long-term career goals to plan for the future and improve their job prospects. 

Offenders are supported by Prospects National Careers Service advisers on release and we work extensively across the country to prevent young people entering the Criminal Justice System through our targeted and youth support services. 

In Gloucestershire we deliver youth support services, including the Youth Offending Service (YOS) on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council, working with the police, local community safety partnerships and other agencies to prevent young people from getting involved with crime and anti-social behaviour. 

‘Transforming Rehabilitation’ – the government intends to reform and restructure probation services and change arrangements for dealing with offenders. Prospects is intending to bid for contracts to provide probation services under this new regime and is interested in hearing from potential future partners.

8) GEO is an experienced provider of a range of community-based services to manage offenders and immigration cases, including:

Electronic monitoring

GEO's wholly-owned subsidiary, BI Incorporation, has been providing Electronic Monitoring of offenders for 35 years in the United States. Using cutting-edge technology we are able to give courts, probation and immigration enforcement confidence that their offenders are complying with the requirements of any bail or release conditions and are appropriately supervised in the community.

People management

Our business is all about managing people, many of whom come from difficult backgrounds, have committed offences or face uncertain futures. Our unique style of working with them helps them to face their problems, plan to make a positive contribution to society, and to have hope. By building trust, we are able to increase compliance.

9) Rehabilitation Company. Catch 22 Ltd; Turning Point; Williams Lea (division of DHL)

The Big One Terror Crash on 11th August 2009

Warning! Could the CJS Roller Coaster take the whole nation for a very scary ride?

A warning sign comes from the USA, who are a few twists, turns and dips ahead of us, in regards to the future of outsourcing the Criminal Justice System:

• "thousands of young men and women unjustly punished and penalized in the name of corporate profit" ...read more - http://t.co/24oyjraZMQ

After Plenty of Twists, turns and dips could profit become more important than people:

• "Every year, US courts sentence several hundred thousand misdemeanor offenders to probation overseen by private companies that charge their fees directly to the probationers".....read more - http://t.co/aUNOqfz8X7

Indeed, Brace yourself there are real dangers with the Privatisation of the Probation System:

• "The privatization of the probation "industry" (as it is in this context) has caused many people to suffer tremendously despite the fact they have committed minor offenses".....read more http://www.duseklaw.com/blog/2014/02/the-dangers-posed-by-a-privatized-probation-system.shtml