GFTU BGCM 2019 Minutes

prisoners will have an Offending Manager in name only and have little contact

with them except when reports are required. Some prisoners will have more

contact with their Offender Manager but will face disruption to that crucial

working relationship at their most vulnerable time when they approach release

or recategorization.

This BGCM notes the position of NAPO which is that instead of moving

offender management into prisons, which builds in disruption and inconsistency

of working relationships throughout the sentence, it would be far better to

properly resource offender management in the community to enable them to

properly prioritise the management of their clients in custody and provide the

consistency of relationship required.

The Executive is instructed to support NAPO’s efforts to ensure that the

deficiencies in the OMiC plans are highlighted at every level.

She said: Good morning, conference. Brothers and sisters, I realised only

after speaking last time that I forgot to introduce myself properly, perhaps

because I always feel so familiar with surroundings at the GFTU events, but I

am Katie Lomas and I am the Chair of NAPO. This motion is about OMiC or

Offender Management in Custody and OMiC is a move that HMPPS describe

as improving support for those in prison, but we are very concerned that they

have chosen a model that is, against all evidence and research, proposing to

change the offender manager that somebody works with at the most vulnerable

point of their sentence and I will explain more about that in a moment.

At this point I am very grateful to my brother from the POA for yesterday

reminding me to clarify to you that when we in NAPO and in probation talk

about offender management, we are talking about the current role of an

offender manager which is performed by our members working in probation

who manage the whole sentence that someone serves, both during custody

and then out in the community. We are not seeking by this motion to change

the vital role performed by our brothers and sisters in the POA in prisons and it

is unfortunate that HMPPS has chosen language to describe those roles which

causes absolute confusion.

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