Key-work will be temporarily suspended within establishments.
Where establishments experience staff shortages in their OMU hub, it is likely that they will not be able to maintain a fully operational OM function. During these periods available staff should be used to administer discharge and reception functions plus provide the administration support for any ongoing court activity where relevant. It may be necessary to post staff who are unfamiliar with these processes into these areas, but HMPPS Equip should be utilised to help staff to become familiar with the necessary processes. Further guidance is provided in the attached documents.
For the period/s that we will be operating the ERMPs in prisons, all operational Band 4 POMs will be cross-deployed to operational duties and some/ most probation officer POMs will be cross-deployed to front-line duties in the community. This will mean that most of the work in the OMU will be carried out by administrators and potentially non-operational POM (where they exist AND are not ill). Our guidance reflects this and we expect Senior Probation Officers and Heads of OMU to use their professional judgement in their prioritisation of the work.
In light of the developing COVID-19 situation, the probation service have suggested that local and resettlement services may be prioritised, and probation officers from long term and specialist offices may therefore be redeployed to community offices so that OM work focused on release and resettlement is prioritised.
An OMU Support Hub has been established to support establishments with matters relating to ROTL, HDC and Bail. Below is further detailed information on this. Please contact Covid19-omu-support@justice.gov.uk for further information.