Novus dispute gets Private Eye treatment

Nationally a range of outlets have covered the dispute including Private Eye, who wrote:

TEACHING staff at 49 prisons and young offender institutions who are employed by contractor Novus Education, walked out last month in a long-running safety dispute that highlights dangerous conditions for those working in prisons, even before the pandemic.

Education union UCU formally raised concerns over working conditions for Novus staff in April 2019 highlighting incident where teachers had been assaulted or repeatedly exposed to psychoactive substances such as Spice, by prisoners. They said teaching staff were being asked to carry out tasks normally done by prison officers, such as escorting and searching, which they aren't supposed to do.

Frequent problems with access to "clean and hygienic" toilets and wash rooms were also highlighted at the time. So, it was little wonder that staff felt their work was even more unsafe with the arrival of Covid- 19.

Other prison education providers, such as Milton Keynes College, which operates in 30 prisons, took cautious infection control measures, with teachers preparing in-cell education packs for many prisoners and thorough cleaning being carried out wherever face-to-face contact was considered essential. However, Novus staff say they were made to attend on site to carry out tasks that could have been done remotely, unnecessarily exposed to infected prisoners and had to clean bathrooms themselves - although sometimes no soap, sanitiser or even hot water was available.

A vote of no-confidence in Novus boss John Thornhill was passed by staff in January.

Meanwhile, health and safety reps who tried to raise these issues were put under "investigation" by Novus, although none was interviewed and Novus eventually revealed at a meeting with mediation service ACAS last month that the investigation had finished.

Problems then continued. UCU says it has received reports from members that "new and inexperienced Novus staff have been sent on to wings without any personal protection training; that staff have been asked to visit multiple residential units, negating attempts to create workplace bubbles; and that learners have come into class vaping".

Novus is an offshoot of the Manchester College Group (now known as LTE Group). Its penny-pinching ways have long been known to the Eye. When Manchester College bid for a slew of regional prison education contracts in 2010, many other further education colleges dropped out of the bidding, saying there wasn't enough funding on the table to provide a decent service. Soon after taking over the contracts, Manchester cut large numbers of teaching jobs (Eye 1256).