The head office review began in May 2006, with the aim of rationalising Corrections’ head office structure and lifting the organisation’s performance.
Chief Executive Barry Matthews says one of the objectives of the review was to achieve a “one-department” approach.
“We needed a solid foundation on which to grow, clear lines of accountability and communication, and improved efficiency through reduced duplication of effort,” he says.
As a result of the review, three key changes to the head office structure have taken effect from 1 July.
Firstly, a Rehabilitation and Reintegration function has been created to incorporate Corrections Inmate Employment and to oversee programmes that support prisoners to live crime free lives. However, the various rehabilitation programmes will continue to be run by Prison Services and the newly named Community Probation & Psychological Services.
Secondly, what was called Probation and Offender Services (POS) has been renamed Community Probation & Psychological Service (CPPS). The new service integrates the Community Probation Service, the Psychological Service and Intervention Services under one regional management structure.
The third key change is an agreed way of working – the shared services model. Corrections believes this more collaborative way of working will lead to more consistency across services and regions, more effective risk management and better use of resources. The shared services model allows line managers to focus on core business, with the help of specialist expertise.
The Department of Corrections came into existence in 1995 and while there have been changes to the structure over the years, this is the first major review of the structure. Growing offender numbers and an increased emphasis on rehabilitation and reintegration meant that the previous structure no longer met our needs.
To help with the review, Corrections employed Mercer Human Resource Consulting to identify the best options for change, following much research and many discussions with staff and managers.
Mercer proposed a new structure, which was circulated to staff for feedback. One hundred and four staff submissions, some from large groups of staff, were sent to the Senior Management Team – an indication of the high level of interest in the review among both regional and head office staff.
The Senior Management Team and Chief Executive then discussed all the staff feedback, debated the merits of the various proposed changes, and decided upon the final structure (see diagram) with some modifications from the initial proposal.
The restructure has meant about 10 staff redundancies, with the majority of current staff reassigned to different groups or services within the new structure.
New head office structure
View larger version of the head office structure image (jpg: 62KB)
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ISSN 1178-8453