Hi
Alex,

We all know this is a tactic the PPU use to add pressure on us to gain a reaction or to "catch you out".

A previous PPU officer once gave me a date and time for a home visit. It was in the afternoon so in the morning I went out; motorbike to the garage. Mid morning I got an "angry" phone call saying I had missed a meeting by not being at home when they visited! I simply and politely replied "that he had booked it for the afternoon so I had gone out knowing I would be back in time." I also offered to forward his "booking" email back to him. His voice soften and said his meetings had changed so was available to see me earlier, and so went to my home expecting me to be there. I replied I would be back in plenty of time for the arranged meeting but he just canceled it as he couldn't visit me in the afternoon. Also no PPU has informed me when a meeting would take place since. 

• If they showed a number so you knew it was them you could word it directly saying "you apologize for missing their call but as they left no message you decided to contact asking if the call was a mistake or wished to talk? "You could also include the reason you could not take the call. 
• If no number was displayed then simple say "you had a missed call from an unknown number and wondered if it was them trying to contact you?" Again provide the reason you did not take the call or simple say you are getting so many scam calls you ignore unknown numbers now." The final part is important as it is part of your self imposed "security and protection" that many in society do; but they will get annoyed.

As I mentioned previously, keep a diary of the events and reactions in a simple, brief and non-emotional manner. Quote names and times. This can be used as supporting evidence at the appropriate time.

I recently had a request from my new PPU officer which by law I am not required to comply with. I have historically worked with them on this subject on condition of the previous words. In their latest conversation I mention they were just trying to "catch me out" and said you just don't trust me! - though I assure you there is nothing for them to catch me out on, just poorly worded by me. Their reply was they are not trying to catch me out and do trust me.

I then said

"why will you not provide a date and time for our meeting instead of just knocking on the door?"

They replied 

"We don't work that way!"

Unfortunately we are judged for our past errors so no matter what, we have to react with dignity, grace and maturity; three characteristics the system has attempted to and will try to remove from us. 
To finish remember this in your "interviews with others" as it may help you see both sides of questions:

There is no thing as truth, there is only the individual's perception of the truth

Unfortunately I'm still experiencing great incompetence with my new area probation team which is reflecting bad on me through no fault of my own. This is not ideal as my previous supervisor is in talks of reviewing my supervision at the half way point for an early closure due to there being no problems whatsover and quite frankly, the probation element being an obvious waste of everyones time (in his own words)

After all the messing about at the start of the pandemic, and the first failed home visit (no one turned up or phoned then they tried to blame me for not being in), I was given a second home visit by email and letter. Someone phoned me at the designated time and said he will be round in a minute, I waited and hour (for the second time) and no one turned up or phoned me back

Didn't hear anything for 2 weeks until today I had 1 missed call from my new supervisor when I was shopping/driving and my phone was on silent. No second attempt at a call or text or email to me but rather, they again went straight and wrote out an email to my previous supervision officer in Scotland saying that they can't get a hold of me. He phoned up rather frustated wondering why I wasn't able to answer the completely random one attempt at a phonecall

Hopefully now that restrictions are beginning to relax they will be able to waste everyones council tax in a more structured format rather than the random phonecalls (and when they go home for an early finish and pretend they turned up at your house) which give you black marks for not waiting by the phone 24/7

Alexh07
Couple of words to hopefully get you to focus more on your well being and please do not think my words are meant in anyway but supportive.
I fully appreciate the emotional stress you have and are going through but to help yourself you it is time to "departmentalize" everything. Hopefully I can explain my analogy further.
First, unless you can find new evidence or something to support an appeal, try to "place" any thoughts that do not support your wellbeing in "archives".  The reason for this is 2 fold (1) continually referring to it; or anything you have no control over, as the foremost issue is only causing you emotional harm, (2) You know where the information is stored so that it is there when new evidence is found or truly need to refer to it.

random phone calls  Believe it or not they do not always expect you to be able to answer; this is because it allows them to ask questions i.e. why not? If you have a genuine reason then calmly explain it. For example if it is because you are sleeping off night shifts then just offer your shift pattern with the caveat that it can / does change. Offer a solution to their issue.
If you are somewhere that means you cannot have a conversation you can answer the call and explain where you are and can you call them back as it is not suitable to talk. Again offer a solution to THEIR issue.

PROBATION stamp Explain your mail is in a common access place so, to help protect you can they send it in a plain envelope? They will probably say no but, if you put it in writing then if anything arises from their postage method you have some sort of evidence of you raising your concern. In fact I suggest there is a requirement to retain a physical document paper trail on most correspondence; as they do.
There are many reason why people receive letters from the Probation so if asked, just have a constant, simple and reasonable explanation for the letter i.e. your considering volunteering with them. Anyway if your neighbours ask about a postage stamp then I would move lol.

Upcoming visit With the current social guidelines you do not know if it will not be canceled at the last moment but will not say now so to maintain pressure. In regard to the questions read and listen again to my first sentence and the following.

Eventually you will come to understand that part of their methodigy with ex-offenders is to maintain pressure to see how they react. Think back to how your reacted on arrest and at the interview when you saw your whole life going into turmoil. I believe most times they are trying to recreate that environment to see how you react. Remember in this modern society it is initially easier to write negatively and so support historical criminal data, than it is to challenge those beliefs and write positively that someone is rehabilitating. Risk management is not just looking at you but also societies opinion on the Government and its Justice System.

Finally and believe that I am not against you but offering support. All contributors and readers of Unlock know it is hard to accept that no matter the factors, when someone has committed an offence, it can be difficult to comprehend its full consequences for sometime. You are being punished for your actions not hers, the Police's or anyone else's. Also simply and bluntly put, unless you have it in writing i.e. Judge's sentencing comments, then there is no point quoting your opinions on what has been said by others. It only does you more emotional harm because it sounds as if you are trying to persuade others to believe you're innocent, when your own words say you are not. The Justice System sees this as "denial" and will not move past that until you change. My words from my last reply asked if you recognise the "victims" of your action. It took me sometime to fully accept that point in my offence; and I had proved with evidence that: I was lied to, blackmailed and didn't know I was braking the law. It made no difference as the actions I took were wrong.

You have support and guidance here in Unlock, but you must learn to be fully open with yourself to understand the support from others.

The random phonecalls which can be any time of the week/day are getting very annoying as half of the time I am missing them or sleeping due to working nightshifts and then they are being stern that I need to answer them if I miss any

Today I was very kindly sent a letter through the post with the big PROBATION stamp on it for all of my new neighbours in the block to see and recognise me as a criminal

I now have a home visit appointment next week which is apparently going to be yet another new officer (the 4th one I have had since moving area 2 months ago). I am expecting the same patronising questions about why I moved area as if it's an extreme anomaly for someone to move and has to be justified with several reasons. I suppose I will also have to expect a chance of being infected by them, either that or standing at the front door chatting to me for all the neighbours to hear

Seriously, all I did was retaliate to someone by annoying and offending them on Facebook (online "harassment)"in late 2016 and I still have to put up with constantly being reminded that I am a criminal, in my case this isn't helping me to move on with my life at all. The social worker, judge, prosecution, police and my lawyer all knew that it was a one sided case designed to provide results and meet targets but kept sweeping my complaints about the injustice under the carpet to make sure the public know that they are a good use of taxpayer resources and keep themselves in a pretend job