On the eve of the 2015 general election, recently published Home Office figures show that government funding cuts to neighbourhood policing have seen a 27 per cent cut in the police patrol presence on our streets. That’s because there are 4,430 fewer police community support officers (PCSOs) patrolling and looking after your neighbourhood.
Please click on link below to a copy of the latest UNISON PCSO cuts report which confirms that PCSO numbers have been cut by 27% since 2010.
Police Employers have today made a revised pay offer to police staff in England and Wales to settle the long running dispute over pay. This is the result of on-going negotiations at the Police Staff Council over the Christmas and New Year period.
The offer, which covers the period 1 March 2015 to 31 August 2016, is as follows:
• 2.2%, or £400, increase (whichever is the greater) on all police staff pay points with effect from 1 March 2015
• 2.2% increase in standby allowance with effect from 1 March 2015
The offer covers two pay years (2014/15 and 2015/16), but would be paid over 18 months.
Full details of the offer will be made available for members to vote on as soon as possible.
INDUSTRIAL ACTION CALLED OFF
The Police Staff Council Trade Union Side (UNISON, UNITE & GMB) is recommending the offer as the best achievable by negotiation.
As a result, the three unions have called off the industrial action which was due to commence with strike action this Friday 23 January.
Each union will now consult members on the offer.
This UNISON bulletin advises members to report for work as normal on Monday 22 December following a decision by UNISON’s Police Committee on 17 December to withdraw our industrial action to see if talks with the employers can reach a negotiated settlement to our pay dispute. The voluntary overtime ban, which was to have started on 5 January 2015 for a month, has also been withdrawn for the time being.
Talks have been continuing with the employers during UNISON’s preparation for the strike on 22 December, and our action short of strike action which was due to have started from 5 January. In order to enable these positive talks to continue, UNISON’s Police Committee agreed to ask the employers to extend the period in which we can call industrial action to the end of January. This extension has been agreed, and UNISON will be writing to chief constables and police and crime commissioners on 18 December to withdraw the action notices for the 22 December strike.
The extension of the period in which we can call industrial action provides a ‘window’ of opportunity for our negotiators to see if we can get an improved offer which we could recommend to members. We will know this very early in the New Year. If the talks remain positive, and we reach such an offer, members will be consulted on whether they accept, or not.
If we can’t make progress in the talks, we will be setting another date for strike action before the end of January to be followed by action short of strike action. UNISON is serious about getting a better deal for police staff this year. Your support to date has been fantastic and we need to remain focused and determined in order to get a deal we can recommend.
Preparations for the strike on 22 December were well advanced and reports from UNISON branches in forces across England and Wales made it very clear that we were going to deliver a very effective day of action.
To all our police staff members, we give a commitment to continue working as hard as we can to get you an improved deal. The employers appear serious about reaching a negotiated settlement. Let’s see what we can get out of the talks.
Police Staff Pay Bulletin No. 5
VOTE YES IN THE POLICE STAFF PAY BALLOT
By now you should have received your UNISON pay ballot paper at your home address. We have sent out over 30,000 ballots to members like you across England and Wales. UNISON is asking you to vote YES to industrial action to improve this year’s 1% pay offer.
If you have already voted that’s great, and thanks for sending back your completed ballot paper. Please do encourage your colleagues to vote as well. Talking about the ballot at work can really make a big impact, so please do discuss the issues with the people you work with.
Police staff have always delivered a good turn-out in previous ballots and UNISON is relying on you to deliver again now. It really is important that you vote, so that your voice can be heard.
So if you haven’t yet voted, or even if you haven’t yet made your mind up, please do vote. Your views are important to us. Without your vote, and support, UNISON cannot be as effective as we would like on your behalf. UNISON is standing up for police staff, but we can’t do it without you.
WHY SHOULD I VOTE?
We know that it is never easy to vote for industrial action. UNISON would never ask you to do this unless we believed that it was totally necessary. A strong YES vote will show the employers that we are prepared to defend your pay and protect your living standards.
UNISON appreciates that you are committed to your job, but the police employers and the government are taking your loyalty for granted.
They will not return to the negotiating table to improve the 1% offer unless we can show them that you are serious about defending your pay. The government will not change its policy on pay restraint voluntarily.
WHAT ARE THE FACTS?
• Due to inflation, the value of your pay has fallen by 13% since 2010. In plain terms, it buys you 13% less than it did four years ago.
• If current inflation and pay trends continue, your salary will have lost 30% of its value by 2018
• Holding back on pay has not saved a single one of the 19,000 police staff jobs which have been axed since 2010
• Average pay settlements in the private sector are now running at 2 to 2.5%. We are told that the economy is picking up. But you are not seeing any of the benefits.
SEE HOW MUCH PAY YOU HAVE LOST
UNISON has produced a police staff pay calculator to show you just how much money you have lost as a result of the pay freeze in 2011 and 2012 and the 1% pay rise last year. You can access the calculator by following this link: http://paycalculator.unison.org.uk/police-staff
Speak to your local UNISON representative for details of how to join or:
Call us FREE on 0800 171 2193
or join online at: www.joinunison.org
Pay and Reward Review: Member Consultation
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Police Staff Council Pay and Reward Review: Member Consultation
As you will be aware, the Police Staff Council is undertaking a wide-ranging review of the pay and conditions of police staff working for forces in England and Wales. As a consequence we wish to consult members on issues for the first part of the review of the Police Staff Council Handbook. Members are asked to reply to consultation by no later than Friday 21st November 2014.
The attached PSC Trade Union Side bulletin was published in July to brief members on the work of the PSC Pay and Reward Working Party. The working party met for a second time on 27th August and agreed to a set of meeting dates for the rest of this year to progress the first part of the review – namely a review of the PSC Handbook of Terms and Conditions.
There was a further meeting of the working party on 9 October at which the parties agreed to amend the timetable for the review of the Police Staff Council Handbook. This means that the working party is now aiming to have concluded the Handbook review by 31st March 2015, rather than 31st December this year. This change to the timetable was agreed in order to give all parties the opportunity to consult with their constituents by the end of this year, with a view to opening substantive talks in early 2015, with the benefit of our respective consultations having taken place in the interim. A copy of the amended terms of reference for the review, with the revised timetable, is below for information.
In order that UNISON can best represent the interests of our members in this work, we now wish to consult members on what issues you would like us to take forward in the review of the Handbook. The attached consultation paper sets out the items which we are already committed to raise with the employers, and we would welcome any views on additional issues which you think we should be highlighting in the Handbook review.
Members are asked to respond to the consultation by no later than Friday 21st November. This is with a view to UNISON inviting branches to a seminar on Friday 28 November to review the outcome of this consultation and to inform our negotiating position going forward.
The consultation paper also asks members to provide us with some key information to help inform UNISON’s negotiating position in the talks.
Members are being asked to respond via email (details are on the force intranet system)
Please respond to this consultation by no later than Friday 21st November.
Trade Union Side Bulletin – July 2014
This circular updates branches on the work of the Police Staff Council (PSC) Pay and Reward Review.
Branches will be aware that in the aftermath of the Winsor Review of police staff terms and conditions, the Police Staff Council agreed, in principle, to reconvene its Pay and Reward Working Party to see whether the way in which police staff in England and Wales were paid and rewarded was still fit for purpose. You will remember that the Winsor Review collapsed for police staff, because the Winsor recommendations for police staff were largely negative and did not provide the basis for a negotiated offer to be put to our members.
The election of Police and Crime Commissioners in 2012 led to the Employers Side of the PSC to ask for a period of reflection in order to consult with PCCs and Chief Constables on what issues their Side would like to bring to a reconvened working party. Following this period of reflection, the Working Party met on 3 July 2014 and agreed to terms of reference to inform the Pay and Reward Review. These terms of reference are set out at Appendix A.
You will see that the terms of reference are wide-ranging and ambitious. The Trade Union Side remains firmly of the view that any modernisation of the way in which police staff are paid and rewarded must include an examination of the pay and grading systems in use by each police force at local level. We are also committed to ensuring that any reform of pay and conditions be embedded in the wider police workforce reform agenda, including the emerging College of Policing People Strategy, workforce modernisation and professional development opportunities for our members, whatever their role and wherever they work. Equality considerations must be central to any outcome of the review.
The terms of reference also include a review of the terms and conditions set out in the PSC Handbook, which form the bedrock of the contracts of employment of police staff in most forces in England and Wales. The Handbook was last reviewed in 2004, so the time is certainly right for the Book to be opened up again to ensure that it remains fit for purpose. The Trade Union Side sees this as a positive opportunity to bring the Handbook up to date and to deal with some of the unresolved questions that the Handbook has thrown up since its creation in 1996. It has been agreed to prioritise the PSC Handbook as the first element of pay and conditions to be reviewed by 31 December 2014.
For the PSC Employers’ part, they have produced a position paper to inform their approach to the Pay and Reward Working Party. A copy of this paper is attached at Appendix B. You will see from the paper that the Employers propose the following principles for the review:
Fairness
National consistency and local flexibility
New arrangements should be simple to implement and administer
There should be a link between pay, competence and contribution
Any distinctions in pay and other conditions of service between police officers and police staff should be objectively justified
Affordability
You will also see from the paper that the Employers’ reform agenda identifies potential savings which could be achieved across individual forces in the following areas:
Reducing payments for working additional hours (reduce double time payments on Sundays and Public Holidays
Reducing payments for working unsocial or irregular hours (reduce time and a half for weekend work)
Reducing payments for working shifts (remove/reduce double time payment on Sundays and Public Holidays)
In return for these changes, the Employers may offer national role profiles for some police staff jobs (PCSOs, Detention Officers etc), a minimum national redundancy package and arbitration and conciliation arrangements in the event of disputes.
The Trade Union Side will be consulting branches shortly on how we should approach the PSC Handbook Review.
The next meeting of the PSC Pay and Reward Working Party is due to take place on 27 August. Branches should note that the full Review is likely to take until the end of 2015 to be completed. If the Review leads to proposals to change national terms and conditions, these would be the subject of an all member consultation. Changes to current terms and conditions would only come about if a majority of those voting agree to any proposed changes.
Police Staff Council
Pay & Reward Review 2014
Terms of Reference (Revised 09.10.2014)
The parties to the Police Staff Council agree to review the following matters in relation to the modernisation of the pay and conditions of police staff in scope of the Council:
The Terms and Conditions in the Police Staff Council Handbook
How police staff basic pay is determined and administered by forces in England and Wales, and whether such arrangements remain fit for purpose; to include:
Job evaluation
Grading schemes
An equality impact assessment of any proposed changes to police staff pay and conditions
Relevant information to inform the review, to include:
PSC pay and numbers statistics
The relationship between police staff pay and reward and workforce reform in the widest sense; review to include consideration of:
The People Strategy for Policing
Force collaboration/mergers
Workforce modernisation
Professional development opportunities for police staff
The Police Staff Council recognises that these matters contain short term imperatives and medium term objectives for both Sides. The first item to be reviewed will be the terms and conditions in the Police Staff Council Handbook; to be completed by 31 March 2015. All the other items above are to be reviewed by no later than 31 December 2015.
Subject to the outcome of consultation, the Police Staff Council aims to implement any agreements emanating from the work of the review from 1 April 2016.
Police Staff Pay Bulletin No. 3
VOTE YES FOR INDUSTRIAL ACTION
The three police staff trade unions – UNISON, UNITE and GMB – confirmed on 16 October that they intend to ballot their police staff members in England and Wales for industrial action over the 1% pay offer which members rejected overwhelmingly back at the end of the summer.
A month earlier, the unions reported to the police employers that members had voted as follows on the 1% pay offer:
• UNISON 84% reject
• UNITE 90.4% reject
• GMB 66% reject
As well as rejecting the offer, members indicated when voting that they were prepared to take industrial action in order to improve the offer.
The unions reported the outcome of this consultation at our meeting with the employers on 18 September, and asked them to re-open the pay talks. They refused, so the unions lodged a formal trade dispute over the pay offer on 25 September. As a result, all three unions are now preparing to ballot their police staff members for industrial action.
UNISON will be urging members to vote YES to industrial action in the forthcoming ballot.
UNISON BALLOT TIMETABLE
Here is the timetable for UNISON’s formal industrial action ballot:
31 October ballot notices dispatched to employers
12 November ballot papers dispatched to members
2 December ballot closes and results sent to members and employers
10 December action notices dispatched to employers
19 December first possible day for industrial action
More information on the ballot will be available from your UNISON branch shortly. Please make sure that you read the information provided and attend any meetings which your branch organises in order for members to discuss the industrial action ballot.
FIVE GOOD REASONS TO VOTE YES FOR INDUSTRIAL ACTION
1. Due to inflation, the value of your salary is down 13% on 2010
This means that your salary today buys you 13% less than it did in 2010.
2. The forecast is that inflation will rise 16.5% by 2018
If your pay continues to flat-line like it has for the last three years, it will buy you 30% less by 2018. This trend simply cannot go on forever.
3. The Government has confirmed that public sector pay restraint will continue to 2018
The Government is not going to change its public sector pay policy voluntarily. It is UNISON members like you who can change this.
4. It’s your pension, as well as your pay, that is suffering
Have you thought about the effect of the pay freeze on your pension? The pay that you have lost through the pay freeze will be lost for pension purposes for the entire time that you draw your pension.
5. Pay restraint won’t save police staff jobs
Police staff have taken the brunt of the government’s cuts to police funding. 15,000 police staff jobs have been lost since 2010, together with 3,500 PCSOs. That’s 19% of police staff and 22% of PCSOs lost during a time of pay freeze! Holding back on pay did not save these jobs and the Government cuts will just keep on coming.
JOINT STATEMENT BY POLICE STAFF COUNCIL TRADE UNION SIDE
ON POLICE STAFF PAY TALKS 2014
At the Police Staff Council held on 18 September the police staff trade unions reported to the employers that members of each union had voted as follows on the 1% pay offer for 2014:
• UNISON: 84% reject
• UNITE: 90.4% reject
• GMB: 66% reject
As a result of this overwhelming rejection of the offer by members, the unions asked the employers to re-open pay talks to improve the 1% offer.
The employers stated that they were unable to re-open the talks, because 1% remained their full and final offer.
In response, the unions indicated that they would now register a formal trade dispute with the employers on behalf of members over the failure of the Employers to meet our pay claim for 3%, or £500 (whichever is the greater), or to engage in meaningful negotiations.’
UNISON members in Leicestershire Police voted overwhelmingly to reject the employer’s offer of 1%. The Ballot ended on 9th September and results were added to the national total which was also to overwhelmingly reject the offer.
The Turnout of members eligible to vote was 56% with 89% opting to reject.The Police Staff Council of England and Wales met on 18th September, the employers stated that they were not will to open negotiations, the Trade Union side said they were left with no alternative than to register a ‘trade dispute’.
A formal statement will be issued by UNISON’s National office shortly.
UNISON CHIEF CALLS ON TUC TO ORGANISE NATIONAL DEMO
The general secretary of UNISON the UK’s largest union is today calling on the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to organise a record breaking national demonstration in autumn 2012.
The huge demonstration will bring together an alternative coalition opposed to the government’s damaging policies including, public spending cuts, heavy job losses, damaging privatisation and the unfair pay freeze.
Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary, said:
“The news that we are back in recession confirms our worst fears about this government’s damaging policies. The trade union movement must strengthen it’s alternative coalition bringing together community and local campaigning groups, faith groups and charities that share our vision.
“Our country faces it’s biggest challenges in decades. We need the TUC to organise the biggest demonstration in our Labour movement’s history. Today I am calling on the TUC to set plans in motion to show the government that there is a real alternative. This must include ditching plans to cut taxes for the rich in our society, while those on low incomes and communities all across the country pay a heavy price for the double dip recession
UNISON leicestershire Police 