Dear Friends
Please click below to view the official response from HQ re the pay claim ballot that I recently sent to you all.
The branch return was as follows: 120 approve, 7 reject.
Our force has not made any provision in its budget for a general pay award but has put in a provision for £250 for those earning less than £21k.
As always I’ll update you as soon as I know any more.
Kind regards
Caren
CLICK HERE TO VIEW copy of the Police Staff Council Trade Union Side’s pay claim for police staff in England and Wales for 2011. The claim was submitted to the Police Staff Council Employers at the Council meeting on 19 April.
UNISON slams 'unfair' police pay review
09th March 2011
UNISON, the UK’s largest union, has slammed the first report of the Independent Review of Police Officers and Staff Pay and Conditions as ‘blatantly unfair’ for doing little for police staff bearing the brunt of cuts, while maintaining police officers’ no compulsory redundancy deal and awarding officers extra allowances.
The report sets out plans to cut police staff pay and conditions. They will see their pay frozen for two years, lose premium payments and fail to receive any concrete promises on job security or new allowances.
Police officers may also lose some allowances, but they will remain immune from redundancy and get a new 10% shift allowance, a new standby allowance and a new £1,200 ‘professional accreditation allowance’.
The findings are announced as the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) predicts 16,000 police staff redundancies over the next four years. Police staff currently make up 40 per cent of the workforce.
Ben Priestley, National Officer for UNISON’s 45,000 police staff members, said:
“This police pay report is blatantly unfair. It is all take and no give for police staff.
“Hardworking police staff are bearing the brunt of the cuts, while police officers are being offered job protection and extra allowances. Our members are part of the team and should have the same protections as police officers if they are asked to cut their take home pay - that’s only fair.
“We are shocked by the lack of balance and at the moment it looks like there is no deal on the table that our members would sign up for.’
UNISON Call For Fair Police Pay
19 November 2010
UNISON, the UK’s leading public sector trade union, has called for fairness and equality to be put back at the heart of police staff pay and conditions, in its submission to an independent review*.
In its submission, the union sent a clear message to the employers that it is willing to get into talks on pay and conditions, but that negotiations must happen at a national, rather than local, level.
Ben Priestley, UNISON national officer for police staff, said:
“It cannot be right that there can be as much as a 45% to 56% difference in the salaries police staff can get paid for doing the same job in different forces. The Winsor review of pay and conditions must put fairness at the top of its agenda, paving the way for a national pay and grading structure for all police staff.
“UNISON is willing to get into talks on police staff pay and terms, but these must happen on a national, rather than local basis. The recession must not lead to a race to the bottom on pay and conditions or further fragmentation of terms for police staff and PCSOs. “UNISON has long been calling for standardised powers for police staff and PCSOs, to give the public a unified service it can trust and rely on, from one end of the country to the other. In a similar way, standard pay, hours, terms and conditions for staff will help give the service a unified identity across the country.“
The UNISON submission to the Independent Review also calls for:
· A jointly commissioned Police Staff Council (PSC) pay and conditions modernisation programme, to ensure that any proposed changes to police staff terms and conditions are handled nationally rather than at force level;
· A modernised pay and conditions settlement for police staff;
· The adoption of the PSC 13 Factor Job Evaluation Scheme by all forces in England and Wales, as a precursor to all staff moving onto a national pay and grading structure;
· A minimum PSC salary rate of £7.60/hour to deliver a living wage for all police staff
· A minimum 25 day’s annual leave for all police staff, rising to 30 days after 5 years service;
· A continuing requirement for shift rotas to be published 3 months in advance to protect work-life balance and diversity in the workforce; · The protection of premium pay for shift working;
· The protection of compensation for short notice changes to working times;
· The rejection of performance related pay as inappropriate to the team working ethos of policing;
· The potential for a link between pay and competencies;
· A South East Weighting Allowance for police staff in line with that enjoyed by police officers;
· The continuation of the Police Staff Council as a free collective bargaining body; · The rejection of local, or regional, pay bargaining;
*The Winsor review of police officers’ and staff remuneration and conditions is currently being run by the Home Office.