BULLETIN 4/2001
Reproduced below is a further update from our General
Secretary, Douglas Keil, on our Pay and Conditions Negotiations. As the Protocol has now been lifted,
I can advise that these proposals were first received at this office, under Strictly
Private and Confidential cover, on 14th November. By return, I wrote the General Secretary
outlining my immediate thoughts. My
letter is reproduced in this Bulletin and hopefully mirrors the concerns you
will have. As always, I will advise you
of any developments at the earliest opportunity.
John B Finnie
JBB Secretary
27th November 2001
"PAY
AND CONDITIONS NEGOTIATIONS
The Official Side puts this
document to the Staff Side as a basis for negotiation within the PNB. We wish to reach agreement in principle with
the Staff Side by the end of December 2001 on changes to pay and conditions,
for submission to the secretaries of State.
We recognise that in the time available not all the details involved can
be finalised. We also recognise that
the Staff Associations will need to consult their constituents before ratifying
the agreement in principle that we hope to make by the end of the year. Indeed, a similar consultation exercise may
well be necessary for the components of the Official Side.
Implementation of the
changes the Official Side envisage will require sufficient new money to be made
available by the Government at the appropriate time to all police authorities
in the UK. The Home Office's Outcomes'
Paper, tabled at the PNB on 24 October, makes in clear that Government
decisions on funding will be taken in the light of whatever results from the
PNB's negotiations. Without sufficient
extra funding for all police authorities in the UK, the proposals in this
document would not be viable. There is
no point in introducing changes with a new cost, if the result is to prevent
the achievement of the Government's target for expanding the service or to
cause forces to be under-equipped. For
this reason the Official Side see this as a negotiation within the PNB about
the terms on which the Official Side and the Staff Side jointly request additional
funding from the Government.
Background
to the Proposals
The Official Side's
proposals have been drawn up in the context both of the earlier discussions
within the Federated Ranks' joint working party and of the Home Office's
Outcomes' Paper. It is recognised that
some of the issues discussed in the Working Party do not feature fully in these
proposals. In formulating these
proposals the Official Side have had to make a judgement on what is realistic
in the light of Outcomes' Paper and our assessment of the funding which
Government may be willing to give support a modernisation package.
The Official Side also
recognise that the Staff Side of the Federated Ranks' Committee still has a 12%
productivity claim on the table. The
Official Side formally answered that claim in March 2000, and the Staff Side
countered in May 2000. The ensuring
deadlock was broken by the agreed establishment of the Committee C (now
Federated Ranks' Committee) working party late last year.
Overall
Objectives
In putting these proposals
forward the Official Side's purpose is to modernise the police remuneration
system, principally by:
·
Encouraging more
experienced candidates
·
Rewarding competent
performers already at the top of the federated ranks scales
·
Targeting new money where
it is most needed
·
Moving to a more
transparent and more easily administered system of setting out national pay and
conditions, while safeguarding their legal enforceability
·
Simplifying and
rationalising some existing agreements; making some savings in the process
·
Delegating to force level
some issues which do not need to be resolved nationally
·
Allowing more local
flexibility in the application of some national agreements
·
Major terms and conditions
unaffected by these proposals
The Official Side are not proposing
changes in respect of various key components of the present pay and conditions
package:
·
Current basic pay levels
·
The principle and current
method of pay indexation
·
London weighting; London
and south east allowances; Northern Ireland allowances
·
Rent, housing and
replacement allowances
·
Annual Leave entitlements
·
Sickness and maternity
entitlements (apart from a proposed amendment of what is currently Regulation
46 in England and Wales and its equivalents in Scotland and Northern Ireland)
·
The Official Side are
making no proposals on pensions in this package other than in respect of
ill-health retirement and injury allowances, but remain committed to the view
that Government should introduce a new, properly funded, scheme for new
recruits
Implementation Issues
While the Official Side
envisage that the overall costs of an agreed package will outweigh the overall
savings, implementation needs to be handled so as to minimise reductions in the
earnings of individuals. For this
reason, the Official Side, are willing to give positive consideration to the
possibility of phasing in at least some of the proposed savings measures.
8. Summary of Proposed Changes
The detail of the changes
proposed by the Official Side is attached as the Appendix to this paper. A summary follows here:
8.1 Pay Scales
8.2 Special
priority posts
8.3 Bonuses
8.4 Working time
8.5 Rationalisation
of allowances etc
8.6 Regulations
and determinations by the Secretaries of State
8.7 Part-time
working
8.8 Working
beyond 30 years' service
8.9 Ill-health
8.1 Pay Scales
·
Higher starting salaries
for more experienced candidates
·
Introduction of a
competence-related payment at the top of each of the federated ranks' scales
8.2 Special priority posts
·
Extra pay for fully
satisfactory performers in special priority posts, chosen in the light of
national guidelines and local priorities.
Subject to nationally negotiated cost ceilings and maximum for
individual payments.
8.3 Bonuses
·
Provision for local on-off
payments in respect of occasional work of an outstanding demanding, important
or unpleasant nature. Subject to
nationally determined maxima
8.4 Working Time
·
Radical simplification of
existing Regulations 26 to 32 (in England and Wale; and their equivalent in
Scotland and Northern Ireland), governing shifts, rosters, overtime, working on
rest days and public holidays and travelling time treated as duty.
·
Savings through changes to
rates of overtime payment and other measures.
8.5 Rationalisation of allowances etc.
·
Which allowances the
Official Side propose should be maintained, which discontinued, which phased
out, and which altered.
8.6 Regulations and determinations by the Secretaries of State
·
Which provisions the
Official Side propose should be maintained in Regulations and which should
become legally enforceable determinations by the Secretaries of State.
8.7 Part-time working
·
Lowering the hours
threshold
·
Facilitating part-time working
in higher ranks
8.8 Working beyond 30 years' service
·
Options for incentives
8.9 Ill-health
·
Proposal for sub-group to
consider Home office consultation paper on ill-health (separately enclosed)
·
Clarification of Regulation
46
It will be seen that in the
Appendix several details are left blank for further exploration and discussion
(e.g. in respect of extra pay special priority posts). The Official Side's aim in presenting the
Appendix is to provide enough detail for a serious negotiation without trying
to pre-empt the process.
Scotland and Northern
Ireland
The representatives of
police authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland have participated in the
formulation of these proposals but are not in a position to commit themselves at
this stage until there have been discussions with their respective
stakeholders. They hope to be able to
confirm their position on these proposals early next week.
PNB Official Side
November 2001
JOHN B FINNIE, JBB Secretary
27th November 2001
