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Police service betrayed by ACPO and the government?
Last week was an exceptionally busy week for the Police Federation with the publication of the Winsor Report into Police Pay and conditions and the Hutton Report into changes for public sector pensions.
We are aware the broad details of the Winsor Report are in the public domain and being discussed in the workplace.
From the members we have spoken to and also from what we heard at Northumbria Federation Open Meeting last week it is clear that officers are angry, worried, frustrated and confused. They feel let down by a Cadre of ACPO betrayed by a despicable and dishonest government and angry concerned and demoralised after Winsor Hutton and the media briefing against them.
The Winsor report was commissioned by the Home Secretary and we await her decision as to which of the recommendations she accepts and then directs the Official Side to table as claims at the Police Negotiating Board. Not unsurprisingly the recommendations within Tom Winsor’s report propose the removal of nearly £500 million a year from the police pay bill.
Despite the Home Office spin that there will be “winners and losers” by removing this amount of money from the police pay bill there will be no winners amongst the federated ranks.
Basic salaries will be frozen for two years from September 2011. With inflation running at 5% over two years this would see the value your average salary fall by over 10% in real terms.
Winsor’s recommendations will also reduce your pensionable pay on top of that 10% cut:
If you have not reached the top of your pay scale, you will be at the same pay point for the next two years. That means an average loss over two years of £2,345.
If you are at the top of your scale and you are in receipt of a competence-related threshold payment (CRTP), you will lose £1,212 a year.
On top of these proposals, if you are an officer who falls into one of the following groups, you may see you pay cut by even more:
If you work ordinary overtime on a regular basis the change to plain time means that you will lose an average of £430 a year.
If your force requires you to work overtime on rest days with less than 5 days’ notice you could lose an average of £300 a year.
If you receive a Special Priority Payment, you will lose between £500 and £3,000, although some officers could lose more than this.
These figures are based on averages and some officers will receive more than the sums mentioned here, while some will get less or none at all.
There may be officers who appear to benefit from some of the changes that Winsor has proposed, but it will depend on how the recommendations are implemented.
The introduction of an additional shift premium at first sounds attractive, particularly as he proposes that officers should receive an additional 10% of their basic pay. Unfortunately this is not the shift allowance that he states so many officers have told him that they want. It is in fact paid on an hourly basis only for the hours that you work outside of 6am and 8pm. As a police officer you can be directed to work at any time but if this proposal is introduced it would result in you suffering a financial detriment if your duties are changed by management to work within these hours.
The introduction of an interim Expertise and Professional Accreditation Allowance, which replaces the current SPP scheme in all but name will reduce the amount forces currently pay to officers.
The proposed removal of the ‘Hertfordshire Agreement’ that currently remunerates officers who are on ‘Mutual Aid’ or ‘Held in Reserve’ and to replace it with pay only for the hours that are worked, will significantly reduce the amount of compensation that officers receive for being directed to work anywhere in the UK and the subsequent disruption to your family life.
The proposed change to allow payment at double time if required to work on Christmas Day and seven days chosen by the officer is in effect a reduction by stealth in your pay for working public holidays. Given that all officers will not be able to nominate the actual public holidays as part of their seven days, you will end up working on those days without any compensation for the disruption of having to work on what is your current entitlement to paid family leave. There is no doubt that the seven days that you nominate will be subject to approval as currently applies to annual leave and other time off. They will be subject to minimum staffing levels being available so that there will be no requirement for you to work and be paid double time. This will result in a loss of the remuneration that you currently receive for working public holidays.
Clearly the proposals within the Winsor Report have the potential to significantly reduce the remuneration that you currently receive for performing your duties.
That is why the Federation will fully engage in the negotiating process at the Police Negotiating Board and will fight to retain the current value of police officers’ terms and conditions of service.
The Federation will use every means at our disposal to resist any detrimental changes to officers’ pay and conditions of service. Nothing has been ruled in or out at this time.
These are difficult and challenging times for the police service. Never has there been such an attack on our pay and conditions. Never has it been more important for us to stand together and support each other.
Our advice at this stage is to remember that these are only recommendations and will now move into the Police Negotiating Board, where we can start to deal with the facts and consequences of these reports. The Official Side, with whom we negotiate, will understand the reality of implications of the proposals and there is still a lot of negotiating to do before these recommendations become regulation. For those of us with long memories this is not the first time we have dealt with a set of proposals and we realise that there is still a lot to play for at this stage. However, it must be pointed out that this is a difficult time to enter into any negotiations due to the current economic climate, financial settlement imposed on the police, and the wider agenda of Government towards the public sector.
If we are unable to reach a negotiated deal the proposals, and any amendments which have been made through the negotiating process, will move to conciliation and arbitration before being enacted in Police Regulation.
Therefore, as the situation currently stands the current terms and conditions are still in force, and there is no guarantee what changes will actually come into effect. We are getting queries from Police Officers who are asking whether they should continue to apply for CRTP if they become eligible, or if they are going to get an increment rise in the next few months. Our advice is that until any recommendations become regulation officers will continue to operate under current terms and conditions and will receive incremental rises and should continue to apply for CRTP if and when they become eligible.
Details of the Winsor review and comments on it can be found at
http://www.nypolfed.org.uk/police-and-federation-news/winsor-review/winsor-review/
In terms of the Hutton Report on pensions the report landed on Thursday and it is a detailed report covering the whole of the public sector. Certainly the broad recommendations are that people should work longer and pay more before accessing their pensions. However, the timescales for these changes to be implemented is suggested to be before the end of parliament i.e. 2015. It is recognised that the Police Service, Fire Service and Armed Service requires the longest transition period to any new scheme.
Also the report recommends that whatever has been paid into the point where the current scheme closes will be protected and will remain based on final salary. The report recommends that consultation now takes place within the separate schemes with the various representative bodies along the principles of the report. Therefore once again there is a long way to go before any of the recommendations are implemented and changes could take place along the way.
Please help us and yourself by signing the i-petition "Protect Police Pensions in Britain" by visitng:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/protect_police_pensions/
You can read the Hutton review at
http://www.nypolfed.org.uk/police-and-federation-news/police-news/hutton-review/
Please do not lose sight of the fact that there is also a Winsor part2 report due out in June and we await also the Neyroud report which went to the Home Office in December 2010 but for some reason has not as yet been released.
The advice from the Police Federation locally and nationally at this stage is not to make any rash decisions regarding pensions or pay. As these recommendations pass through the negotiating arena there may well be changes which will change the current position.
We will keep you fully informed of any developments, including how you can support our campaign to defend your terms and conditions on our website and we will also place key updates on our Facebook page and clearly individuals can make their individual choices based on fact not rumour, and based on the negotiated outcome, and not based on what is in effect a set of recommendations.
