Trade Union Side Pay Bulletin 3: 2 October 2017
POLICE EMPLOYERS CAN’T MAKE PAY OFFER YET
The Police Staff Council Trade Union Side (UNITE, UNISON and GMB) was expecting the Employers to make us a pay offer for 2017 at a negotiating meeting held on 29 September. This follows the submission of our pay claim earlier in the summer for:
- A 5%, or £1,000, increase on PSC pay points, whichever is the greater, from 1 September 2017
- Removal of the two lowest pay points in the PSC pay spine
- A 5% increase in standby allowance
But the Employers said that they were not in a position to make an offer, because they were seeking extra funding from the Home Office to pay for the police officer pay award last month, and money to pay for our members’ award too. As trade unions, we found the employers inability to make us a pay offer totally unacceptable.
Members will be aware that police officers were awarded the following pay rise for 2017 by the Home Secretary in September:
- 1% consolidated increase in basic pay for all ranks
- An additional non-consolidated payment to the value of 1% of basic pay (using 2016/17 pay rates)
In actual fact, the Home Secretary interfered with the recommendation of the independent police officer pay review body, which had wanted to give officers a consolidated 2% pay award. The Police Federation has branded the Home Secretary’s actions as a ‘disgrace’, and the award as ‘an insult.’
Many police forces and PCCs have since made the point that, as the police officer pay award was not funded by the Home Office, paying it would just mean more police cuts. This issue has clearly affected the ability of the Employers to make us an offer at this stage and they emphasised the work that the NPCC and APCC were undertaking to get extra cash from the Home Office to pay for the police officer and our members’ pay awards this year.
The Trade Union Side makes the following points in response to the failure of the Employers to make us a pay offer:
- Police staff will be angry at the delay to their pay offer
- Any suggestion that police staff should be offered less than police officers this year would be totally unacceptable
- The 1% pay cap for police staff must be thrown out this year
- Our claim for police staff this year is for a 5% increase on all pay points to reflect the massive cut in the earning power of our members’ pay as a result of austerity under this government
- Police staff on low incomes have suffered disproportionately as a result of government pay austerity
- We want low pay dealt with as part of our pay claim this year.
Pay talks are due to resume on 24 October.