The Police Negotiating Board met on 24 July 2012 to discuss a number of the recommendations from Part 2 of the Winsor Review of Remunerations and Conditions for Police Officers and Police Staff. This meeting was the culmination of a number of working groups that had been held between April and July in order to reach some agreement in relation to the recommendations and is the date by which the Home Secretary stated that she required a PNB decision on a number of the recommendations. Other recommendations were deferred until 2013 and some were remitted to the Police Professional Body (now the College of Policing).

Superintending Ranks

The outcomes of the recommendations relating to superintending ranks that were specified for agreement by 24 July 2012 are as follows:

Recommendation 86 – Agreed
Pay progression for officers in the superintending and ACC ranks should be subject to at least a satisfactory box marking in the annual appraisal. Those officers whose contribution is marked as satisfactory or above should advance by one pay increment; those who receive an ‘unsatisfactory contribution’ box marking should remain on the same pay point for a further year.

Recommendation 87 – Agreed
Double increment pay progression should be abolished in April 2013.

Recommendation 88 – Agreed
Individual bonus schemes for officers in the superintending, ACC and DCC ranks should be abolished in April 2013.

The Home Secretary deferred a number of recommendations relating to superintending ranks until July 2013, but at the request of the Superintendents’ Committee some of these were brought forward for discussion at the same time as the above recommendations because of the close links between the two sets of recommendations.  These recommendations and their outcomes from PNB were:

Recommendation 59 – Not Agreed
The national spend on bonuses and double increments for superintendents should be reinvested into a revised three-point pay scale for superintendents, with a starting salary of £60,094 and a maximum of £72,585 from April 2014.

This recommendation is not acceptable to the Superintendents’ Committee (Staff Side) as it will result in a lower starting salary than the current starting salary for superintendents.  It has proposed that there should be a 4 point pay scale with the first point the same as currently i.e. £62,298 pa.  The Official Side have accepted the arguments and further discussion will now take place over this recommendation in the coming months prior to (hopefully) agreement in 2013.

Recommendation 60 – Agreed
The post-related allowance for chief superintendents should be abolished. The cost of the post-related allowance, bonus payments and double-increments, should be reinvested into a revised basic pay scale for chief superintendents with a starting salary of £77,215 and a maximum of £81,457 from April 2014.

Further discussion will take place on the below recommendations during 2012/2013.

Recommendation 97
A Specialist Skills Threshold should be introduced at the final pay point of all police officer pay scales up to and including chief superintendent, by 2016 at the latest. It should consist of a rigorous test of the specialist knowledge and skills required in each role and rank. The Police Professional Body should be remitted to devise the test.

Recommendation 98
Officers who pass the Specialist Skills Threshold test should move up to the pay maximum for their rank, and receive an accredited qualification. The test should be re-taken every three years. Failure to pass the re-test should result in the officer reverting to the highest non-threshold pay point.

Recommendation 99
The Specialist Skills Threshold should apply only to those roles that require the warranted powers or expertise of a police officer. A suggested list for the Federated ranks is provided in Table 9.6. The Police Professional Body should be remitted to determine which roles are eligible for the Specialist Skills Threshold. When established, the prescribed skill areas should be determined by the police pay review body with the advice of the Police Professional Body, which should accredit them and set the standards to be attained.

All Ranks

The below recommendations relate to the introduction of a compulsory severance scheme.  A failure to agree was registered at PNB in respect of these recommendations.

Recommendation 46
The Police Regulations 2003 should be amended to create a system of compulsory severance for police officers with less than full pensionable service from April 2013.

Recommendation 47
The Police Regulations 2003 should be amended to provide for the payment of financial compensation to police officers with less than full pensionable service who leave the police service by reason of compulsory severance. Forces should be empowered to offer financial compensation on the same terms as are available under the Civil Service Compensation Scheme 2010.

Recommendation 48
Officers who have been subject to compulsory severance should have access to employment tribunals if they wish to allege that their severance has been unfair.

A failure to agree was registered at PNB in respect of the below recommendation.

Recommendation 74
Chief Constables should be given discretion to pay regional allowances up to the current maximum level, as set out in Determination Annex U made under Regulation 34 of the Police Regulations 2003, and the discretion to apply eligibility criteria based on location and performance.

Federated Ranks Only

In addition to the recommendations discussed above there were several other recommendations which relate solely to the Federated ranks that were discussed at PNB.  A failure to agree was registered in respect of a number of these (e.g. proposed revised salary scales for constables and reduced starting salary for constables plus abolition of CRTP).  Full details of these, together with a Police Federation Staff Side Press Release can be found here.

What Happens Next?

In respect of those recommendations where a “failure to agree” has been registered the normal procedure would be for an attempt to be made on conciliation using ACAS as mediators.  However the Independent Chair of PNB has decided, following representation from the Staff Side including the PSAEW that the prospects of conciliation achieving any settlement are so remote that all of the failures to agree will instead be immediately submitted to the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal (P.A.T.) for them to decide and make a recommendation to the Home Secretary.

The P.A.T. will, most likely, hear the case during the autumn and their decision should be known before Christmas.  Much hard work will be undertaken between now and then to prepare the Staff Side case to the PAT.