- Conference
- 2021 Police and Justice Conference
- Date
- 21 June 2021
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that Part 1 of the Police Staff Council (PSC) Pay and Reward Review was concluded in April 2017 with the introduction of the 2017 version of the PSC Handbook, following consultation and a ballot of members.
Conference further notes that Part 2 of the review was to look at police staff basic pay, job evaluation and pay and grading schemes and whether these arrangements remain fit for purpose.
Conference therefore notes with dismay that since 2017, Part 2 of the review has not resulted in any progress having been made in respect of its original terms of reference.
The trade union side of the PSC has tried without success to engage the employers’ side of the PSC in without prejudice talks on the current state of police staff pay and grading schemes. The employers’ side of the PSC confirmed to the trade unions in 2021 that their police force constituents are not willing, or able, to enter such talks.
Conference believes that this constitutes a breach of the original terms of reference for the PSC Pay and Reward Review, which committed both sides of the PSC to enter into without prejudice talks on the future of police staff basic pay. Research undertaken by the PSC trade union side has shown conclusively that police force pay and grading schemes for police staff have far more in common than forces would like to admit.
UNISON and the trade union side of the PSC remain committed to the creation of a single pay and grading scheme for all police staff in England and Wales based on the PSC 13 factor Job Evaluation (JE) scheme.
Conference therefore calls on the Service Group Executive (SGE) to work with the PSC (England & Wales) Sector Committee where appropriate, to:
1)Seek to re-engage the employers’ side in without prejudice talks on the future of police staff basic pay;
2)Continue to work towards a single pay and grading scheme, based on the PSC 13 factor JE scheme, for all police staff in England and Wales;
3)Engage separately with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), Association of Police Crime Commissioners (APCC) and the Home Office over UNISON’s support for a single pay and grading scheme for police staff in England and Wales;
4)Work with branches in the context of local pay and grading reviews to promote the PSC 13 factor JE scheme, or, where forces are using other schemes, to seek to ensure that the factor plans of those JE schemes are congruent with the demand factors and working conditions factor in the PSC 13 factor JE scheme;
5)Remind branches that any proposed changes to force pay and grading schemes or job evaluation must be referred, via regional organisers, to the Service Group for technical and legal scrutiny prior to any proposals being put to members at ballot.