- Conference
- 2024 Police, Probation and CAFCASS Conference
- Date
- 13 June 2024
- Decision
- Carried
Conference condemns the continuation of poverty pay in the Probation Service in England and Wales. Conference notes that on both 1 April 2023 and 1 April 2024, the lowest pay point of Probation Service pay band 2 has been overtaken by the national living wage.
On both occasions, the Probation Service took advantage of the increase in the national living wage to withhold the pay rise which staff on pay band 2 were due in October 2023 and 2024 thereby compounding the unfairness felt by our members at their pay situation. In so doing, the Probation Service unilaterally varied the terms of the current three year pay deal and invented new pay points in pay band 2 which were not the subject of collective agreement.
This is a damning indictment of the willingness of His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service to allow poverty pay to continue in the Probation Service.
Conference further notes that probation staff on pay band 2:
a)can now earn more money by working for supermarkets and call centres than they can for the Probation Service which is having a damaging impact on the ability of the Service to recruit and retain skilled and experienced staff.
b. are being asked on an increasingly frequent basis to undertake new duties, responsibilities and working patterns that are stretching the credibility of their current job descriptions
Conference therefore calls upon the Service Group Executive to work with the Probation Service Sector Committee to:
1)Redouble UNISON’s efforts to seek to secure a fair and equitable outcome to the current dispute over the impact of the national living wage on pay for staff on pay band 2
2. Seek to ensure that staff affected by the increase in the national living wage on pay band 2 get the same cost of living pay rise as all other Probation Service staff in October 2023 and October 2024