Emergency Service Collaboration – PCSO/Fire Fighters

Conference we are concerned about the proposals for PCSO’s (Police Community Support Officers) being encouraged to become retained firefighters. Discussions are taking place between the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) and one of our District Commanders. It is proposed the use of volunteer/retained firefighters be trialled with PCSO’s within the districts of Braintree […]

Bring all Outsourced Police Services back home

South Wales Police and Justice branch demands that conference take forward and Unison encourages all branches with a determined campaign to ensure that even in times of cuts and austerity that it is possible to bring all Police services and staff back in house. On July 1st this year 100 staff who were previously employed […]

Uniform Laundering Allowance

Police staff who are required to launder items of uniform are entitled to claim a tax allowance via Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). There is a marked disparity between police officers, Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) and other uniformed staff with regard to how much they can claim. There may be a logical explanation […]

Overnight Allowance

Currently police staff who are required to work and/or stay away from home overnight are not allowed to claim the £50 overnight allowance that their police officer colleagues can. This motion calls upon the Service Group Executive to undertake work with the Police Staff Council to seek to ensure that this provision is extended to […]

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and Scene Preservation

Every day somewhere up and down the country a crime will be committed that requires the scene to preserved for evidence. This could be for a matter of hours, days or weeks dependent on the crime. As police forces face massive cuts in finance police community support officers (PCSOs) are being utilised more and more […]

Protecting Equality in the Probation Service

Conference welcomes the campaigning work by our union against the potential privatisation of the probation service. Alongside concerns about the likely disastrous impact on service delivery are very real concerns about the impact on staff terms and conditions. The probation service, as a public body, was subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty and as […]

Jobs for the Boys 2014

The cuts to police force budgets have been devastating for the service, and many of our police staff colleagues have been made redundant because of them. A great many of those who have been made redundant are women. As the cuts continue, and forces are not able to reduce police officer numbers other than by […]

Stop probation privatisation

It is Chris Graylings ideological view that private companies can run the probation service better than it is currently being run and he somehow believes that inexperienced private companies and their untrained staff can reduce reoffending in a very short period of time. This proposal is not just due to austerity this is yet another […]

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Police Staff

A number of police staff are employed in roles or environments that are confrontational. Many believe that they need to be provided with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as a safety measure. Forces have been issued with guidance with regard to the provision or non provision of PPE for groups of workers that have resulted in […]

Probation on Probation

The changes to the probation service that took effect on 1 June 2014 are yet another example of the condem government dismantling and privatising public services. We believe the changes were not necessary, and that they will ultimately prove to have been a disastrous and costly move. They are quite likely to place the users […]

Bullying in the workplace

Conference due to overwhelming cuts in policing, police staff are facing increased pressure due to the reductions in the workforce. Police staff are being disproportionately effected and bearing the full brunt of this governments cuts agenda. This has lead to managers being under increasing pressure to deliver a service with an ever decreasing workforce. We […]

Recognising Problems with Regards to Hot-Desking

Police forces across the country in an attempt to save money due to this governments disproportionate budget cuts are looking to rationalise their estates. This has lead to many forces selling off buildings and moving into a centralised location. These new ways of working have seen more staff moving into open plan buildings with hot […]

Neighbourhood Policing – The Future?

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are the backbone of Neighbourhood Policing. Due to the abstraction of Neighbourhood Police Officers to support response teams and no longer carrying out any proactive work, this is placing the onus evermore on our overworked PCSO members. What is the future for Neighbourhood Policing? Since this coalition government came to […]

Career Progression in the CRC?

Conference, the Probation Service has now been split into 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) and one National Probation Service (NPS). However, the process that saw staff assigned to the CRCs and NPS was not an agreed process, nor was it fair, in many cases it was purely arbitrary with staff names being drawn out of […]

National Alignment of Terms and Conditions in Approved Premises

The Probation Service has just been split into 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) and one National Probation Service (NPS). All the Approved Premises (AP) in England and Cymru Wales have been assigned to the NPS and along with the 21 CRCs will be subject to a single table national collective bargaining agreement. The APs are […]