Source: https://glospolfed.org.uk/news/federation/4527/police-arbitration-tribunal-award/
Timestamp: 2019-08-22 07:05:41
Document Index: 241606659

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'art 2', 'art 1', 'art 2', 'art 1', 'art 2', 'art 2']

Police Arbitration Tribunal AWARD - Gloucestershire Police Federation
You are here: Home / News / News / Federation / Police Arbitration Tribunal AWARD
The Tribunal’s recommendations are set out below. The first list simply states if the recommendation has been accepted or not. Below this I have then listed each recommendation (in blue) with an edited summary of the tribunal’s findings (in black) for each one.
The Home Secretary will now consider the findings and decide whether to ratify the recommendations. The Tribunal have advised that, once ratified, these changes should be brought in as soon as possible but envisages 1st April 2012 as the date by which such processes will have been completed.
Recommendation 2 – Unsocial hours allowance
Recommendation 5 – VSAs
Recommendation 6 – Casual overtime
Recommendation 7 – Rostered overtime
Recommendation 8 – Public holidays
Recommendation 11 – Mutual Aid
MODIFIED. Both sentences of Recommendation 11 are accepted as worded. In addition, officers on mutual aid who are unable to return home are to receive a new ‘Away from Home Overnight Allowance’ of £50 per night.
Recommendation 12 – ‘Proper accommodation’
Recommendation 13 – Held in reserve
MODIFIED. Officers held in reserve who are unable to return home are to receive the new ‘Away from Home Overnight Allowance’ of £50 per night.
Recommendation 20 – Suspension of incremental progression
Recommendation 25 – Chief officer bonus scheme
Recommendation 27 – Superintendents bonus scheme
Recommendation 29 – CRTPs
MODIFIED. CRTP’s to remain in place for those who already receive them, but there should be a two-year freeze on new applications.
Recommendation 33 – SPPs
Recommendation 34 – EPAA
Recommendation 43 – Replacement allowance for housing
Recommendation 44 – On-call allowance
Recommendation 45 – Review of on-call allowance
Recommendation 59 – Return to full-time working
In the Tribunal’s view, there is merit in the idea of recognising and rewarding officers who actually work these hours and it is consistent with the Official Side’s desire to reward officers according to contribution.
Recommendation 5 – Determination Annex E, made under Regulation 22 of the Police Regulations 2003, should be amended to require the chief officer to consult, rather than agree, with the local joint branch board and individual officers in connection with the bringing into operation of a variable shift arrangement. That consultation should take place over a period of at least 30 days. Before making his decision, the chief officer should be required to consult the affected officers and take full account of their individual circumstances, including the likely effects of the new arrangement on their personal circumstances. New shift arrangements should not be brought into effect earlier than 30 days after the communication of the decision of the chief officer.
The Tribunal feels that senior managers must, after undertaking extensive consultation, be allowed to make operational decisions on this matter.
Recommendation 6 – Determination Annex G, made under Regulation 25 of the Police Regulations 2003, should be amended to replace time and a third premium pay for casual overtime with plain time. The minimum hours for being recalled between duty should be abolished and instead paid at plain time for the hours worked, with travelling time.
Having considered the evidence before us (including our understanding that officers will continue to be required to work the ‘Queen’s half-hour’ without payment), we are not persuaded that, with the burden of overtime working likely to increase in the light of reduced officer numbers, it would be appropriate to reduce the rate payable for hours worked (and travelling time if recalled between two rostered tours of duty) from the current rate of time and one-third to plain time. We do however accept that the minimum hours payment for being recalled between tours of duty should be abolished, as stated in recommendation 6, on the basis that payment for overtime is made for the actual hours worked.
Recommendation 7 – Determination Annex H, made under Regulation 26 of the Police Regulations 2003, should be amended to remove double time premium pay and the notice period of five days for working on a rostered rest day. Time and a half premium pay should be payable for working on a rostered rest day with fewer than 15 days’ notice.
We note that overtime constitutes a relatively small proportion of the total paybill, perhaps as low as 5%. However, given the importance both Sides attach to work-life balance issues and the abolition of the additional premium for cancellations with 5 days notice or less the Tribunal feels that practice should be monitored to ensure that the proportion of very short notice changes does not increase unduly.
Recommendation 8 – Determination Annex H, made under Regulation 26 of the Police Regulations 2003, should be amended to allow the payment of overtime at double time for 25 December and seven other days chosen for the next financial year by the officer before 31 January. Cancellation with fewer than 15 days’ notice should require the authority of an Assistant Chief Constable.
The Tribunal is of the view that this proposal is another indication of modernity, reflecting the changed nature and composition of the society served by the police. The retention of the protection for Christmas Day for all officers is a welcome acknowledgement of the special status still associated with this particular public holiday.
Recommendation 11 – Police officers on mutual aid service should be paid for the hours they are required to work each day, plus travelling time to and from the place of duty. Where those hours coincide with the unsocial hours period, or the duty has been required at short notice and they are eligible for the new overtime rates, the officer should be paid at the applicable premium rates.
The Tribunal accepts the Winsor Report Part 1’s proposal that officers on mutual aid or held in reserve should be paid for the actual hours worked, but it also recognises that disruption is caused to officers’ lives, especially their family lives, and the fact that officers are/can be directed to be on mutual aid or held in reserve. In the Tribunal’s view, there should be an element of additional compensation for officers who are held in reserve and unable to return home (whether this is in their own force or on mutual aid operations). Therefore, the Tribunal has calculated, by approximate reference to the hourly rate for constables (at the 8th point on their scale), that an amount of £50 should be paid as an ‘Away From Home Overnight Allowance’. The Tribunal accepts the second provision in recommendation 11 relating to unsocial hours, short notice and eligibility for the applicable overtime rates.
Recommendation 12 – The definition of ‘proper accommodation’ should be revised to describe a single occupancy room with use of en suite bathroom facilities. Where such accommodation is not provided, the officer should receive a payment of £30 per night. The current definition of ‘higher standard accommodation’ should be removed and not replaced.
The level of payment specified in the absence of proper accommodation, £30, should in the Tribunal’s view, be reviewed from time to time in the context of inflationary pressures. Further, the possibility exists that forces will simply pay the flat £30 allowance instead of providing officers with the level of accommodation specified in recommendation 12. Consequently, the outcome of this recommendation should be checked periodically.
Recommendation 13 – Officers held in reserve on a day and who have not been paid for any mutual aid tour of duty that day, should receive the on-call allowance of £15 for that day.
The Tribunal’s view is that the proposed level of recompense is rather low given (a) the generally high level of skills required to be possessed by officers who are on-call; (b) the proposed 12 on-call sessions qualifying period; (c) the fact that an amount of £23 per session has been applied in Scotland. The Tribunal agrees with the Staff Side that this is a matter which would be better left for Winsor Part 2 in the context of role-related pay. Therefore the Tribunal makes no award in respect of these two recommendations.
Recommendation 20 – Police officers below the top of their pay scale should be suspended at that increment for a two-year period commencing September 2011.
The Tribunal notes that the Official Side agreed to exclude new officers at the base point from the suspension on progression in order to reduce the impact on them and recognise skill acquisition. However, in the Tribunal’s view further amelioration of the most severe effects of the two-year suspension of pay progression is required for the shorter service constables as they gain experience. Therefore, the Tribunal awards that the first three steps on the constables’ pay scale are to be excluded from the two-year suspension of incremental pay progression. All other points on the scales are to be frozen in line with recommendation 20 in the Winsor Report Part 1. The date of implementation is to be 1 April 2012 or earlier if administratively possible.
Recommendation 29 – Competence Related Threshold Payments should be abolished from 31 August 2011 and all outstanding CRTP payments up to that date should be paid on a pro-rated basis.
The Tribunal feels that it would be unfair to take CRTPs away from those officers who had earned them. It also considers that CRTPs are an element of the current pay structure and is conscious that longer term pay structural issues are to be addressed in the Winsor Report Part 2. Accordingly, the Tribunal considers that this recommendation should be modified so that CRTPs for those who already receive them should remain in place but that there should be a two year freeze on all new applications.
Recommendation 33 – Special Priority Payments should be abolished from 31 August 2011 and all outstanding SPPs up to that date should be paid on a pro-rated basis.
The Tribunal accepts the recommendation in the Winsor Report Part 1 that they be abolished. Entitlements should cease from an early date with any outstanding payments being pro rata’d to that date.
Recommendation 34 – An interim Expertise and Professional Accreditation Allowance of £1,200 per annum should be introduced from September 2011 for officers meeting the skills or length of service criteria in the four stated priority functions. It should be paid monthly and pro-rated where an officer works part-time. It should be removed when an officer leaves the qualifying role.
The proposed EPAA was intended to be an interim measure. In the Tribunal’s view, it would be better for the EPAA to be deferred until the Sides are able to give proper consideration to the contents of Part 2. However, the proximity of the Winsor Review Part 2 is not the sole reason why the Tribunal feels unable to accept recommendation 34. In the Tribunal’s view, the question of additional reward for expertise or time served in specific roles and/or application of accredited skills or qualifications in specific roles is inextricably related to issues to do with the design of a new pay structure, including how the value or relative weight of jobs will be determined.
Recommendation 43 – The replacement allowance for housing should remain. However, the amount an officer receives should not increase from 31 August 2011 with changes in personal circumstances, such as promotion. The existing framework, by which the amount an officer receives reduces when he lives with another officer also receiving the allowance, should remain.
On balance, the Tribunal agrees with the Official Side’s position and accepts the recommendation.
Recommendation 44 – A national on-call allowance for the Federated ranks should be introduced from September 2011. The amount of the allowance should be £15 for each occasion of on-call after the officer in question has undertaken 12 on-call sessions in the year beginning on 1 September. An on-call occasion should be defined as the requirement to be on-call within any 24-hour period related to the start-of-the-police-day.
Recommendation 45 – The national on-call allowance should be reviewed by the Police Negotiating Board three years after its introduction in the context of better management data.
Recommendations 44 and 45 – On-call allowance
Recommendation 59 – Regulation 5(4) of the Police Regulations 2003 should be amended so that an officer giving written notice to return from part-time to full-time working, must be appointed by the Police Authority within two months if the force has a suitable vacancy, and within four months of the notice being received.
The Tribunal notes the Staff Side’s observations that little evidence was produced by the Official Side suggesting that the current arrangements were not operating effectively and that the majority of those likely to be affected by this proposal would be female officers. Overall, the Tribunal does not see the recommendation as being particularly onerous. Therefore the Tribunal accepts this recommendation but would expect the relevant Police Authority to find the most suitable post for a returning officer as quickly as practicable within the extended timescale.
Further details can be found on the National Federation website.
Gloucestershire Police Federation.
January 12, 2012 /0 Comments/by admin-gpf
https://glospolfed.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/general-th.jpg 90 120 admin-gpf https://glospolfed.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo-left.png admin-gpf2012-01-12 12:45:412012-01-12 12:45:41Police Arbitration Tribunal AWARD
Branch email Circulation Employment Opportunity Drivers Mid Term Financial Strategy Precept