23 November 2011
The PAT Hearing concluded yesterday and their decision is now awaited. No timescale has been given for the decision. We will update you with any further developments.
9th May 2011
A letter has been sent to the PFEW Chairman from Tom Winsor regarding the timetable for Part 2 of his review.It indicates that the Consultation Document will be out shortly, that the consultation period will run until August 2011 and that the final report will be published in January 2012.
Tom Winsor states "I should not wish Part 2 to distract from this important work. It is the opinion of a considerable proportion of the people who are interested in Part 2 that the scope of issues to be considered are too complex and potentially critical for the future of the police service for it to be rushed in the short time between the publication of Part 1 and the end of June 2011. As I know you appreciate Part 1 was necessarily constrained by the need to recommend changes which, if accepted, could be brought into effect in time for the beginning of the new pay year in September 2011. That timetable meant that it was necessary for the review to defer to Part 2 some of the more complex and difficult subjects in the terms of reference.
For these reasons I asked the Home Secretary for an extension of Part 2 to 31 January 2012. She has agreed to this. This additional time enables the review to include three months for consultation, to enable you and your colleagues to provide fully developed, considered and detailed submissions." He went on to say "I envisage that Part 2 will consider and address some of the fundamental issues that have been facing policing for some time, including:
- the basic pay of police officers, including the quantification of the 'x-factor'
- whether invididual contribution or performance should affect pay
- whether skills or roles should affect pay
- polie officer entry routes, including considering direct-and multi-entry routes
- the length of the officer career, including a consideration of the idea of short-medium-and long-term commissions
- the negotiating mechanisms themselves; and
- the phased introduction of some or all of the recommended reforms."
3rd May 2011
A Federation newsletter is now available giving an update on both the Winsor and Hutton reports, also detailing what activity is taking place. The newsletter is available from your local Federation Representative or by following the link :
14th April 2011
On 7 April, at the first meeting of the PNB Pay & Conditions Working Group, the Official Side presented Staff Side with a letter in respect of the Winsor Recommendations.
This statement will be available on the PFEW website www.polfed.org and we will keep you updated on the progress of the negotiations. I thank you for your continued support.
4th April 2011
Responding to the Written Ministerial Statement released today by the Home Secretary, Theresa May, stating all proposals put forward by Tom Winsor will go to the Police Negotiating Board (PNB) and Police Advisory Board (PAB) as a matter of urgency, Paul McKeever, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales says;
“Whilst these are merely proposals at this stage we remain extremely disappointed that Tom Winsor's report fails to demonstrate any evidence based methodology or reasoning. Even more disappointing is that the Home Secretary is choosing to put forward a flawed report of personal views, not evidence, to the Police Negotiating Board.
"We expect the Police Negotiating Board will give each proposal the in-depth analysis and consideration it deserves before any decision on any of the proposals is made. To make any changes to police terms and conditions, the unique working arrangements and special relationship the police have in society must at all times be borne in mind.
“Whilst police officers understand that these are just proposals at this stage, they are putting their last ounce of faith in this government to honour the processes and procedures in place to protect their unique working status. It is therefore incumbent on the Home Secretary that she honours the decisions of the negotiating machinery.
“Many of the proposals put forward in the Winsor Report cause grave concern and consternation amongst the rank and file, particularly as some officers would suffer a pay cut of up to £4000. It is clear that police officers will be the biggest victims of the financial cuts in the public sector as this would be in addition to a two year pay freeze and possible increased pension costs. The 20% budget cuts imposed by this government will not only see a reduction in the numbers of officers fighting crime but will also impact on the unique working arrangements of police officers which reflect the dangerous and often thankless job they do.”
21st March 2011
On Friday 18th March 2011, we became aware of the circulation of an e-mail communication from Tom Winsor to Chief Constables requesting their urgent assistance and co-operation in ensuring that their police officers and staff are properly informed about the likely effects of the implementation of his review of pay and conditions. He asked them to circulate a letter and a ready reckoner that is also available on his review website, which he states officers and staff can use to dispel misleading information about the effects that his proposals will have on police pay. This resulted in my communication below, from which it is clearly evident that Tom Winsor is being selective as to the information he wants officers to focus on and is a blatant attempt to generate support for his proposals by creating uncertainty and division between officers. This is particularly disappointing considering that the Home Secretary has yet to inform the Police Negotiating Board as to which of his proposals she considers should be the subject of negotiation. The adoption of this strategy by Tom Winsor clearly shows that his review, which proposes to remove almost £500M from police pay, can now be seen for exactly what it is, a cynical attack to reduce police pay and conditions.
It is important that you are aware of the full facts and not fooled by this misleading information provided by Winsor. I have therefore asked your local Federation to bring this information to the attention of your Chief Constable, requesting that they give my communication equal prominence with that of the Winsor Pay Calculator in any of their communications, including the force website. I would hope that as good employers and leaders of the service, Chief Constables would want to ensure that their officers are aware of the full facts. I await confirmation of their support and will keep you informed of their co-operation, however it would be inappropriate not to congratulate Simon Ash, the Chief Constable of Suffolk, who I understand is the first to refuse. We can only hope that this is not an indication of his support for the Winsor proposals, particularly as he represents ACPO on the Official Side of PNB, although one would hope that he would represent the views all the Chief Constables not just his own.
To ensure that you are fully informed, I also include below my earlier communication of 11th March that includes previously circulated information identifying the detrimental impact the Winsor proposals will have on officers’ pay and conditions.
We are grateful for your continued support during this difficult time for policing.
18th March 2011
Dear Colleagues
I would like to draw your attention to the following website which shows the effect on an officer’s income of the Winsor recommendations: http://review.police.uk/publications/review-recommendations.
After inputting the required information, many members will find that their pay falls as a result of these changes. Even for those whose pay appears to rise, it is important to remember that these calculations only show changes to income in cash terms. Inflation is currently running at 5% and is forecast to be close to this level for at least the next 12 months, so the value of basic pay will fall as a result of the two-year pay freeze which the Government wishes to impose upon us. These calculations also take no account of the fact that under the Winsor recommendations officers will not move up their pay increments. This means that if an officer is not at the top of his or her pay scale, their pay will actually be lower than it would otherwise have been, despite any increases that result from Mr Winsor’s recommendations. I should also point out, for your information, that while Mr Winsor factors in pension contribution increases, these have yet to be discussed by the Police Negotiating Board, and we have been assured that discussions will take place there before any increases are implemented. In common with all other employees, though, from April 2011 there will be several changes to the income tax and national insurance regimes. In particular:
- The income tax personal allowance will rise to £7,475, but the salary level at which employees begin to pay the higher rate of income tax (40%) will fall from £37,400 per annum to £35,000 per annum.
- Employee national insurance contribution (NIC) rates will rise from 11% to 12% for those who earn between £139 a week and up to £817 a week and from 1% to 2% for those who earn anything over £817 per week.
The effect of this is that employees with total earnings of more than £35,000 a year will find themselves paying more in income tax and national insurance contributions. I hope that you find this information helpful to understand the true impact of the Winsor recommendations on you take home pay. The PFEW will engage fully on negotiations over these recommendations, but we have no intention of agreeing to any changes which would see a fall in our members’ pay and conditions of service. As I have tried to do throughout this process, I will continue to keep you updated on developments.
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