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What's the difference Scotland/England and Wales ?
As you should know, the Police Negotiating Board (PNB) is a ‘cross border public body'. What this means is that pay and conditions are negotiated at the PNB for all police officers in Scotland , England and Wales , and Northern Ireland . Unless it's for a specific condition relating to only one country, PNB Agreements cover the whole of the UK . Every PNB Agreement whether negotiated or resulting from an award of Arbitration (as in this case of pay for 2007) has to go to the respective Government Minister for ratification. They can collectively or individually choose to ratify agreements or impose some alternative.
After the negotiations on pay for 2007 failed to reach an agreement, an arbitration hearing at ACAS was held on 2 November. After that, each of the Federations in the UK wrote to their respective Government Minister and asked that they ratify the award whenever it was published. When the award of Arbitration, 2.5% effective from 1 September 2007 was published on 29 November, the Scottish Government ratified it in full. In England , the Home Secretary decided it should be paid from 1 st December 2007. This had the effect of reducing the value of the award from 2.5% to 1.9%. The pay scales will remain identical but in money terms, a 10 year service constable in Scotland will paid £233 more than an English 10 year constable over the period 1 September 2007 to 1 September 2008.
So should Scotland be happy about this?
We are obviously pleased that Kenny MacAskill, our Cabinet Secretary for Justice, ratified the award and he has our respect for that.
But 2.5% is not, in our view, a fair pay rise. We are extremely disappointed at the pay award. We are very angry that the PNB process has been treated despicably by Gordon Brown and his colleagues. And we share with our colleagues the disgust felt that the pay award was not implemented in full for England and Wales or Northern Ireland .
The Home Secretary in England and Wales also announced last week that the UK Labour Government would do away with the PNB and introduce a pay review body for police officers. A pay review body as envisaged by Government would give them even more control over police pay and conditions negotiations and that is completely unacceptable to us.
The Home Secretary's determination on pay for England and Wales and that decision on the future of the negotiating machinery could not be any clearer. The position we are now in can be succinctly described like this,
THIS UK LABOUR GOVERNMENT HAS DESTROYED OUR PAY INDEXATION, SEEKS TO DESTROY OUR NEGOTIATING MECHANISM, AND HAS DESTROYED ANY FAITH WE EVER HAD IN THEM TO TREAT US FAIRLY.
With the exception of the UK Labour Government, everyone agrees that the police pay negotiating system must be fair, that pay must be fair, and that both be seen to be fair by police officers.
So what happens now?
On Wednesday 12 December 2007, Federation representatives from across the UK will meet to decide on the way forward. I will keep you advised.
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