POLICE STAFF PAY DEAL AGREED

The eight Scottish police forces and the Scottish Police Services Authority have reached agreement with the unions representing their 8000 staff on a new pay deal. The deal is worth 2.45% and will run for one year from 1 September 2007.

The unions will now recommend the settlement to their members for acceptance. Speaking this morning (Friday), Joe Di Paola, Employers Secretary, said: "It's a good deal for both Sides. We have reached this agreement without any delay and it is both fair and affordable."

Anne Russell of UNISON, the union that represents police staff, said: "We recognise that this offer is the best that can be achieved by negotiation, and is broadly in line with other public sector pay rises this year. We are pleased that for the first time negotiations have concluded before the due date for payment. Therefore we are prepared to recommend it to our members, so that it can be put into their pay-packets as soon as possible."

POLICE STAFF COUNCIL (Scotland)
2007 PAY CLAIM

(Trade Union Side)

1. INTRODUCTION

Police Staff in Scotland continue to play a crucial role in the operations of the Police Forces, due to the increasing demands put on police officers. The transfer of responsibilities from police officers to police staff has continued at an accelerated pace since 2003 and several reviews undertaken, such as the review of Common Police Services, have increased the role of Police Staff even further.

In addition, the various reorganisations arising from the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 have now come into being. These include the formation of the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) and the establishment of an Independent Police Complaints Commissioner. The SPSA now incorporates other bodies, such as the Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency, etc.

The role of Police Staff has altered considerably over the years, and their profile nowadays bears little resemblance to the local government officers performing mainly clerical and administrative tasks of less than 10 years ago. Police staff now act in custody and care of prisoner roles; they are involved in several branches of forensics, including psychological, biometric and technological; they provide technological services for intelligence gathering, and in searches tracking down assets for seizure under the Proceeds of Crime Act; are a strategic component of the Scottish Police Information Strategy, including the upgraded Criminal History system, Firearms Licensing and Registration, Automatic Number Plate Recognition; they have an increased role in communications with the introduction of Airwave and proposals for a Single Non-Emergency Telephone Number, introduction of the new Disclosure Scotland service; and also carry out work in the community as community wardens.

Forensic science, carried out by Police staff, has been well to the fore in recent successful arrests and prosecutions in high profile murder cases.

In addition, the threats posed to Scottish citizens by terrorists, has been brought into sharp focus by the recent attacks on Glasgow Airport as well as the incidents in London. Again, much of the forensic investigation following these attacks was carried out by Police Staff, who are playing an increasing role in terrorism cases. The Scottish Police Forces continue to play their full part in the UK counter terrorism arrangements and support a regional intelligence cell in the UK Structure.

In reality, police forces and police staff perform a wide range of diverse activities which link to the main policing functions as legislative and technological advances in both crimes and policing methods, e.g. use of mobile phones, use of speed cameras and security devices lead to greater effectiveness in carrying out police functions. The increasing use of CCTV has also impacted on the work of police staff

All of the above functions which have now been introduced across Scotland are leading to a period of unprecedented change in the roles and workload of police staff. The extent of these changes means the role of police staff is becoming ever more crucial and their importance must be recognised when evaluating their pay and conditions.

3. BACKGROUND TO THE CLAIM

The next Scottish Police Staff Pay date is September 1 2007, following the two year deal of 3.4% for 2005 and 2.25% for 2006. There was an offer of an additional 0.25%, subject to agreement on certain issues being reached, but this did not happen. Since 1996, (prior to 1996 pay was negotiated under the local government agreement) the Scottish Police Staff's annual pay award has continued to fall behind that of Police staffs in England and Wales. We believe this situation cannot continue as the Police Forces in Scotland are paying less for the same skills and responsibilities. The increasing value of Scottish Police Staff within the Police Forces must be compensated fairly for the important work they perform.

The 2007 Pay Claim:

A one-year deal of a 5% overall increase in pay and all allowances, paid as either a flat rate or straight percentage increase, whichever was the highest. This will attempt to address low pay across the workforce.

This pay claim aims to reward Police Staff for the work they do.

4. BACKGROUND TO THE ENGLAND AND WALES POLICE STAFF 2007 PAY CLAIM:

The claim for police staff in England and Wales has to be read alongside the Trade Unions' submission to the PSC Pay and Reward Review as some items which might traditionally have found their way into the pay claim have already been incorporated into their submission to the Pay and Reward Review.

Unfortunately, discussions on the Review have been stalled for some considerable time and the Trade Unions in England and Wales have urged their Employers to re-engage in the Review as a matter of urgency.

Their pay claim this year is, therefore, simple, straightforward and realistically pitched, leaving the broader pay and conditions policy issues to the more comprehensive Pay and Reward Review submission.

Their claim is, therefore, a straightforward increase of 5% on all PSC pay points and an increase of 5% in standby allowance

5. THE SCOTTISH POLICE PAY SETTLEMENT 2007

At the time of drawing up this claim the Scottish police forces have been offered a pay award of 2.35% for 2007, following the removal of the index-linking which, since 1979 had ensured that police officers' pay did not fall behind that of other groups of workers.

6. ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

6.1 Length of Claim

As opposed to recent years, the current norm for public sector workers is for one-year deals and our claim is in line with those.

6.2 Local government

The latest Scottish Local Government settlement was for 2.5% on all spinal column points, on all scales, with effect from 1 April, 2006 and 2.5% on all spinal column points, on all scales, with effect from 1 April, 2007, the settlement to run till 31 March 2008.

In addition to the settlement, there have been protracted negotiations for the Equal Pay element of the Single Status Agreement which have been taking place in councils across Scotland.

6.3 Low Pay

Many Police Staff are still low paid, meaning they earn less than the Council of Europe's Decency Threshold and the Low Pay Unit's Low Pay Threshold. UNISON continues to campaign for a minimum wage figure of half of male median earnings, and a minimum wage of £6.75 per hour with no lower youth rate. Half male median earnings are currently £6.07 an hour, £227.50 a week, or £11,863 a year.

The demand for a flat rate element or a percentage increase, whichever is the greater would go some way to rectifying this.

6.4 The Average Earnings Index and Earnings Forecast

Over the three months to 31st March 2007, the annual increase in whole economy average earnings (excluding bonuses) was 3.7%.In the 12 months to the end of March pay growth (excluding bonuses) in the private sector was 3.8%, compared with 3.0% for the public sector. Looking at the other main industries, earnings increases were generally uniform across the sectors. The more volatile earnings measure which includes bonus payments remained high in March, with a three month average rise of 4.5%, down 0.1% from the previous month.

The Pay and Benefits Bulletin average of earnings forecasts shows that growth in average earnings will rise to 4.4% in the third quarter of 2007 and then tail off to 4.3% in the fourth quarter. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research commented: "We expect some of the recent increases in inflation to feed through into average earnings growth. There is a risk that RPI growth will feed through more strongly than we have currently anticipated, but measures of underlying pay pressures have yet to show signs of a pick-up in response to the recent rise in inflation rates.

As the Police Staff have been earning consistently lower than other groups for the last nine years, this figure would be not be acceptable to our membership. The 5% claim for the Scottish Police Staff must be seen in relation to this loss and is fully justified considering their earnings have fallen relative to other comparable staff in the public and private sectors. A significant increase is needed to catch up and compensate for the rapid changes in workload being experienced.

Source: ONS

Average Earnings Index is seasonally adjusted and excludes bonuses

5. Inflation

IRS Pay Intelligence reported in May 2007 that headline RPI inflation is forecast to average 3.7% in the third quarter of 2007, down 0.5 percentage points on the second quarter. It will continue to fall over the remainder of the year, averaging 3.5% over the fourth quarter.

The average for 2007 as a whole is forecast to run at 4.0%. IRS comments that the anticipated drop in headline inflation is seen as primarily driven by the departure of the late 2006 spike in energy prices from inflation data.

7. RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION FACTORS

These economic trends strengthen the Police Staff's Pay Claim. In order to recruit and retain quality staff, it is necessary to bring earnings up to a decent living standard. Additionally in Scotland, clerical staff continue to be more difficult to recruit due to call centre growth throughout Scotland. Fingerprint, forensic experts and IT personnel are also extremely rare and difficult to recruit.

As at 31 March 2006 there were 7,901 police staff employed in the Scottish Police Service, continuing the increases over previous years. Police officers have also shown slight growth over this period. Establishment projections indicate that additional recruitment surges will be necessary and that these will be required to ensure that capacity can continue to match demand. This will be a challenge for the police service in Scotland for some time to come.

8. EQUAL PAY

By April 2007 all public bodies across Scotland including the police have to have satisfactory frameworks in place for implementing new public sector duties aimed at the elimination of discrimination by gender. The new duty will require public bodies to have due regard to eliminate unlawful discrimination and promote equality of opportunity between men and women. There are also similar duties for eliminating discrimination on disability and race grounds.

At the same time the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 came into force on 1 October 2006. These apply to employment and vocational training and prohibit unjustified direct and indirect age discrimination, and all harassment and victimisation on grounds of age.

9. CONCLUSION

This year's Scottish Police Staff pay award must bolster and support members in their new roles. A high quality, professional workforce demands a high quality terms and conditions package.

The Scottish Police Staff's yearly pay award has fallen behind our Police Staff colleagues' pay awards in England and Wales who all perform the very same duties, which is totally unacceptable.

In relation to other workers, Scottish Police Staff have been experiencing a relative decline in their living standard. The number of Police Staff in Scotland is increasing in numbers and importance, as the demands on Police Officers are increasing, and numerous reforms continue to cascade additional duties on to our members.

Recruitment and retention of quality staff is now more crucial than ever, as expert staff such as forensic experts and IT personnel are increasingly difficult to recruit. This must now be reflected in the Scottish Police Staff's earnings.

It is important to ensure that there is an Equal Pay policy for all Police staff according to the Scottish Executives' Social Justice and Inclusion programme and the Equal Opportunities Commission's Code of Practice.

This year's claim of 5% would ensure that the gap that has existed over a number of years between the Scottish Police Staff and the Police Staff in England and Wales would not increase.

• The percentage element of the claim is well supported by economic data outlined earlier.

• Low pay remains an issue for Scottish Police Staff and the opportunity for a flat rate element or a percentage element, whichever was the greater, would attempt to rectify this.

• The government's commitment to tackling crime has provided the Police Forces with adequate funds to meet this claim.

• The Staff Side believes that this is a fair and achievable deal and it is submitted in these terms.

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