UNISON signs recognition deal with Police Service Authority
Scotland’s public service union, UNISON will today (Monday) sign a recognition agreement with the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA), and fellow trade union, Unite, which will confirm them as the unions recognised to represent police staff working for the Authority.
UNISON is the largest union representing police staff in Scotland and has around 550 members currently covered by this agreement across Scotland.
Kenny Laing - Chair of UNISON’s SPSA Sub-Group said:
“I am delighted that this agreement has been drawn up and signed. At a time when there is much work to be done in job evaluation, harmonising conditions and with various modernisation agendas, it is clearly very important that UNISON is able to represent and negotiate with the SPSA as effectively as possible. That is even more important as we face very difficult times for public sector finances.
“I look forward to continuing to work hard, alongside my other UNISON stewards, for the members in this new formal consultation process.”
UNISON has had good relations with this new employer and the agreed structure will enable issues to be addressed in an agreed procedure by both employer and union.
Jo Brigham, SPSA Interim Chief Executive said:
“The establishment of this agreement between SPSA, UNISON and Unite is a very positive step. Although we have been consulting informally with the unions, the agreement will allow us to move forward with a recognised and consistent process. This will strengthen SPSA’s working relationship with the unions and allow us to better understand and communicate with one another. We look forward to our first formal meeting in February.”
Peter Veldon, UNISON’s regional officer for Police staffs said
“It is important that UNISON’s key role within other Police staffs across Scotland, is now replicated in this new authority. There is much to be done in the next few months and membership of UNISON is essential to ensure that staff views are considered in all parts of SPSA and to ensure the best possible results for employees during the negotiations.”
ENDS
For Further Information Please Contact:
Kenny Laing (Chair of UNISON SPSA Sub-Group) 07748 304275 Peter Veldon (UNISON Regional Organiser) 07904 342285 Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 07715 583 729(m)
This link is to a letter which has been sent to all CSR members explaining how the Branch is taking fowward the grievance relating to non-payment of allowances .
ACR VSA Document
A Copy of the Draft VSA document which has been passed to the Service and Conditions team for comment.
The apparent willingness of the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police "to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy" over shared services doesn't appear to extend to his old-fashioned approach to policing.
The inevitable consequence of his 'police officers last' policy is a return to 1970's policing, when police officers filled in forms and answered telephones rather than patrolling the streets.
The greater use of police staffs in recent years is not just about cost. It also enables specialist skills that do not feature in generic police officer training to be deployed and ensures that officers are available where the public wants them - fighting crime in our communities.
At a time of budget cuts effective deployment of staff is even more important. A report commissioned by UNISON shows that Scotland is someway behind police forces south of the border in adopting civilianisation. In England, police staffs make up on average 39% of the force, in Scotland the figure is only 28%. This disparity cannot be explained by any structural difference in Scotland - some forces here already exceed the English average for equivalent posts.
In fact, Strathclyde Police is the poorest performer in Scotland at only 25% and that may in part explain their current budget crisis. In fairness to Stephen House this performance pre-dates his tenure, but his approach will make the position much worse.
The approaches described by Stephen House in Holyrood, and in his evidence to the Justice Committee, reflect a very old-fashioned view of the deployment of police staffs.
Those offering 'challenging and radical ideas' should be willing to apply them to their own profession, not just to other parts of the public service.
Dave Watson
Scottish Organiser
UNISON Scotland
31st December 2009
Annualised Leave
As you may be aware, the Force is in the process of introducing a Variable Shift Arrangement (VSA) pattern into the three area control rooms. This shift pattern is a condensed hour’s pattern, with shift working lengths of 8 and 9 hours. Whilst this style of pattern has been used across the Force for Police Officers, this will be the first time that Police Staff Members will be working style of rota.
As part of the process of changing to the VSA, a protocol has been drawn up, known as the Variable Shift Agreement. This document has to be agreed between the Chief Constable and Unison and outlines the procedures for Variations, annual Leave, TOIL and re-rostered rest days. The document is based on the current Schedule of Service and Conditions for Police Staff and associated Standard Operating Procedures.
It is current UNISON procedure to have new documents like this Equality Impact Assessed to ensure their legality. This has been carried out by full time Unison Officials and Legal Officers.
Part of the document referred to the compression of annual leave for Staff Members who work less than an average of 5 days per week. This is section is taken directly from the service and conditions manual:
61.11 As annual leave is calculated in terms of days worked, an employee shall be entitled to annual leave with pay in proportion to the number of days worked per week, e.g. employee with more than one but less than 5 years’ reckonable service who works:-
35 hours per week over 5 day’s 5/5ths of 20 = 20
(4 working weeks)
35 hours per week over 4 day’s 4/5ths of 20 = 16
(4 working weeks)
20 hours per week over 5 day’s 5/5ths of 20 = 20
(4 working weeks)
20 hours per week over 3 day’s 3/5ths of 20 = 12
(4 working weeks
In effect, this would mean workers on VSA would receive less annual leave days than their counterparts working, for example, Strathpol 24.Strathpol24 is also a compressed working pattern, however, the Force took a decision when this pattern was introduced, not to compress annual leave hours.
Unisons legal department have commented on the whole document. However, they have provided information that Paragraph 61.11 is now illegal. Their advice is that the only fair and equal way to calculate annual leave for workers who have different shift lengths is to calculate entitlement in hours.
The Branch’s position on this previously is that we would not consider changing to Annual Leave calculated in hours until Strathclyde Police Officers were having their leave calculated in a similar manner. However, as we have now had legal advice our position must change otherwise the Branch would be open to litigation due to inequalities.
We therefore propose the following:
To write to the Force explaining Unison’s legal position regarding the Variable Shift Agreement protocol. I.e. that the compression of annual leave is not legal and would leave the Force open to litigation.
To advise the Force that the Service and Conditions Manual relating to the compression of annual leave should be changed.
To advise the Force that annual leave for Police Staff members should be calculated in hours.
As the annual leave year for Police Staff members is about to recommence , to ask the Force to make sure that these changes are in place for Annual Leave 2011.This will enable Police Staff to have any leave booked for leave year 2010 to be honoured.
We understand that this is a major change of Service and Conditions. However this has been forced upon us by legislation.
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact either:
Your Local Steward
Or
The Branch Office
Click Annualised Leave Letter for PDF of full letter complete with shift pattern comparisons.
9TH DECEMBER 2009
AGM Dates and Venues
At the ALL Stewards Meeting held on the 07th of December 2009 , it was decided that the AGM 2010 would be held across the Force Area.The venues and dates for the aggregate AGM are :
Kilmarnock Police Office
08th February 2010
Conference Room 1200-1400
Very well attended meeting .Issues raised by and discussed by members included:
ACR Contract Issues
Annual Leave in hours for all Staff.
Members briefed on meeting with Paul Rooney, Strathclyde Police Authority and also informed that new members were now able to join using UNISONs on line facility.
Motherwell Police Office
09th February 2010
Conference Room 1300-1600
Another meeting where attendance was better than the total number who went to last years AGM.
Issues discussed included:
PDR - Line manager responsibilty
SPOL 24 - What will replace it?
Police Officers being trained to supplement PCSO's.
Health and Safety issues.
Police Officers typing up own reports - increased abstraction time from patrol.
Q division , advice on temporary secondments.
Privitisation of Police Services, TUPE of Staff.
Attacks on terms and Conditions
Allowance changes , what to expect.
Errors in Strathclyde Pesion Fund Statements
Pay Rise 2011 - will there be one?
Lochgilpead Police Office
10th February 2010
Court Room 1200-1400
Shifts and PCSO's dominate the discussions.
Pitt St
11th February 2010
Assembly Hall
Excellent attendance and lively debate at both meetings.
AGM Report to follow next week with details of all stewards, their constituencies and contact details.
1200-1400 and 1630-1830
The Branch would like to thank ALL members who took an interest in their union and attended the AGM's.
Our aim is to DOUBLE attendance at next years meetings.
There will be more roadhsows over the next fews months, travelling across the Strathclyde Area.
Sir John Arbuthnott delivered his report: Clyde Valley Review to extensive coverage in the Scottish media. The report is the result of the Clyde Valley Community Planning Partnership (CVCPP) commissioning an independent review of joint working and shared services. The authorities in the CVCPP are Glasgow, East and West Dunbartonshire, North and South Lanarkshire, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire and Inverclyde. This area contains 35% of Scotland’s population and 35% of Scotland’s jobs. Any changes in the delivery of local services in this area will have a significant impact on our members and on Scotland’s wider economy.
The report lays out the reasons why Sir John believes that local authorities need to move towards greater shared services. He emphasises the “financial squeeze” that local government is experiencing and other challenges like the aging population and the different demands that will place on services. He believes that the eight councils have shared priorities and outcomes developed with their community planning partners: reduce socio-economic inequality, regeneration, improved health, citizenship, sustainable communities, customer service, safer communities and a good start in life. He believes that authorities need to move quickly to shared services but that this alone is not enough. He is also calling on councils to revisit their current priorities in partnership with each other and the government. He believes that action needs to be taken on “a number of fronts” he suggests
Making budget savings
Sharing services and resources
Improvements in performance
Stopping doing some things
Raising income
He expects a 10-15% real terms decline in local authority budgets over the next four years
Main findings
The report recommends:
Accelerated joint working between individual councils and health boards.
Shared services between councils in waste management, property management and maintenance and fleet and transport.
Shared services in across councils in education, in particular social transport, asset management, and organising supply teachers.
Shared (so-called) back office support services
a shared economic approach to addressing the recession and regeneration in general
The report calls for a time limited consortium of the CVCPP and the two health boards to come up with a plan within a year to look at the challenges in the delivery of:
The care of the elderly including admission to and discharge from acute care
Purchased social care services
Personalisation, its affordability and the use of mainstream service models
Mental health and drug and alcohol services
Consolidate the recruitment and deployment of supply teachers
Shared specialist services on curriculum development and psychological services
Shared payroll and back office with education taking the lead on joint payroll
Shared approach to income generation and a common charging framework
UNISON’s response
UNISON has always been in favour of delivering our public services efficiently but all the evidence indicates that shared services don't deliver savings in the short term if at all. Indeed they mean increased expenses initially as new processes and systems, accommodation and IT have to be bought. The figures in the report state that the 95 business cases under consideration could save £84.1million in the first five years and £79.4 from year six. This though would cost £120million over the 5 years. Therefore initially there would be a cost of almost £40million. This is typical of shared service projects according to the National Audit Office. Government research acknowledges that only about 60% of projected savings are achieved.
Sharing services can also mean centralising services, and that this can remove jobs and accountability from local people. The charging framework of councils represents their local priorities so for example swimming is free for children in Glasgow because of the specific health challenges in the area. This is not the same issue in Renfrewshire which charges £1.70. UNISON believes that local authorities are right to set their own priorities based on the needs of their area.
Jobs created by public services are very important for a local economy - particularly in rural areas and in the current recession. There have been examples abroad where centralisation of services has damaged that.
Glasgow Herald Article – Road Map to Reform – Thursday 26th November 2009.
The article referenced above, is an interview with Chief Constable Steve House.
In this article, Ch Cons House states he would:
‘ ….“rule nothing out” and believes savings could be made by sharing or amalgamating a range of services including procurement, catering and cleaning, vehicle maintenance, legal and media services, medical treatment of prisoners, training and audit roles. ‘
UNISON has been briefed by the Chief Constable and The Director of Human Resources on the reviews which have taken place across the Force during the last 2 months.
Although the amalgamation and sharing of services was touched upon at these briefings, it was the understanding of Unison that no decisions had been made as to the fate of any department. Indeed, the Chief Constable was keen to emphasise the income generation opportunities that departments in the Force would be able to offer.
The Branch would like to stress that no discussions about specific business areas have taken place with Force representatives regarding any changes mentioned in Mr House’s SPTV broadcast last week, or any other articles which have appeared in the press recently. We have been assured by the HR Director that any discussions regarding the re-structuring of the Force have been very high level with no specific business areas being targeted.
It is clear that there are uncertain times ahead for Police Staff in the Force. Over the next two years, the threats of redundancy, financial changes and restructuring hang over us all.
However, UNISON firmly believes that communication of any information should be with staff directly, not through external media and certainly not by quick “sound bites”.
The Branch will be writing to the Chief Constable to express our concerns and disappointment regarding his recent statements about Police Staff members.
We will report back to our members once we have received a reply.
In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding anything in this document, or regarding the Force Budgetary Statement, please do not hesitate in contacting us at:
The Chief Constable invited Members of the branch executive to a meeting on the 17th of November to discuss the Force’s financial situation and the consequences for all members of staff.
Mr House gave us a frank view of the current state of the Force budget over the next few years. His presentation is summarised below:
The budget shortfalls in all Public Service areas have been widely publicised recently. In Strathclyde Police , the forecasts for these shortfalls range from £16 million in the financial year 2010/2011 to an estimate of over £58 million in 2013/2014.
Employee costs make up 88% of the total Strathclyde Police budget, therefore it is clear that the majority of savings will have to come from this area.
All Assistant Chief Constables and Directors have been tasked by with reducing the budgets of their departments.
In addition to this , several areas have been identified for review. These include:
Annual Leave in Hours
Public Holiday issues.
Police Staff Allowances.
Medical Discharges
Overtime Budgets cut by 25%
Charging external agencies for services
Although the current 8 territorial structure will remain, management structures are to be reorganised with centralisation of some functions .
Headquarters, Crime and Operational Support Divisions are the subject of separate reviews.
A number of support functions are actively being looked at with a view to outsourcing.
Police Staff redundancy scheme to be reviewed with the possibility of compulsory redundancies not being discounted in the coming years.
These are challenging times for everyone . UNISON will enter into consultation with the Force to ensure that the interests of our members are best served. This briefing was a start to the process, continuing with a meeting with the HR Director next week.
We will communicate any news to you as soon as possible.
challenges