Latest From Napo 17

Here is the latest email from Pat Waterman, Chair of Greater London Napo Branch to all members, followed by an email from Dean Rogers, Napo Assistant General Secretary. 

I know it's not a good idea to tempt fate, but it's quite likely that this blog will reach another milestone today and pass 3/4 million hits. Thanks to everyone for keeping it topical, mostly well-mannered and a must-read at Napo HQ, MoJ HQ, Trust HQ's and HQ's of potential bidders everywhere!

TO: NAPO MEMBERS 

There’s still time 

Let me start by thanking all of you who have followed the advice of your trade union to register a grievance against LPT for implementing the Staff Assignment Process as instructed by the MOJ. 

Towards the end of last year LPT sent you a letter which either automatically assigned you to either the NPS or CRC or invited you to express an interest in one of these two organisations. But you were provided with next to nothing in the way of information about either of these organisations. So did you ever really know what you were accepting or expressing an interest in? 
The earliest any of you got these letters was 12^th December (some of you got them later than that). Grievances can be registered, according to LPT’s Policy, up to three months from the original event. 

So, for those of you who have yet to register your grievance there is still time

BUT WHY SHOULD I DO THIS? 

Because when the MOJ puts the CRC up for sale it will have to disclose how many of its staff are aggrieved and the more there are the less attractive we are to the potential bidders. 

• If you have yet to register your grievance do so without delay (you have at least until Wednesday 12^th March). Send your grievance in writing (an e-mail will do) to your first line manager. They must then convene a meeting with you within five working days. If you feel aggrieved about even one thing  then register it as a grievance. Feel free to keep it simple.

• It is extremely unlikely that your manager will be able to resolve your grievance particularly to the extent that it relates to the period towards the end of last year when there really was no information about anything. You should then make your grievance formal by sending it to your second line manager.

• For those of you who have already registered your grievances, I am writing to advise you of a new procedure I have agreed with LPT to deal with these matters in the most efficient and expeditious way (but also one that serves our purposes).

• For those of you whose grievance has already reached the formal stage (but has yet to be heard) you will receive from your manager a letter (see attached). My advice is to consider carefully if a formal stage meeting is really necessary. What can you/we hope to achieve? LPT  is incapable of fully resolving your grievance. This letter on your file serves the purpose of recording your dissatisfaction's for any future employer to see. In doing so you will have played a part in your union’s strategy for undermining the government’s plans.

• For those of you who have already had this formal meeting my advice to you is to lodge an appeal NOW. Some managers, acting on inaccurate advice from the HR Department, have said that there is no right of appeal.They were wrong. Don’t worry if the time limits, as described in LPT’s Policy, have not been adhered to. Senior Management would be hard put to reject your appeal on this basis given their own failures to adhere to time limits.

Appeals will be heard by members of the Senior Management Team and it is my intention to deal with them all personally to achieve a result not dissimilar from that outlined in the letter being sent to you at the formal stage. 

I hope that by agreeing to this process we can deal with even more grievances in the most expeditious and efficient way and, while still achieving our aims, free up some of our resources for campaigning activities. 

Let’s all do what we can to stop Grayling’s plans. 


Pat Waterman 
Branch Chair


TO: NAPO MEMBERS 

Here is a letter I recently received from Dean Rogers, Assistant General Secretary 

Pat Waterman 
Branch Chair

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NOMS delay application of the VER Scheme

Some of you may already be aware that NOMS have notified Trusts of a delay to the application of the VER scheme until after the scheduled termination of Trusts on 30th June 2014. Napo was only formally notified of this delay late on 6th March 2014.

This delay is naturally concerning to many members who may already have been in discussions with Trusts about an exit package prior to the split. It is also a concern to those of us who care about public finances, with the obvious risk that some people will now have to transfer with no allocated role. Napo have negotiated the voluntary redundancy terms as part of the National Agreement around staff transfer and they should not be a cause of surprise or concern for NOMS at this stage. 

This confusing, late U-turn from NOMS demonstrates the general chaos and desperation at the centre of the TR project, fuelled by their ridiculous timetable which puts political priorities before public safety or the public purse. 

This confusion also highlights how doing this in a mad rush itself generates and exaggerates what the National Audit Office report this week described as TR’s ‘generic risks’.  Napo are contacting NOMS to try and find out if this U-turn is prompted specifically by: 

financial difficulties arising from poor budget planning and the rising costs of the overall programme, including higher than anticipated staffing costs for CRC’s;staffing shortages being identified in key delivery areas of the NPS;more staff than anticipated in other areas of the NPS, squeezing Grayling’s budget;or a combination of all of these and other concerns.

We will endeavour to keep members and branches fully informed about information that surfaces about the voluntary redundancy timetable going forward. In the meantime, take this as a further sign of the difficulty the TR agenda is in and evidence of why Napo members need to stand together on the 31st March and 1st April 2014, to draw wider attention to the risks being taken. By doing so, we can put a stop to this dangerous programme.