UNIONS SUBMIT 3 YEAR PAY CLAIM FOR NPS MEMBERS
Napo, UNISON and GMB/SCOOP have submitted the following 3 year pay claim for members in NPS.
- A three-year award to cover the 2021, 2022 and 2023 pay years
- An increase in the value of all pay points above the Retail Prices Index (RPI) of inflation on 1 April 2021, 1 April 2022 and 1 April 2023
- An increase in the value of all NPS allowances above the Retail Prices Index (RPI) of inflation on 1 April 2021, 1 April 2022 and 1 April 2023
- Shorter Pay Bands to allow staff to reach the top of Pay Band in a shorter time
- Removal of Pay Band Overlaps
EXPLAINING THE CLAIM
1. A three year pay award would:
a. Give members certainty about their salaries in the medium term
b. Ensure that increments were actually paid on time on 1 April in years 2 and 3 of the award. The NPS has confirmed that pay progression will happen automatically with effect from 1 April this year, with the same expected on 1 April 2022, because the Competency Based Pay Framework does not impact on the award of increments until 1 April 2023. As members would expect, we are pressing NPS for payment of the pay progression due from April 2021, but as usual we await clearance by the Treasury.
c. Free up time for the unions to deal with the many issues which are going to come out of the probation unification programme.
c. Free up time for the unions to deal with the many issues which are going to come out of the probation unification programme.
2. NPS staff need a real increase in the value of their pay points, in addition to pay progression. There has not been an actual increase in the value of probation pay points since 2013, as the following table comparing probation pay increases with increases for other public sector workers shows.
Probation Police Staff Local Government Health
2010 0% 2.58% 0% 0%
2011 0% 0% 0% 0%
2012 0% 0% 0% 0%
2013 1% 1% 1% 1%
2014 0% 1.1% 1.1% 0%
2015 0% 1% 1% 0%
2016 0% 1% 1% 1%
2017 0% 1% 1% 1%
2018 0% 2% 2% 3%
2019 0% 2.5% 2% 1.7%
2020 0% 2.5% 2.75% 1.67%
2020 0% 2.5% 2.75% 1.67%
Total 1% 15.6% 12.6% 10.8%
So, over the last eight years the value of NPS pay points has gone up only 1%. When compared with police, local government and health workers, it is clear that probation staff have been particularly badly treated.
So, over the last eight years the value of NPS pay points has gone up only 1%. When compared with police, local government and health workers, it is clear that probation staff have been particularly badly treated.
3. Since the NPS was created in 2014, there has been no increase in the value of any of the following NPS allowances.
• Prison Supplement: £675
• Standby Allowance: £42.16
• London Weighting: £3889
• Market Forces Supplements: £3,016/£1771/£1,101
To demonstrate just how far these allowances have declined relative to RPI inflation, here is what they would be worth now if they had been increased by the 35.6% inflation rate between 2010 and 2020:
• Prison Supplement: £915
• Standby Allowance: £57.17
• London Weighting: £5273
• Market Forces Supplements: £4090/£2402/£1493
4. The unions have been successful in previous pay claims in reducing the length of NPS pay bands to allow members to progress to the top of their pay bands quicker. We aim to build on this success by seeking to further shorten the pay bands.
4. The unions have been successful in previous pay claims in reducing the length of NPS pay bands to allow members to progress to the top of their pay bands quicker. We aim to build on this success by seeking to further shorten the pay bands.
5. Many of the NPS pay bands overlap each other so that someone at the top of one pay band earns more than someone at the bottom of the pay band above. The unions want all these overlaps removed, as they are bad for morale and potentially discriminatory.
--oo00oo--
I wonder why prison service pay isn't included in the table of comparators? Ed
By email:-
ReplyDelete"Target is to update case notes within 24 hours. I see the logic but offer the following. During the pandemic I see the service users almost back to back when I am in the office. Because of high cases loads I do not have the time to write these notes within 24 hours. Can someone please work this out for me as I cannot."
I have long argued the extra targets extra time needed. It's common for management to expect more and more but give no extra time and keep spouting sfos so the fear will make people work unpaid overtime. Toil is not supposed to be forced continuously due to workloads and no good if you can't take it. It's creating intolerable stress and reducing the rate of pay to work extra for free or accrue toil continuously. WLW is rubbish but even that does not get overhauled. Absolutely disgusting set of affairs.
DeleteInflation over a decade at 35%,can that be right? If it is we have all had a huge pay decrease relative to inflation but Probation dramatically so. I wonder what the next decade has in store with the economic impact of Covid and Brexit, which I imagine is of a bigger scale than the financial crisis. More austerity? Further pay freezes? More more for less? Compare the above to the ever expanding exponential and colossal growth of the very wealthy and super wealthy over the last decade and any claims about us all being in this together surely evaporate. Oddly though we keep on with business as usual, perplexing!
ReplyDeleteThe difficulty with such a target, whilst I do see the sense of it, is you end up with generic "cut and paste" entries. A lot of HMP case worker notes are like this and, consequently, of little value; especially when someone forgets to change the individual's name!
ReplyDeleteAs for the pay, I agree that a comparison or reference to Prisons staff pay would be helpful. It is though shocking to see the almost stagnant pay rise over many years so clearly. Hardly an invitation to a beleaguered profession but maybe that is the issue? When one of our most senior heads (I forget which one, and that could also reflect how little I identify as a Civil Servant) can bluntly say their aim is to "professionalise" the service (later corrected to "further professionalise") then I question still how much anyone really understands or values what we do or should be doing as Probation practitioners at every grade.
Interesting that the pay issue hasn't raised a murmour yet over on Facebook - the lively discussion today is all about how crap OASys is.
ReplyDeleteOne party nation conservatism. It was spelled out loud and clear yesterday . People have shifted values changed educational base and we have jumped to an Americanised model of pay for it or die.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.suffolknews.co.uk/stowmarket/probation-officer-28-denies-she-neglected-her-duty-9198332/
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmpps-evidence-to-prison-service-pay-review-body-2021
ReplyDeleteDont forget alongside our standard of living falling 30% +. Your pension has also fallen 30%. When are people gonna wake up and smell the coffee? NAPO are a waste of space
ReplyDeleteWell said!
DeleteAnyone know what the pay claim actually is? NAPO just seem to be summarising their own historic failings. I think most of us already knew we'd been treated like excrement. What is being asked for?
ReplyDeleteThey seem to be asking for a pay rise each year above the retail price index pay inflation starting on 01/04/21. The RPI in March was 1.5%, so 1.6% would satisfy their claim for this year. However, there is a public sector pay freeze this year.
DeleteI understand the current Napo leadership gave the top seat an extra 10k pay rise an inflation busting deal . Incredible for a shrinking small staff association.
DeleteThe way we have been treated is poor. I was under the impression that any pay increase was contractual and to take place at the beginning of the financial year - that is what we are all signed up to? Correct me if I have this wrong. The treasury haven't signed off on this is not good enough as it is contractual. We are dealing with unprecedented caseloads including even more frustrated/angry offenders because there are no resources available but still get treated by our employers in this way. An absolute shower.
ReplyDeleteOver on Facebook the discussion is still focussed on OASys with 65 comments, but not a peep about the pay claim and the way probation has received just 1% over 10 years! Astonishes me, but maybe just another example of how utterly cowed probation staff have become, falling silently into line as loyal civil service functionaries. Very sad indeed.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we have to accept that discussing OASys is important & that staff are happy being paid the rate they're receiving?
DeleteMaybe Napo - or someone - could quantify the 2010 to 2020 pay comparisons with actual salary figures; what are the actual numbers for those salaries? Let's see it explicitly laid bare in terms of £££'s.
ReplyDeleteProbation Officer 2010: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2010/aug/21/probation-officer-working-life
ReplyDeleteProbation staff - pay bands and ranges as at June 2010
Key to pay bands and ranges in the organograms:
Band D = Assistant Chief Officer; £66,427 - £86,914; Band C = Assistant Chief Officer; £56,096 - £71,227; Band B = Assistant Chief Officer; £49,294 - £62,588; Band A = Assistant Chief Officer; £42,435 - £52,323;
Band 6 = Area Manager; £39,037 - £46,650;
Band 5 = Senior Probation Officer; £34,677 - £39,424;
Band 4 = Probation Officer; £28,185 - £35,727;
Band 3 = Probation Services Officer; £21,391 - £27,102;
Band 2 = Case Administrator; £16,905 - £20,566;
Band 1 = Administrative Staff; £14,182 - £16,420.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/219809/probation-trusts-organogram-salaries.pdf
2019 - and increase at band maxima from 2010:
DeleteBand 2 max = 22,257 +1,961
Band 3 max = 28,200 +1,098
Band 4 max = 37,174 +1,447
Band 5 max = 41,020 +1,596
Band 6 max = 49,016 +2,366
A = 54,442 +2,119
B = 65,123 +2,535
C = 74,112 +2,885
D = 90,434 +3,520
Probation Officer Salary (taken from an online ad today):
DeleteDuring training to become a probation officer for the NPS you'll earn £22,261, rising to £29,038 plus allowances once you qualify (NPS Pay Band 3).
Salaries for qualified probation officers range from £29,038 to £37,174 (Band 4).
Senior probation officers with relevant skills, experience and qualifications can earn between £36,084 and £41,020 (Band 5).
Its all gone a bit quiet, Jim, so presumably the staff of NPS are happy with their lot and those being ditched in the transfusion have nothing to say. HMPPS are no doubt happy to report, "nothing to see here."
Where there's G4S there's MUC; and where there's MUC there's brass:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57021128
More than 40,000 people from the Philippines have been recruited to front British companies as part of schemes costing the UK "hundreds of millions of pounds" in lost taxes.
BBC Radio 4's File on 4 discovered more than 48,000 of these companies have been created in the past five years.
At the start of the pandemic, "John" - not his real name - was looking for employment.
As the pandemic grew, he saw an advert for staff at his local Covid testing site run by G4S. He was recruited by employment agency HRGO [but] he was not being paid by G4S or HR GO, the agency that recruited him. Instead, he was paid by a company he had never heard of.
He looked it up on Companies House and found it was only set up a month before he started his job - and its director was from the Philippines.
File on 4 discovered the way in which John is employed is used by recruitment agencies to cut their National Insurance bill.
It works by exploiting the government's Employment Allowance - an annual discount of £4,000 per company on National Insurance contributions. The allowance was meant to encourage companies to take on more workers.
Probation is my second career I'm in my mid fifties.When I chose to come into Probation I wanted to help offenders as well contribute to safer streets. All I wanted was A decent living for my family. Over recent years we've had to tighten our belts financially due to pay freezes to the point where I am constantly worrying about money and it is impacting on my mental health. When I started the top band of a PSO was comparable with a nurse. I note the average for a nurse is now £38k. Over the years probation have been shafted by the government and it makes me feel under valued and also discriminated against. I have no confidence in things improving in the near term therefore will have to return to my first career to provide for my family
ReplyDeleteSaid it before & I'll keep on saying it - the treatment of probation staff over the last decade mirrors the treatment of the UK electorate. The power imbalance is blindingly obvious, & that gulf is widening. The 1% are getting richer & more emboldened in their abusive behaviours; the 99% are lapping it up & voting for more.
ReplyDeleteAll are in an abusive relationship.
All are being treated like shit.
Probation staff are being financially, emotionally & professionally abused. They are being groomed on a daily basis. The day-to-day normalisation of the abuse is relentless & no-one is saying "Stop!".
"maybe just another example of how utterly cowed probation staff have become, falling silently into line as loyal civil service functionaries." - Jim Brown.
Y'all know this. This is how partners are subjugated; years of manipulation, of grooming, of eroding 'normality', of revising reality, redefining 'normal'.
This is how children end up being abused for years - physically, sexually, emotionally. They are ground down by vile, cowardly bullies, by their twisted lies, the conditional rewards, the fear of another's 'power'.
Why do people think the Tories voted en masse to reject a register of those who are known to exhibit coercive control? Is it a coincidence? Or do they know exactly what they're doing?
Who are, prima facie, the *least* problematic prisoner group, those seemingly most eager to please & comply?
Who are the cases *most* likely to exhibit denial of their abusive behaviour?
Is it right to think you are professionals in the field of assessing & changing behaviour? That you are employed by probation service providers & are trained to identify & intervene with those who perpetrate such abuses upon others?
Why do you not see those behaviours & call them out in your own organisation/s?
Eliminate the blindspot. Broaden your vision. See what they are doing to you. Erosion of terms & conditions. Divide & rule. Withholding pay. JFDI. Constant change. Sleight of hand. Same old faces in the same positions of power, regardless of how many changes you might have to cope with. Rewards for compliant behaviour.
Sit. Beg. Roll over.
Great postings and encouraging read. Too many probation staff actually vote Tory. Enlightenment ain't coming soon.in an area where the labour council just lost control will be music to Tory police and crime commissioner. Music to Tory oriented acos and CPO and police. The rest of us just fall in line anything to say meet the discipline policy. Our problems are just starting . Money will go to health rightly so but it will be the reason it won't come to us or offenders resources no way. The Tories pay for what they want and we have what's left . To be fair they pay for private schools and health and housing is super . That's why they need all the extra cash. We get what's left after they get tax breaks we dream of. While they control everything probation is really going to be a 3rd rate job. Sorry to say.
ReplyDeleteIn case there's room for political observation:
ReplyDeletehttps://davidallengreen.com/2021/05/this-illiberal-queens-speech-is-the-next-step-for-authoritarian-populism-after-brexit/
"Quite the Queen's Speech
Making it possible for the Prime minister to control when a general election takes place, making it harder for people to vote, making it harder to challenge government decisions, and making it harder for anyone to protest about any of this..."
Looking for a new challenge? Had enough? Check out HMIProbation’s advert for Assistant Inspectors (two-year secondments) – apply by 27 May
ReplyDelete11 roles available
Salary: £30,989 – £47,591 dependent on location
Apply by: Thursday 27 May 2021 23:55
Assistant Inspectors (AIs) play a key role in HM Inspectorate of Probation’s inspections of adult and youth offending work. During inspection visits they examine and assess the quality of practice carried out by frontline staff, against the Inspectorate’s published inspection standards.
The inspection programme for AIs is demanding and while we are moving towards a hybrid model of inspection (with some inspection activity conducted remotely and some on-site) you may still need to work away from home for a significant amount of time. At times, this may involve being away from home up to three weeks out of four.
In order to undertake the AI role you must:
have experience of working within or close to probation (in a youth or adult setting)
have experience of assessing quality of performance against a specified set of standards
have the ability to communicate clearly and concisely and provide feedback to others in a sensitive and constructive manner.
This experience is likely to be found in applicants who are, or equivalent to, probation officers, senior probation officers, senior YOS officers, operational managers.
We are offering these posts on a two-year secondment. You should confirm with your employer that, in principle, they are willing to second you before you apply for these posts.
When joining us on a secondment, remuneration (salary and any taxable allowances), pay progression, and employment terms & conditions will be the same as currently received from the seconding employer. Your office base during your secondment will be your current work location.
We warmly welcome applications from minority ethnic and/or Welsh speaking candidates.
The option of part‑time or job-share contracts can be discussed individually.
Find out more about these roles on the Ministry of Justice jobs website.
Snippet from the Times.(paywall)
ReplyDeleteBritain needs to hire older probation officers to keep pace with a rise in geriatric prisoners convicted of historical sex offences, the chief inspector of probation has said.
Justin Russell said many elderly offenders struggled to respond to probation officers who were significantly younger. He urged the Ministry of Justice to target older people as part of its recruitment drive and to encourage them to transfer from other careers.
He was speaking before the re-nationalisation of probation services next month, following the disastrous semi-privatisation of providers by Chris Grayling, the former justice secretary, seven years ago.
A report by inspectors found major gaps in probation workforces, with parts of the south of England recording a vacancy rate as high as 35 per cent.
'Getafix
Well done 'Getafix - on the ball as usual and showing far greater interest in things than most probation staff it would seem. Is anyone able to provide more of the article please?
DeleteYou wouldn't have to be a "geriatric" prisoner, (and you would statistically be male}, just not a teenager, to be thoroughly disengaged and insulted by a fresh faced prim and eager young graduate PO telling you that she had assessed that your thinking needed adjusting, your attitude was a bit off, and she had a little ladybird book of "exercises" for you to complete, in order for her to evidence her efficacy.
ReplyDeletePearly Gates
Full article:
ReplyDeleteBritain needs to hire older probation officers to keep pace with a rise in geriatric prisoners convicted of historical sex offences, the chief inspector of probation has said.
Justin Russell said many elderly offenders struggled to respond to probation officers who were significantly younger. He urged the Ministry of Justice to target older people as part of its recruitment drive and to encourage them to transfer from other careers.
He was speaking before the re-nationalisation of probation services next month, following the disastrous semi-privatisation of providers by Chris Grayling, the former justice secretary, seven years ago.
A report by inspectors found major gaps in probation workforces, with parts of the south of England recording a vacancy rate as high as 35 per cent.
An increasing number of elderly prisoners convicted of historical sex abuse are coming to the end of their sentences following the surge in prosecutions over the past decade. There are almost 5,000 prisoners in England and Wales over the age of 60, making up one in 16 inmates and a 243 per cent increase in the past 20 years. The number of prisoners serving time for sexual offences has almost tripled since 2002, with older inmates disproportionately represented among this cohort. There are more than 13,000 prisoners serving time for sexual offences.
Russell said: “I think the probation service needs some older staff with a broader age range, with other life experiences in terms of engaging with older offenders.”
Oh, how quickly they forget... 'older probation officers' were, and continue to be, treated like shit by MoJ/HMPPS/NPS. Their careers, their experience, knowledge & skills targetted, rubbished & thrown overboard post-TR, their long-service redundancy stolen from them & handed to snakes in cheap suits. Many weren't even offered the courtesy of a reference.
DeleteThe "new order" didn't want or need them; they had plenty of compliant staff; the simple serpents had a recruitment drive to replace the dinosaurs; there were enough lickspittles to cover the bases & fulfil the roles of "excellent leaders".
So Fuck You MoJ/HMPPS/NPS. Reap what you sow, you disingenuous pack of charlatans.
However, what they *will* reap, regardless of the parlous state of the justice system & the destruction of the probation service, are generous remuneration packages, imperial gongs & gilt-edged pensions.
Even more public money wasted in scandalous profligacy on uselessness.
A proper pay rise is long overdue. To make it clear though, it wasn’t the unions that were successful in reducing the previous lengthy pay bands. It was the result a member of staff taking the matter to a tribunal and Court of Appeal!
ReplyDelete