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A Christmas message from your National Chair and General Secretary

As this year draws to a close we reflect on what has been another hugely challenging 12 months for the Union and our members across the 24 employers where we are represented.

NPS Pay

2018 saw a welcome outcome to the long awaited NPS pay negotiations where our work with our sister unions and some positive engagement with senior HMPPS management secured an agreement on pay modernisation which saw the highest rises anywhere in the public sector in 2018 and significant improvements to pay progression. We have also signed off a new negotiating structure for the NPS which we expect to provide better outcomes for members.

CRC Pay

The NPS pay deal, while being important in finally addressing the problem of long pay scales and inequality in pay, inevitably caused our CRC members to ask when they could expect to achieve pay parity. Now we have begun the process of targeting other employers and we have written to all 21 CRC Chief Executives, seeking urgent engagement to explore how they can join us to lobby the MoJ to make the additional resources available to replicate the NPS pay deal.

Some CRC owners have already signalled that they are happy to work with us in common cause. Over recent weeks some CRC owners have returned to the negotiating table with improved pay offers in light of the pressures caused by the NPS deal. We will not lose focus on the needs of our CRC members, and our team of National Officials are supporting local Napo reps in negotiations and consultations with CRC owners and are providing regular progress reports to Napo’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

Diversity in our representative structures

Napo’s nationally elected Officer Group includes one member from Cafcass, two CRC members and three from the NPS members which is far more representative of our overall membership. We will also be launching our brand new Napo representatives training package in 2019 covering new and experienced reps from all employers as another strand of our strategy for growth. This vitally important project is designed to equip our reps with the skills to help our members in branches which include multiple employers to ensure that they can try to offer you the best support possible.

Napo’s predictions on TR vindicated

This was also a year when, finally, our warnings about the disastrous outsourcing of Probation were sadly proved right. No one who has any understanding or experience of Probation was particularly surprised when the decision was made by the Secretary of State for Justice to end the current CRC contracts early. Our task now is to work together with other unions and a range of supportive stakeholders to make sure that past mistakes are not repeated by Government. The new year will see the start of our major campaign which is based around the ‘8 good reasons to reunify probation’ campaign which we need all of our members to play a part in.

Cafcass

Our members working in Family Courts will have been as angry as Napo reps were at the decision by Cafcass to impose a derisory pay award with no consultation or even any notice to the recognised trade union that this was about to happen. Family Court section members can be assured that the pay campaign will also address the issues they face with an employer who doesn’t seem able to secure a reasonable settlement from the Treasury to pay what they deserve.

PBNI

Our members working for PBNI still await the start of pay negotiations once a remit has been authorised, but Napo has received assurances from the newly appointed members of PBNI that they are committed to engagement on pay and wider terms and conditions issues as soon as possible.

Again, Napo will be insisting on maintaining the long held convention that deals negotiated with the NPS will be replicated for our members working in Northern Ireland as well.

More news on these campaigns and what you can do to get involved in them, will feature in our regular mail outs to members but you do need to agree to ‘opt in’ to continue receiving these. As we sign off for the Christmas break and wish you and your families an enjoyable holiday, please remember that we are always happy to come out and visit members at branch meetings or workplaces to try and address specific concerns - we await your invitations!

Katie Lomas and Ian Lawrence