NEC 27 NOVEMBER 2018

The next meeting of the NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

will be held on: TUESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2018 at 11.00am

at venues available via Skype facilities:

1. Napo, 160 Falcon Road, London SW11 2NY

2. PCS in Liverpool, 3^rd Floor, Jack Jones House, No.1 Islington,  Liverpool L3 8EG (Tel 0151 298 3900)

3. PCS in Birmingham, First Floor, Unit 6, Holt Court, Heneage Street West, Birmingham B7 4AX (Tel 0121 643 4342)

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A G E N D A

1. INTRODUCTIONS and arrangements for the day.

2. APOLOGIES for absence.

3. MONITORING REPORT.

4. MINUTES of NEC 6^th September 18 (NEC39/2018)   & Matters arising – not on the agenda.

5. CORRESPONDENCE - requiring NEC attention.

6. DISPUTES - formally registered disputes requiring NEC attention.

7. NEW MEMBERS’ REPORT (NEC43/2018)

8. ELECTIONS/VACANCIES TO STANDING COMMITTEES

1. NATIONAL COMMITTEES - RATIFICATION OF SECOND ROUND NOMINATIONS: (NEC44/2018)

2. OTHER ELECTIONS

1. Legal Assistance Appeals Panel

2. Grievance & Disciplinary Panel

3. Employers' Sub-Committee

4. Finance Sub-Committee

9. OFFICERS' GROUP REPORT (OFF37/2018)

Appendix 37a/2018 - Membership STATS

Appendix 37b/2018 - Link Officers & Officials - Roles / Responsibilities

10. DRAFT OPERATIONAL PLAN (NEC45/2018)

11. STRATEGY FOR GROWTH UPDATE (NEC46/2018)

Appendix 46a/2018 - Reps' Training update

Appendix 46b/2018 - Legal Retendering update

12. FINANCE & STAFFING

1. Vice-Chair Finance Report (NEC47/2018) + Budget 2019 Spreadsheet (NEC48/2018)
2. Napo office matters
3. Any other matters

13. PROBATION CONSULTATION / REFORMS

14. TUC EQUALITIES CONFERENCES – MOTION & DELEGATION

1. Women’s TUC Conference (NEC49/2018)
2. TUC Black Members’ Conference (NEC50/2018)

15. EDRIDGE TRUSTEE NOMINATIONS (NEC51/2018)

16. COMMITTEE REPORTS

1. Probation Negotiating Committee (N38/2018)

17. ANY MATTERS FROM AGM 5-6 OCTOBER (SOUTHPORT) Resolutions and Committee allocations (AGM09/2018 + AGM10/2018) – attached

18. MOTIONS

1. Category ‘A’ Resolutions - Branch resolutions to be noted by the NEC.

The following 9 Resolutions were passed at the Family Court Section AGM in Southport.

1. Open up SEC Meetings to all members

The Family Court Section last revised its structure several years ago. This AGM believes that in response to structural changes within Cafcass and the decline in staff members based in and spending time in offices, we need to revisit how the section is organised, in order to continue to be a member led union with a high degree of membership participation in our democratic processes. 

We also need, in response to the changing nature of our workforce, to be more visible and active in recruiting new members to Napo. 

To this end, meetings of the section executive should be open to all members. Members should be able to express an opinion on all items being considered and should be able to speak to any motions that they have proposed or seconded. Moreover, meetings should be rotated around different venues in order to facilitate members’ attendance.

2. Recruit more H and S Reps and attend more office inspections

This AGM recognises the valuable role played by Napo health and safety reps in addressing areas that impact on the health safety and welfare of all staff members in Cafcass. This AGM supports efforts to recruit more health and safety reps with the aim of increasing the participation of Napo H and S reps in workplace inspections and requests Napo officials arrange a suitable training programme tailored to the needs of Cafcass health and safety reps.

3. Communicate better with members and potential recruits

This AGM is conscious of the work done by members and officers of the section in promoting practices and policies that protect the interests of our members and promote excellence in family court practice. However too often the work has gone unheralded and has not been sufficiently visible to members and prospective recruits. We therefore support efforts to enhance the effectiveness of our communications. We ask the section officers and Napo officials to increase the priority given to this area. In particular we suggest that there is a periodic updating newsletter to members and suggest all Section officers should work with the Vice Chair (Cafcass) to assist with input into Napo quarterly and that the Family Court committee should contribute an article to each issue. Section officers and officials should take steps to ensure that hard copies of the Family Court Section newsletter, Napo quarterly and the family court journal are available in all Cafcass offices.

4. Increase liaison regarding content and publication of Family Court Journal

This AGM acknowledges the quality of the Family Court Journal and valuable role that it has played in promoting excellence in practice and opening debate around key issues in the Family Court arena. We are keen to see that the Family Court Journal remains relevant to our members and continues to play a crucial role in forwarding the ideas and aspirations of the section. In order to facilitate this, we believe that there should be increased liaison between the section officers and the editorial board regarding the content and timing of publication. To this end we support the chair of the section executive committee, or other member of the SEC as may be agreed by that committee, becoming a member of the Editorial board.

5. Reconsider format of Family Court Conference

This year’s Family Court conference was once again an event of high quality with substantial relevance to work in the Family Courts. It is however regrettable that attendance at this conference was for the second consecutive year substantially below what has been achieved in the recent past. High workloads and the refusal of Cafcass to give staff time off to attend are in our view the reasons for the decline in attendance. 

The family court committee, is asked to give consideration to the format of the conference, to include consideration of the possibility of a shorter half day conference, active efforts to encourage attendance of children’s panels solicitors and discussions with Cafcass regarding recognition of the event as training which they will support not only with travel expenses but as part of the duties of social work staff.

6. Maintain the centrality and effectiveness of the Cafcass Negotiating Committee

The Cafcass Negotiating Committee has a vital role to play in protecting and enhancing the terms and conditions of our members. The Cafcass negotiating Committee must continue to fulfil this function and should meet a minimum of three times a year. The first meeting of the Cafcass Negotiating Committee in each new Napo year shall be a planning meeting to which all section officers and family court committee members will be invited to participate, to set out the priorities for the coming year and decide how any motions passed by the AGM will be actioned.

7. Joint training initiatives with Probation members

The Family Court Committee is requested to liaise with the Napo training committee and relevant officials with a view to seeking funding for joint training initiatives to take place at venues throughout the country to provide training and joint discussions on issues of common interest with members employed in Probation roles.  

8. Open up Conference Professional slot to members without full conference registration

Once again the officers and committee members of the Family Court section, working alongside Napo officials and staff have put together what is anticipated to be an excellent family court Professional presentation, as part of the Annual Conference.  It is however unfortunate that the audience for this event is likely to be relatively low as only Family Court members, guests and others registered for the conference will be able to attend, and Probation members will be engaged elsewhere. Whilst the family court section will continue to encourage its members to attend for the whole of the conference, and not just the section AGM that proceeds it (for which conference registration is not necessary), we are of the view that given are unique position in Napo in that we are not directly involved in delivering Probation related services, our members who are not able to commit to attend for the whole conference, should be able to access the Family Court Professional slot. We ask Section Officers to liaise with Napo Officers and Officials to explore ways that attendance of Family Court Section members could be facilitated, in future years, without registering for the full conference. Consideration should also be given to the Section taking a motion to the NEC and discussions with the Trade Union Organising Committee.

1. Protecting Palestinian Children

Members of Napo’s Family Court Section play a pivotal role in protecting some of the most vulnerable children in our country. We are deeply conscious of the protections that are in place for children and the rights that they have in the United Kingdom. It is within this context that we are alarmed and horrified by Israel's repeated violations of international law in their treatment of Palestinian children. We wish to see the UN Charter on the rights of the child applied to all children in Palestine and Israel and call for an end to the arbitrary detention, torture and abuse of children by the Israeli authorities. We believe such abuses will continue as long as Israel continues to control Gaza and continues their illegal occupation of the West Bank, and that there must be sustained international pressure to make Israel cease its violations of international law and human rights. The family court section will disseminate information about the treatment of Palestinian children and encourage our members and others to support the campaign for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions.

2. Category ‘B’ Resolutions - Branch resolutions for consideration by Napo’s Committees. These will not be debated and do not become Napo policy .None received.

3. Category 'C' Motions - Branch motions and NEC members' proposals intended as motions for debate by the NEC. If carried they become Napo policy.

1. Napo Expenses 

Napo expenses have not changed since 2007, when a litre cost approximately 95p a litre, it now costs 118p a litre (average for 2007 and 2017, diesel). This means current rates awarded by Napo are unlikely to cover the fuel costs themselves, let alone the wear and tear costs. NPS reps have to claim for all their union expenses from Napo as the civil service refuses to allow us to claim for anything union related, even if it is a meeting with the employer. As such, they can be considerably out of pocket and more so perhaps then CRC reps who, as far as I am aware, can generally claim for expenses from their employer.

As such, this branch calls for Napo to increase their expenses rates to something that reflects actual fuel costs in 2018 rather than 2007.

Pressures on branch funds are more acute than they were due to the situation with NPS reps. As such an increase in funds to branches would need to be considered in order to ensure the burden for the increased rate does not fall to branches.

Proposer: South Yorkshire Branch

19. DATE OF NEXT MEETING – Thursday 21^st March at Falcon Road and PCS BIRMINGHAM and PCS LIVERPOOL.

20. ANY OTHER BUSINESS.

Standing Orders provide that the meeting should finish by 5.30 p.m. but the NEC can decide to extend the meeting by a maximum of 1 hour to finish business.