MEMBERS ACTING IN SOLIDARITY IS THE ONLY WAY FORWARD

 

A great start to the week at a well attended and at times emotional meeting in Exeter on Monday, and a massive thanks to the Branch and the members who came in from all corners of the area to show their support for Napo continuing as a strong and independent union and professional association and to ask me some serious key questions.
 
The meeting helped to confirm the sheer range of problems being faced by our members in the NPS and CRC's,  and I do not for one minute suppose that these are unique to the Branch. The overwhelming impression that I took with me on the journey home was how collectivism and solidarity can help to rebuild confidence after the trauma of what Grayling and his helpers have done to the probation service.
 
There are undoubtedly difficult times ahead for our members employed in the Working Links owned CRC's but anyone in the contractors senior management stream who believes they can railroad their operational plans through without resistance might want to think again.
 
Probation Negotiating Committee
 
The Committee met to discuss a range of issues which will be presented to the National Executive Committee on Monday, here is a quick summary of some of the issues which supplement the recent briefings on E3 and Job evaluation 
 
Pay 
 
Not much change since the report circulated to the September NEC. The Committee was hopeful that once further legal advice had been received it should be possible to consider the strategy and timing for submitting equal pay claims. In line with the motion endorsed at AGM, the plan is for a 2015-16 pay claim to be submitted before the next NNC in December.
 
UNISON’s emerging position was also discussed and it was agreed that discussions should be held with them to explore common areas for inclusion in the claim. 
 
Sodexo 
 
Following their side-stepping of the Enhanced Voluntary Redundancy (EVR) Scheme they now don’t intend to honour the Compulsory Redundancy Schemes brought over from the Trusts. This is being raised directly with the Minister. It is also clear that their Estates’ Strategy is becoming a major issue over which disputes may be triggered.  
 
NNC / SCCOG Bargaining Machinery
 
After a period of difficult relations, unions and employers are engaged in dialogue again at the NNC and NNC dates have been set for 2015. A number of CRC owners are also proposing ‘Pan CRC Consultative Forums’ to look at harmonising policies across their CRC areas. The joint trade unions’ view is to find ways of keeping them engaged at a national level and this could be by inviting them to the Probation Consultative Forum (for professional practice and technical issues). The difficulties at the National NPS H&S Committee were also brought up (around the refusal to provide sickness figures for example) – this would also be taken back to the NNC.
 
 
NPS Job Evaluation
 
Discussions took place about NOMS likely intentions under the E3 policy (see recent Branch Briefings) and their proposals to initiate a new job evaluation programme. It was made clear by the PNC that these have yet to be agreed and that the NEC will want to ensure that Napo members has confidence in the job evaluation programme.
 
 
Cafcass implement pay award
 
In a sign that encapsulates the times we live in and following one meeting to discuss  pay, Cafcass has imposed a pay settlement which was due to be paid in the 15th November pay packet.  This formed 1% consolidated for those on pay bands 1 to 4 and a non-consolidated 0.6% for staff on bands 5 to 10.
 
The letter to staff advised that the pay award is the “maximum possible under government guidelines for pay awards to average no more than 1%. It also supports our commitment to support lower earners – we already meet the Living Wage and will continue to do so.”  Cafcass will continue to pay the Health & Care Professionals Council registration fees for all practitioner grades for 2014 to 2016 at a cost of £115k.The pay progression costs for 2015-2016 amounting to £292k must also come out of the 1% set aside for the pay award.    At the meeting with management on 12th November we pointed out that staff do not want the benefits in kind, preferring to have money in the pay award which they can spend as they please. Cafcass spends £ 130k per year on the Medicash scheme.
 
More news on FCS Issues after the NEC but this latest example of austerity in action is unlikely to be cheeered from the rafters and is further evidence if it were needed that industrial action has to be seriously considered as a means of changing things.
 
 
Centre for Crime and Justice Studies say: Time for bold action to downsize criminal justice
 
In a week overshadowed by the heinous and cowardly mass carnage in France and questions about the capability of the Police to prevent and hopefully respond to similar attacks, the latest topical communique from the CCJS argues that Conservative government and Labour opposition should stop engaging in an 'interminable debate' about police numbers, and instead develop 'bold, visionary and coherent policies' to reduce the country's overreliance of inappropriate criminal justice responses to social problems, says the Director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Richard Garside. 
 
Writing on the Centre's website, he argues that Labour attacks on the government over falling police numbers might make for good politics. but it makes for bad policy-making.
 
The criminal justice system across England and Wales faces major strains, he notes. But an unquestioning defence of criminal justice budgets and current police numbers, is a mistake.
The opportunity is there, he argues, 'to develop a bold, visionary and coherent vision for how the many social problems British society faces can be addressed'. This should include rethinking the role and purpose of the various criminal justice agencies and reconfiguring public services so that social problems can be properly addressed.
Richard offers five ideas for how this might start to be done:
Reorganising and downsizing the police, with a refocused police service working on a narrower set of enforcement issues. 'The interminable debate,' he writes, 'over the optimum number of police forces, or whether falling police numbers means rising crime ( he argues that it isn't)  is a distraction and a substitute for serious thought about what the police are for and how they should be organised.' 

 
Major reductions in the prison population and the prison estate; demolishing old prisons and building affordable social housing for local people in their place. 'Prisons do not keep the British public safe', he writes. 'It is also fantasy to think that prisons can be places of reform and rehabilitation. Prisons warehouse mostly poor and marginalised people; those with often profound and complex mental health and addiction problems, and with heart-breaking personal stories of trauma and abuse.' 

 
Promoting genuinely accountable local oversight of criminal justice agencies and encouraging better linkages between local services. 'Current approaches to localism are often better at taking power away from local people rather than bringing it closer to them', he argues. 

 
A commitment to a smaller criminal justice system with greater protections for suspects and defendants. 'One of the benefits of a downsized and leaner criminal justice system,' he argues, 'will be the scope it offers to invest in those areas that really matter, such as properly funded legal aid.' 

 
Reorganising public services so that the many real social challenges, which currently receive an inadequate and inappropriate criminal justice response, are properly resolved by those agencies best placed to deal with them. 
 
Radical thinking or an apology for Camerons austerity agenda?
 
You decide.
Blog type: 
General Secretary's Blog