NPS Pay Offer 2020/2021

December 2020

Members asked to vote on 2020/2021 Pay Offer from NPS

Following protracted negotiations between the Probation unions and NPS over several months, the employer provided the unions with a final pay offer for 2020/2021 on 26 November. Napo members are now invited to read this briefing on the offer and then to vote to accept or reject the offer.

PAY OFFER ELEMENTS

The opening pay offer from the NPS for 2020 was made on 14 October and contained the following elements. The offer can be read in full here.

1. Incremental pay progression with effect from 1 April 2020 for all staff who were not yet at the top of their pay band on 31 March 2020. This was paid on account in October salaries, because it was a contractual entitlement, but it still forms part of the overall pay offer. Eligible staff have already progressed to the next highest pay point in their pay band and should have received back pay from 1 April including any back pay in respect of overtime or unsocial hours’ allowances.
    
2. A non-consolidated, pensionable, payment worth 2% of basic salary for all staff on top of their pay band on 31 March 2020. This compensates for the fact that these staff are not entitled to any incremental pay progression. This payment is a one-off and will not be added to salaries for future years. The monetary value of this payment varies by pay band and the details can be found in the tables supplied by the NPS which are enclosed.
    
3. In pay band 1, the minimum pay point will be abolished with effect from 1 April 2020 and the remaining single pay point will be increased in value from £17,764 to £18,174 which is an increase of 2.3% in real terms. This means that from 1 April 2020 all staff in pay band 1 will be paid on this single basic salary rate. This change is necessary to keep this pay band above minimum wage.
    
4. A review of all roles in pay band 1 with the intention of redesigning all roles at that level to align with Pay Band 2. This review will start immediately. NPS is committed to this review, particularly with respect to the agreed objective of phasing out Pay Band 1 from use no later than 1 April 2021. Concurrently, NPS will refrain from hiring any new staff into Pay Band 1 while this review is under way, nor will NPS seek to assimilate any CRC staff who transfer into the NPS in June 2021 into this pay band.
    
5. The lowest pay point in each pay band is deleted with effect from 1 April 2020. This means that new starters will benefit from a higher starting salary in each pay band and will take less time to reach the top of their pay band than was previously the case. It also means that some of the overlaps between pay bands, which the NPS and unions are committed to reduce, are reduced by one pay point. This impacts particularly on the overlaps between pay bands 4 and 5 and 5 and 6 and all the overlaps between pay bands A, B, C & D.
    
6. The two lowest pay points in pay bands A & B are deleted with effect from 1 April 2020. This enhances the reduction in the respective pay band overlaps.

UNIONS SECURE IMPROVED OFFER FOLLOWING FURTHER NEGOTIATIONS

Napo’s Probation Negotiating Committee (PNC) considered the above opening pay offer from the employer last month. The Committee noted that the offer gave no real terms increase in the value of any pay point, with the exception of the 2.3% increase to the top of pay band 1. The PNC agreed that the offer was insufficient for Napo to recommend to members and we went back to the NPS, along with our sister unions UNISON and GMB/SCOOP, to seek improvements.

ADDITIONAL SPECIAL PAYMENT – BUT NOT FOR ALL

As a result of the unions efforts to secure additional cash for members, the NPS has now offered an additional special payment to the majority, but not all, of NPS staff in recognition of their efforts in delivering the service during the Covid pandemic while also working towards Probation Reform  - see details here.  The special payment is not part of the pay award but is a one-off, non-consolidated bonus payment. It will be awarded to eligible staff who were in post on 30th September 2020 and the amount will vary by occupational group. It will be pensionable, pro rata to hours worked and its implementation will be staggered over the months of January to March 2021.

Here is a table which sets out which groups of staff will benefit from the special payment, the numbers in each occupational group, the total gross payment offered before deductions and the proposed month of payment:

Annex A – Proposed Staff cohorts and special payment amounts, (NPS Headcount as at 30 September 2020)

¹  Inclusive of PQiPs.            

NB.
Where staff were undertaking one of the roles in the table on 30th September 2020, but who do not receive the bonus, line managers and Regional HRBPs will assist with eligibility in the first instance.

The NPS says that it has added this special payment to the offer for the following reasons:

• ‘We are looking to make the payment to these staff on the basis of the display of significant levels of resilience and professionalism, going above and beyond their normal duties, during this prolonged period of exceptional delivery. Staff have also professionally navigated transformation reforms ahead of unification in June 2021.’
   
• ‘We believe these staff have contributed to the successful implementation of the offender management exceptional delivery model, whilst maintaining service standards in an ever-changing environment and under additional pressures. They have also needed to adapt to significant changes in the way they deliver their public protection roles and duties, delivering services innovatively whilst maintaining the standards they are held to by the Department and the community.’

EXCLUSIONS FROM SPECIAL PAYMENT

The fact that the special payment is being withheld from some staff is extremely disappointing and will undoubtedly damage morale for those excluded groups. Napo obviously called on the NPS to award the special payment across the board to all staff, but because of Treasury restrictions they were not able to agree. The NPS has not been willing, or able, to confirm which occupational groups are specifically excluded from the special payment which makes it very difficult for Napo to communicate the offer properly to members. This is obviously very regrettable.

There is no doubt that the groups of staff excluded from the special payments scheme have displayed the same ‘…levels of resilience and professionalism, going above and beyond their normal duties, during this prolonged period of exceptional delivery…’, as the staff who will receive the special payment. Their exclusion is therefore unfair.

Napo will continue to campaign for those staff who have been excluded from the special payment to receive appropriate recognition. We will be asking our reps and branches to compile a list of all the excluded jobs with this in mind, and we will be calling on Regional Probation Directors to consider utilising the reward and recognition budget within their areas. If you are in one of the excluded groups, please contact your Napo Branch to help us draw up this list.

THE PAY OFFER – PROS AND CONS

Taking as read that staff are contractually entitled to pay progression, and setting this aside, here is a summary of the pros and cons of the pay offer:

Pros

1. A 2% non-consolidated payment for staff at the top of their pay band
    
2. A 2.3% increase in the value of the single pay point in pay band 1
    
3. The deletion of the bottom pay point in each pay band and the bottom two pay points in pay bands A & B
    
4. The agreement to review pay band 1 jobs with the agreed objective to redesign these roles to fit pay band 2 by no later than 1 April 2021
    
5. A special payment scheme for the majority of NPS staff to recognise their contribution to service delivery during Covid

Cons

1. Nil increase in the value of NPS pay points, with the exception of the single pay point in pay band 1. As such, there is no cost of living rise in the pay offer. Probation staff have only received one cost of living rise in the last 10 years.
    
2. A special payment scheme which excludes a significant minority of NPS staff who have been as much a part of service delivery during Covid as those who are due to receive the special payment.

YOUR CHANCE TO VOTE ON THE OFFER

While Napo believe that this offer remains unsatisfactory, it is the best achievable by negotiation and the Probation Negotiating Committee have exceptionally decided not to make a specific recommendation to members.

We have improved the final offer over and above the opening offer and secured additional money. We will continue to campaign for those staff who have been excluded from the special payment scheme to receive appropriate recognition.

Having read this bulletin and the accompanying information, Napo members are invited to vote to accept or reject the pay offer. Given that this is, in Napo’s view, the best offer available by negotiation, a vote to reject the offer will need to be considered by the PNC in terms of the scope of and willingness of our members to undertake serious and sustained industrial action, up to and including strike action, in order to seek to improve it. Any industrial action could only take place following a further lawful industrial action ballot of relevant members.

Enclosed with this bulletin is:

• An electronic ballot paper which you are invited to complete below. The closing date for voting is 12 noon on Friday 18 December 2020.
   
• A set of NPS tables on the following elements of the offer (click here to view):
  • the monetary amount of non-consolidated payments for staff on the top of their pay band, by each pay band
  • the new pay band minimum pay points following the deletion of the lowest pay points in each band
  • the changes to pay band 1
  • the new pay bands showing all pay points

If you have any questions on the offer, please contact your Napo Branch in the first instance who will liaise with Napo Link Officers and HQ as appropriate.

Members anger over Pay Freeze

Many Napo members have been in touch with us to register their disgust at the Governments cynical decision to implement a public sector pay freeze next year. Given the Government’s shambolic management of the Pandemic and the well-publicised squandering of tax payers money in the procurement process for PPE, and companies who have financed the Tory party, this announcement could not have come at a worse time for public sector workers everywhere. The PNC nevertheless recommended that our members longer term interests would be better served by Napo working with the TUC and all public sector unions in building a campaign of resistance and solidarity against this punitive and unfair policy.

The General Secretary will be attending upcoming meetings of the TUC Public Sector Liaison Group and the TUC General Council and will be reporting back   on the developing campaign. It is possible that this will include the likelihood of widespread industrial action and our members being asked to consider their readiness to support this strategy if necessary.

Please vote

Despite the disappointment that members will feel about this pay offer, we are urging you to take the opportunity to cast your vote in this important ballot.

Ian Lawrence               Katie Lomas
General Secretary       National Chair