From the General Secretary
This important update explains the position in the current negotiations on the Transfer of CRC staff to either the NPS (Wales in December, and NPS England in 2021) or one of the proposed new providers of Interventions, Unpaid Work, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, after the cessation of all CRC contracts that year. Napo will of course continue our campaign of opposition to the continued ‘Marketisation’ of any Probation Work.
Following the Government U-turn on Probation in May this year, intense and complex negotiations have been taking place with the HMPPS and MoJ to try and secure a Staff Transfer and Protections Agreement (STAP). This will allow CRC staff to move onto NPS pay and conditions and provide key protections for those staff who will move to new providers if new contracts are established. While significant progress has been made, Napo’s Probation Negotiating Committee met yesterday and endorsed the recommendation from your National Chair, Katie Lomas, and myself, that we are not yet in a position to ballot all CRC members on an agreement, and that we should continue our efforts here.
The below and this link update explains what will happen next in respect of our CRC members in Wales where Offender Management work and Staff will transfer to the NPS on 1st December 2019 and the agreed arrangements for retrospective application of the Transfer Agreement subject to all CRC members eventually being balloted on the final negotiated position.
Napo campaigning results in a significant membership increase.
Whilst our AGM received some encouraging news that nearly all of Napo’s Branches had reported a rise in Napo membership over the last 12 months, I thought that all members would want to join me in congratulating Napo Cymru for achieving a remarkable 10% increase.
This reflects the local efforts of our activists and members in partnership with Napo’s strong central campaign that has been building in momentum since the victory against the proposals to sell off all remaining probation work earlier this year. This demonstrates why there has never been a better time to encourage your colleagues, who are not currently a member of a trade union, to consider joining Napo today.
New members working in a CRC will be guaranteed a vote on the Staff Transfer Agreement and become part of the collective effort to establish pay parity across the whole of probation and the eventual return of all Probation work into public ownership and control.
More news on the Transfer Agreement negotiations will be issued as soon as it becomes available.
Regards
IAN LAWRENCE
General Secretary