CIRC 052: NATIONAL CHAIR UPDATE JULY 2024

Please bring the contents of this circular to the attention of all POA members.

THE LATE DAVID EVANS - HONORARY LIFE MEMBER

 It is with great sadness we report to the membership the death of Honorary Life Member David Evans, who passed away on Saturday 6 July following a short illness. David was General Secretary from 1981 until his retirement in 2000 when the membership appointed him as an Adviser. David served at Pentonville and Swansea prior to employment as an Assistant General Secretary in 1972. He was the first POA General Secretary to be elected to the TUC General Council in 1991 until 1999 and he was also appointed onto the TUC Executive Committee.

HMP Dartmoor

Due to excessive levels of RADON gas within certain areas of the establishment HMPPS have decided, after receiving advice from the Health and Safety Executive, to temporarily close HMP Dartmoor pending proposed remedial work to eradicate the dangers. All prisoners will be decanted and all staff will be temporarily moved to other prisons  within travelling distance of their homes.  There will be a skeleton staffing compliment remain on site for security purposes, and it is proposed that mandatory training for staff who need to undertake it will be facilitated in areas of the prison that are deemed safe. We have raised our objections to this proposal as we deem the prison to be unsafe in all areas hence its closure.  We await a final decision by the employer. Once HMPPS update the NEC on any future decisions the membership will be updated. The NEC are fully supporting our colleagues at HMP Dartmoor and we will do all we can to assist during this really difficult period of uncertainty.

Pay Award

The Government has announced that it will fully accept the Prison Service Pay Review Body’s (PSPRB) recommendations for the 2024/25 pay year.

This means all HMPPS staff on Fair & Sustainable (F&S) terms will receive an above inflation pay increase of at least 5%.

The main elements are:

• Band 2 - a further 5% increase in addition to the National Living Wage increase (c.4%) that Band 2 staff received to the spot rate from 1 April 2024 (amounting to c.8% in total for 24/25).

• Bands 3-5 - a 5% increase to all Band 3, 4 and 5 pay points.

• Bands 7 to 12 - a 5% increase to all pay points.

• Pay progression up the pay band of one pay point for Bands 3 and 5 who are below their pay band maximum (unless subject to formal poor performance management).

• Pay progression up the pay band of 3.33% for Bands 8 to 11 who are below their pay band maximum (unless subject to formal poor performance management).

• Reducing the difference between the minima and maxima in Bands 8 to 11 from 20% to 10%, by increasing the band minima.

• Closed grade staff – a one-off payment worth 5% of salary for those closed grade staff who would not benefit from opting into F&S. Those who would financially benefit from opting into F&S will be provided with the opportunity to do so in the Autumn, and would receive the F&S pay award backdated to April.

• Increases to allowances:
  • The Operation Tornado rate to increase from £24.86 to £40 per hour for officers, and from £19 to £30 per hour for OSGs.
  • The dirty protest rate for periods up to four hours to increase from £10 to £15 and for periods over four hours from £20 to £30.
  • The Care and Maintenance of Dogs Allowance to increase by 5%.

This pay award will be paid this Autumn and will be backdated to 1 April 2024. HMPPS aim to pay the award in September salaries, but staff will be  updated  if that cannot be achieved.

The full report can be accessed via this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/psprb-twenty-third-report-on-england-and-wales-2024

Pay awards for HMPPS staff in grades for whom the PSPRB do not make recommendations (such as F&S Band 6, for which there are no operational equivalents, or non-operational closed grades) will be determined through collective bargaining with the relevant recognised trade unions and announced separately. 

Membership Enquiries

POA members are reminded that in all correspondence to office staff when seeking clarity on a variety of enquiries, you should be respectful and courteous at all times. In the first instance you should seek answers to your enquiries from your democratically elected local POA branch officials. If they are unable to assist, they will direct you to your area NEC official. We will not tolerate POA members showing disrespect to office staff because they are unable to provide you with the answers you desire. Please take note and show respect at all times.

New Secretary of State and Prisons Minister

Following the result of the General Election Shabana Mahmood MP has been appointed Secretary of State for Justice, whilst James Timpson OBE is now Prisons Minister. On 18 July the General Secretary and I met with both, and discussed many issues including retirement age, the lateness of the pay award, PAVA in the juvenile estate and the restoration of our trade union rights. Although the meeting was very positive, once again, no commitments were forthcoming.

Crime In Prisons

The Crime in Prisons team are looking to set up a working group and produce an FAQ document for members of staff/prison officers who have been victims of assault or other crimes by prisoners and have gone through the court process and their experience of this with any questions or advice they could give to others who may be going through this process themselves.

They are looking for around 3 people per region to get involved in a working group who will meet either weekly or fortnightly. It will be a chance for these members of staff to get together to discuss their experiences and allow any questions to arise out of this for the FAQ document which can then be distributed to all staff for advice and guidance if needed. If you volunteer, we will ask the employer to provide facility time for you to attend meetings.

Please contact Kirsty Walker directly - kirsty.walker1@justice.gov.uk

Judicial Appeal

On 7 April 2022 the Court of Appeal refused the POA permission to appeal against a judgment dismissing a judicial review application. That application argued, among other matters, that the decision announced on 10 December 2020 to reject a recommendation made by Prison Service Pay Review Body (‘PSPRB’) was a breach of article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Following the decision of the Court of Appeal, the POA instructed lawyers to apply to the European Court of Human Rights arguing that there has been a breach of article 11. It is argued that the rejection of a recommendation made by PSPRB meant that there were no adequate safeguards to compensate for the absence of a right to strike. The application has now passed through the initial screening process and the UK Government and the POA have been invited to negotiate a settlement.

 

All the best.

Mark Fairhurst
National Chair