Following a decision by Staff Side of the Police Negotiating Board (PNB) not to appeal against the High Court judgment on police pay, the Police Federation of England and Wales is writing to every Member of Parliament seeking their support for independent binding arbitration. In the absence of binding arbitration the Police Federation will be left with no choice but to lobby for full industrial rights for the 140,000 police officers it represents throughout England and Wales.

The decision not to appeal was taken after legal advice and very careful consideration. It was decided that the fight for fair pay, binding arbitration and the pursuit of industrial rights is better served in parliament than the legal arena.

Staff Side are seeking an assurance that any negotiated settlement or arbiters’ decision be implemented in full by the Home Secretary and that she will not simply impose a multi-year deal based on a flawed index or reduce an award by staging the settlement.

Paul McKeever, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales and of Staff Side of the PNB, says:

“We should never have been forced to take the issue of police pay to court in the first instance, but we were left with no choice. Over the past ten months we have seen a weak Home Secretary, bullied by a new Prime Minister, seriously let down police officers across the UK. Today we have made our position clear, and are calling upon all MPs to support binding independent arbitration. If the government want to restore any trust with the police service, we must have independent arbitration that is binding on all parties, and that includes the Home Secretary.

“We are already negotiating for the 2008/09 police pay award. We need to know there will be true negotiation at the Police Negotiating Board, and that the process is not just a sham with the Home Secretary’s pen already poised over a pre-planned pay deal. We also need an assurance that if no agreement is reached and it goes to arbitration that the decision of the arbiters will be binding; otherwise there is absolutely no point to the entire process.

“Last month at the Police Federation conference we announced the results of a poll of police officers in England and Wales. The result gives the Police Federation of England and Wales a mandate to lobby the government for full industrial rights for police officers if arbitration is not binding. This is a route we do not want to go down but one we will follow if the government continues to turn a blind eye to our fair and reasonable request for binding arbitration.

Stan Hebborn, Chairman of Surrey Police Federation added, “Understandably my members are extremely disappointed with the outcome of the High Court judgment. Unison are currently balloting for strike action over their latest pay offer, yet they have been offered almost the same as we were through arbitration”. The Government don’t do themselves any favours when they subsequently award themselves outrageously inflated increases to their salaries and expenses, as revealed recently!”

“The fight for fair pay continues.”

 

 

We welcome and are very supportive of the recent announcement by Surrey Police Chief Constable, Mr. Mark Rowley, to return to common sense Policing, by allowing Officers to once again use their discretion when dealing with the public, instead of chasing misleading Government targets at every opportunity, says Stan Hebborn, Chairman of Surrey Police Federation.

 

Policing is a social skill, and each and every incident, no matter how great or small, should be dealt with taking into account the facts, and not be seen as a tick-box scorecard.

 

The officers I represent deal with real people on a daily basis, and whilst some of those people may have committed a very minor Offence, the current trend has been to record every offence, to the satisfaction of the Home office statisticians, instead of applying a common-sense practical solution. For example;

 

A young Student, not used to the effects of alcohol, could be seen staggering home from the pub, after celebrating ‘A’ level results. Current practice would pressurise Police Officers to take him into Police Custody, and to then issue him with an instant fixed penalty the moment he is fit to be released.  If an Officer were to use his/her discretion, a bit more time could be spent engaging the individual and the matter could be resolved by identifying a friend or family member to ensure he gets home safely.

 

Statistics can be manipulated to meet targets, for example, the Crown Prosecution Service  (CPS) will often downgrade “assaults on police” to “common assault” as this helps their statistics, because an offender is more likely to plea guilty to a much lesser charge. As you can imagine, this manipulation of statistics alone is demoralising for Police Officers.

When officers join the police force they swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen, not the prime minister. Unlike many other forces, British police have never been servants of the state: officers' powers are personal, used at their own discretion and derived from the Crown – The Government should not interfere with how the Police service conducts its day to day business, they should leave it to the experts.

For too long now, the Governments demand for targets has interfered with Proper policing and created a rift between Society and the Police, which hopefully we can now begin to restore the trust and confidence of the residents and businesses of Surrey, and get on with our job!