I have met police officers to hear their worries about the Winsor proposals on police pay. Understandably some police officers are worried that their pay will be cut, owing to the new scales and the enlarged pension contributions.
I took these matters up with Mr Winsor this week when he came to the Commons to hear MPs concerns and to listen to our representations on behalf of constituents. I put to him the worries about pay, and said that I did not think we wanted to cut police pay for officers doing important work fighting crime.
He said that on his proposals most police officers would be better off. He explained that there would be extra payments for anti social hours, for front line duties and for special skills. When I asked why so many police officers did not seem to think this would be the case he said he had set out on line a calculator so they could check it out for themselves. He argued that his proposals had been misrepresented in the media.
If any local police officer is worried about the pay changes, they can log on to review.police.uk and will see on the front page a calculator facility to open which will enable to work out easily what the changes might mean for them. Mr Winsor says it will be reassuring to many. I am happy to take cases up again if officers find their calcultations do not come up with a fair and reasonable answer.
May 24, 2012
I put to him the worries about pay, and said that I did not think we wanted to cut police pay for officers doing important work fighting crime.
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Given the debts, you are going to be forced too. Wishful thinking to think otherwise.
Dangerous too. The police have the power to arrest and question, and if there is a fraud committed with their pensions, then at some point they will say hell with the convention that we lay off MPs, lets make an example of them.
So on the contributions. Why are they being increased, when there are no increases in benefits? It’s to pay for the fact that you’ve given all previous contributions away to other people or spent them on other things. Now the payouts exceed the receipts you need to get more money out of recent joiners, just like any Ponzi.
Reply: No. The higher contributions are being imposed throughout the public sector as people are living for much longer so they need more money in the pension funds/pay as you go schemes to pay the pensions.
May 24, 2012
Winsor says we will be better off with the unsociable hours payment?
If an officer is abstracted from their shift to work on a major incident then there is a strong possibility they are likely going to be working day shifts. This means they will lose out financially on the unsociable hours payment. Likewise officers are often requested to change from a late shift to a day shift in order to accommodate staffing shortages or dealing with incidents from the day before. If that officer is to now lose the unsocial hours benefit then where is the incentive?
How does Winsor expect these officers to accept these duties, which they would have otherwise volunteered for, if they are to lose out in a very divisive reward system?
May 24, 2012
This isn’t about pay. That’s just the smokescreen. This is about creating a private police body that will do whatever it takes to crush the public. Rebellion is in the air. Stay tuned.
May 24, 2012
Tom Winsor is lying when he says that ‘most’ officers will get a pay rise. What about all those officers who will lose CRTP when it is scrapped? When added to the increase in pension contributions this amounts to a PAY CUT. In addition if you get injured in the line of duty and cant do shifts you lose out again, and keep losing out until they make you redundant!!! Is that suitable reward for someone who has risked and given their health in service to their community? No. If Winsor is brought in I will leave the Force.
Reply: Ity would be helpful to have the figures to reply to Mr Winsor. He says most officers will be paid more.
May 25, 2012
Using his calculator I will be ‘at best’ £400 per year worse off. Because under his proposals the enhancement is for every hour actually worked you stand to lose more when you are taken away from a nightshift to backfill other roles or attend training courses etc. In addition to gain full benefit from it you cant take any of the Night or Late shifts off as annual leave for, say a birthday, because you dont get the enhancement. Surely, to make it a fairer and more rewarding system a flat rate shift allowance should be paid? I’m already paying an extra £600 in pension contributions too and i’ll have to give almost 40 years service to be able to qualify for full benefits. The loss of the Competency Related Threshold Payment will mean another £1000 out of my wage, Mr Winsors ‘enhancement’ does not cover it. I have five children plus a wife who works as a PCSO which, although an extremely important and effective role in keeping our communities safer, is another role that has an uncertain future under this government. There is too much uncertainty about my families future under this government so perhaps after almost twenty years service to the community between us it is time to get out. We will NOT vote Conservative at the next election.
June 7, 2012
Andy
Forgive me, I do not know or am aware. of the complexities of how the Police are paid, but from reading all of the above comments, press reports (which may or may not be true) and listening to news interviews, the problem appears to be the complexity of the make up, of the way policemen are paid.
So many different allowances, so may payments for standby, minimum payments for minimum work periods, shift allowances, Rank scales, overtime, pension payments and entitlement, etc etc.
Surely it is possible to reward officers in a more simple way, which is of benefit to all, both the taxpayers and the police alike.
Is that not what Winsor is about, or have I got it wrong.
Clearly we need to attract the best to the force, to reward good people with sensible wages/salaries which reflect the importance of our police force, which are necessary when trying to maintain a civil society, but please do also remember that no one is guaranteed or entitled to a job for life, under the same terms and conditions forever, in any working establishment.
Should you leave the Police force after 20 years service, I think you may find conditions in other industries rather different to what you have experienced over the last 20 years, and they may not be for the better.
The grass always looks greener, but very often it is not the case.