July has been an eventful month for UK policing. It began with the Police Bravery Awards; saw the hacking scandal and the resignation of two of the country's most senior police officers; a rallying call at Methodist Central Hall, and now the failure to reach agreement at the Police Negotiation Board (PNB). Following a full day of discussion at around eight o'clock on Tuesday 26th July the Staff and Official side were still at loggerheads. The process will now move into its next phase and the Police Arbitration Tribunal will have to decide on the future of police pay and conditions. We hope and expect the Home Secretary to honour her commitment to the negotiating machinery.
We on Staff side proposed a range of recommendations to help reduce the financial hardship that would be experienced by our members with the introduction of Winsor's proposals. Yet despite our attempts to reach a compromise and consensus our recommendations were rejected. We recognise the Official Side's desire to save money and to change the culture of police pay. However we genuinely have concerns about the practical implications of some of Winsor's recommendations, which we believe will have a detrimental impact on the Service in terms of diversity, bureaucracy and morale. Our recommendations offer as much and possibly more in savings than the proposals in the Winsor Report. It also delivers a change in the reward mechanisms for police pay. Unlike Winsor's recommendations it will not increase the administrative burden and cost for forces and allows for a more flexible approach to pay, which should allow for a narrowing of the gender pay gap. This seemed to fall on deaf ears.
British policing is already in a state of flux and this result at PNB only adds to the uncertainty. Between Hutton, Neyroud and Winsor parts 1 & 2 how are we supposed to move forward. The situation once again demonstrates the need to take a step back and look at policing as a whole. These piecemeal reviews have all been taken in isolation of each other and their findings. A Royal Commission would pull these strands together and make a holistic appraisal of the Service and its future.
We made clear from the beginning that we would be unable to agree Winsor's recommendations as an entire package because of the considerable financial hardship its proposals would cause for police officers but we were willing to work toward a solution. However, they have made clear that despite talk of conciliation, this is about ideology and not a solution to the fiscal situation the country faces.