Stevie Diamond, Chair of UNISON Strathclyde Police and Fire branch said:

“We are calling on the democratically elected councillors on the Police Authority to support us in having the voluntary scheme extended to 31 March 2013 – and end this imminent threat of threat compulsory redundancy.

“Police Staff in Strathclyde have lived under a veil of uncertainty for the past 2 years. There is much more uncertainty to come.

“We have borne the majority of cuts on existing police budgets . We know that more job losses are in the pipeline as the Police Service of Scotland takes shape. The prospect of our voluntary severance scheme ending three months before the new force isd due to come into being does nothing to decrease the anxiety felt by all Police Staff members of the Force who face an increasingly unclear future.

“We already face losing posts, attacks on terms and conditions through harmonisation and disruption.”

By proposing that VSS2 – the current voluntary severance scheme – will finish on 31 December  2012, Strathclyde Police has opened to question whether compulsory redundancy could be utilised to reduce Police Staff numbers prior to the formation of the new Scottish force. Unions have discussed the extension of VSS2 with Strathclyde Police. The expectation was that the scheme would be extended to 31 March 2013, the eve of the transfer of staff to the Police Service of Scotland.

UNISON is calling on Strathclyde Police Authority councillors to extend the voluntary scheme and so ensure that there will be no compulsory redundancies of Police Staff in Strathclyde before the transfer to the new force.

Commenting on confirmation that the new single services are scheduled to begin operating on 1 April next year, Scottish Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Lewis Macdonald MSP, said:

“While we support single police and fire services in order to remove duplication and free up resources for frontline services, there is a real risk that a frantic rush to meet Kenny MacAskill’s artificial deadline will mean thousands of valuable posts cut and far fewer savings than could be achieved if the job was done properly.

“Some of those who have commented today on the timetable are due to give evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee next week. I think they will face tough questioning from MSPs, who will want to know how eight police forces and eight fire services can be amalgamated in such a short time, without valuable skills being lost and huge redundancy payments being made to get people out the door.

“Our police and fire services are far too important to be subject to short-term political fixes. Ministers need to explain why they are proposing the structures outlined in the Bill, with no period for transition from eight forces to one and no shadow authorities to manage the change. So far, with no explanations offered, the jury is out on whether the target date of 1 April 2013 can really be delivered.”

George Mcirvine Unison Police Staff

George McIrvine, vice-chair of UNISON’s Scottish Police Committee told MSPs:
“Clearly our major concern is the direct threat to 2,000 vital police staff jobs. There is a concern that the projected savings from the move to a single police force will be mainly achieved by drastically reducing the number of police staff. A recent ACPOS paper indicated as many as 2,000 posts were under threat. Cutting police staff is a dangerous strategy. It makes no economic or policing sense. It simply means that important support and expert jobs are increasingly done at great expense by police officers – who should really be out in our streets and communities upholding law and order.

“We know the Police Reform Group have a huge efficiency savings requirement and they are also constrained under the figure of 17,234 police officers and a no compulsory redundancy policy. Something’s got to give. But we are already effectively de-civilianising Scottish policing at the moment. You can’t get rid of thousands of police staff jobs without having a negative impact on policing. We need the right people for the right jobs .”

The union also warned of compulsory redundancy issues which could affect council staff being transferred to the new police force, and a loss of democratic accountability which is currently ensured by local authority representation on police boards.

George McIrvine said: “We have serious concerns about workforce planning for the new force – particularly for staff who may be currently employed by local authorities but are working for police forces – for example in shared services, such as camera safety partnerships. The Bill states that such staff will be transferred, subject to a staff transfer scheme – but there is little detail. UNISON Scotland wants clarification on whether police staffs, once transferred to the new Scottish Police Authority, would be subject to the Scottish Government guidance on non compulsory redundancies.

“We also have concerns about the democratic accountability of a single police force which is currently ensured by local authority representation on police boards. The new arrangements could break the link between communities and their local police force. And we believe that the move to a national police force fails to meet the Christie Commission’s criteria for reform of public services. Policing must be built around the people it serves. “

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos) suggested Pitt Street in Glasgow was the best option, followed by Fettes, Edinburgh. But Mr MacAskill – who faced criticism over the decision to create a single, centralised force – has said the new headquarters should not be in either of the cities.

A police source said: “Acpos carried out a scoring based on what they would need and what is available at each site, and it seems that Pitt Street and Fettes came out on top. It seems the key issue is the politics of it all, with ministers indicating they did not want a headquarters in Edinburgh or Glasgow.”

The command team at the new headquarters is expected to be small, with departments such as HR and payroll located in different parts of the country.

Victoria Weldon.

Comment from the Branch Chair – Political interference over practical knowledge.

The Chief officers in ACPOS, who have a knowledge of Policing in Scotland have made recommendations about the placement of the Single Force HQ. However, these recommendations are being ignored by the Government who seem intent on showing everyone who is boss.

Similarly, those who work for the Police know that maintaining electoral promises of maintaining Police numbers whilst promising all those transferring across that their terms conditions will be maintained does not equate to making hundreds of millions of savings a year.

Something has to give.

The practical suggestion and one which would ensure best value policing for Scotland , would be an audit of Police Officer and Staff Roles across Scotland. This would enable the Police Service of Scotland to have a balanced workforce, capable of giving a first class service with the best people for the job.

However, I feel that the government will take the easy route out. Much easier to attack the terms and conditions of Police Staff than Police Officers. After all , we will be harmonising our t’s and C’s at some stage. As for compulsory redundancy? Well thats a ScotGov policy, but much easier to rescind that one work than renege on keeping “front line” Police Officers at an all time high?

This also puts into context what the opposition parties, COSLA, Staff Association’s and Unions have been saying about Governance of the Force. If the Politicians are interfering now , what will happen when the Force is in operation?

By all accounts , change is stressful. Making one Force out of 9 Organisations in just over a year will test us all. Unison will be negotiating, campaigning and organising harder than ever this year.

We are Police Staff –  a Force in our own right.

The full programme is :

Tuesday 7th February 12.00 Kilmarnock Police Office Conference Room
Wednesday 8th February 12.00 Motherwell Police Office Conference Room
Thursday 9th February 12.00 Govan Police Office Conference Room
Friday 10th February 12.00 Pitt St Assembly Hall

Please take the opportunity to attend these important meetings.

This is likely to be the last AGM of the Branch in its current form as we are moving rapidly towards a Single Scottish Force.

We will have information about all of the current national and local issues which affect you.

We are in the process of examining every area of the service in order to identify more efficient working practices but we know that efficiency savings alone will not deliver the savings required.
The reality is that with over 80% of the police budget spent on employee related costs and a commitment by the Scottish Government to maintain police officer numbers, it is inevitable that we will see a reduction in the number of police staff.

We fully appreciate the important role of police staff in delivering frontline policing and we are looking at every aspect of policing to drive out savings before we consider staff cuts.

Police staff numbers have been reducing over recent years as a result of not replacing people who have left the service and through forces introducing voluntary redundancy programmes. Further reductions to police staff will be required over the coming years and this will be achieved through a voluntary redundancy process.

The task of delivering the new Service and the projected savings will be complex and challenging and we must ensure there is an effective balance between the complement of police officers and police staff. We are absolutely determined not to bring police officers off the street to fill roles previously performed by police staff.

As we move forward in the transition to the Police Service of Scotland, we will continue to be honest and up front with you about the challenges we face and the changes ahead.

Chief Constable Kevin Smith
ACPOS President

“What the SNP must realise is that cutting police support staff is a false economy.

“We all want to see more police officers in Scotland, but they should be out on the beat, not stuck behind a desk doing jobs previously done by specialist support staff who have been sacked by the SNP.

“Scottish Labour is calling for the SNP government to conduct an independent audit of how many police officers have been taken off the beat as result of SNP cuts, so we can ensure the new single force has the right blend of officers and support staff.”

Peter Veldon, Regional Organiser for UNISON’s Scottish police staff, said:

“Any reform of public services should be in the best interests of the people of Scotland. However, as we argued in our response to the consultation on this Bill, the main motivation for a unitary police body appears to be focussed on saving money.

“There are a number of areas of concern surrounding the Bill which will affect our members – and thus threaten delivery of police services.

“The new Scottish Police Authority will be expected to achieve savings of between £88m and £151m per year.

“Meanwhile, if the Chief Constable of the new force is still under the constraint of maintaining police officer numbers, this will mean the burden of any cuts will be aimed squarely at police staff.

“There is also still a great deal of uncertainty over the VAT liability issue which could see the Scottish Police Authority paying the treasury £22m per year whilst trying to achieve huge savings.”

UNISON Scotland argued in its consultation response that ‘taking trained operational police officers off the streets to perform administrative tasks – at greater cost – is economic madness’.”

I wanted to give you an update on negotiations in local government and health on pensions.

In local government, discussions have been taking place between UNISON, GMB, UNITE and the Local Government Association over a set of principles and a timetable for negotiations over short term savings and the new LGPS which the government wants to be in place from 2015.

The discussions have not touched on the detail of a possible solution, but we believe will lay a positive framework for negotiations, starting in January.

Although discussions between ourselves and the LGA over the principles and timetable have reached a possible conclusion, the outcomes have not yet been given the ‘green light’ by Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State, and we are not therefore in a position to make them public.

It seems likely that – if ratified – they will be announced on Tuesday and we are in the process of agreeing joint wording with the LGA for their release.

I realise that rumours have been circulating and I wanted to reassure you that no decisions have been taken over the details surrounding contribution increases or the future look of the LGPS.

However, I believe that – if agreed – the principles under discussion will provide a very positive framework for negotiations and potentially could lead to no change until 2014. We will circulate the details as soon as the Secretary of State has given his approval.

In health, negotations are continuing between all the health unions, the NHS employers and the Department of Health. Although there has been some progress, particularly around contribution increases in year one, as you may have seen reported, there are still key issues under discussion.

UNISON’s service group executives will be meeting on 10 January to consider progress on all negotiations and any agreement with the LGA, if ratified.

In the meantime, keep checking our website for up-to-date information:unison.org.uk