To All Members
23rd March 2018
Circular 13/18
This circular is to update members on the current position with regards the anticipated pay rise, which you are aware was agreed by the Home Office late last year. The DPF have been in constant contact with the Department, who have maintained that they were waiting for the Home Office circular prior to making any agreement.
You will all know the DPF have written to the MoD stating that it was unfair to withhold payment, given the fact the details were available and well known. Unfortunately, the MoD chose not to respond for several weeks despite prompting from the DPF.
On 20th March 2018, the DPF received an email which maintained the MoD stance. We believe this is totally unacceptable considering we are now the only major Police Force whose pay rise is being withheld. All other Home Department Police Forces have made the payment as they deemed it inappropriate to wait any further.
Therefore, we have written to the Department stating:
We appreciate that this is the historical administrative process that has been utilised in the past, but must point out that it is not a necessary part of the process and in this case, is causing an inordinate delay to our officers pay rise.
We have confirmed that all of our Home Department Police Force Colleagues (HDPF) and indeed both the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) and British Transport Police (BTP) are in receipt of both the 1% pay rise, plus the 1% extra payment. All having had both payments back dated to September 2017. This obviously without the Home Office circular being produced.
As such we would again request you to process this pay rise through, as a matter of urgency, as to hold it back any further would be unfair on our members.
If you feel this cannot be achieved, we would welcome sight of the agreement / process that lays out this requirement – the holding of the rise until the issue of a circular – and also clarity on how every other Force and their parent department have been able to move this forward without such being produced. We clearly do not want this to drag on longer than is necessary, but in the current climate, where every Force has now paid both elements of this award to all of its officers, we cannot see why the MoD would want to delay this further. We therefore ask you to reconsider this urgently, as it is clearly unfair on our members.
As stated the DPF consider the delay unacceptable and cannot understand why the MoD are withholding the pay rise. Clearly once accepted, there would be requirement to back date the payment to September 2017, so withholding payment seems perverse. The DPF believe this is further evidence of the current contempt the MoD have for the MDP at present.
Mitchel Batt
General Secretary
