CIRC 093: NATIONAL CHAIR UPDATE NOVEMBER 2024

Please bring the contents of this circular to the attention of all POA members.

Pay Submissions

I can confirm that written pay submissions for the pay award 2025/26 have been submitted by the POA within the specified time limits. We envisage oral evidence will be arranged at a date in January 2025. 

Right to strike campaign

The POA have been seeking a resolution with the Government, as per European Court of Human Rights directions, to restore the right to strike for Prison Officers in England and Wales, thus repealing Section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order act 1994.

At a meeting with the Secretary of State for Justice Shabana Mahmood MP, on the 7^th November, the General Secretary Steve Gillan and I outlined our priorities to the Government and reiterated our desire to have our basic human rights, workplace rights and trade union rights reinstated.

In reply to our request the Labour Government have clarified their position. Below is an extract from the response the POA received:

“As discussed last week, we intend to defend the legal challenge. We are confident that the provisions for the Prison Service Pay Review Body as a compensatory mechanism are robust. We have no intention to amend Section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

In our meetings since the election, you have set out to me the wider issues of importance to your membership – including the processes around pay and the timely implementation of the pay award, prison officer pension age, the roll-out of PAVA to the youth custody estate, the future of HMP Dartmoor, and public sector provision as part of future estate expansion. These are complex areas, and I have asked officials to update you.”

The POA campaign to restore our right to strike continues. 

The fight goes on.

Visits to staff homes by Line Managers

All POA members are reminded that if you are absent from work and a request from your line manager is received asking if they may visit you at home, as an individual, you must give them your permission to attend your home address. Under no circumstances must any POA member in a line manager position attend the home of a member of staff without their permission. Alternatives to home visits are available. This is to protect all POA members.

CUSTODY & DETENTION APPRENTICESHIP

Following further evaluation of the apprenticeship programme in July 2024 HMPPS People Sub Committee decided that the apprenticeship programme should be closed to new entrants but that employees enrolled on the scheme should be encouraged and supported to complete the apprenticeship. The scheme will formally close on 31^st August 2025.

New committee inquiry on "Prison culture: governance, leadership and staffing"

Any POA member or committee who wish to contribute to this latest inquiry may find details on the enclosed link. I will be contributing oral evidence in January. 

https://committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evidence/3478/

 

All the best.

Mark Fairhurst
National Chair