Dear Brother/Sister

PROTECTED PAY 

You will recall from All Members Circular 2008HOC0021MW of 17th January 2008 that ACAS conciliation took place on 7 January 2008 on the issue of Pay Protection for those members who were previously on Station Officer pay, Fire Control Officer pay and Principal Fire Control Officer pay (ie those who were given pay protection against pay points L and P as part of the 2003 Pay Agreement). You will further recall that some progress was made at that meeting, but the issue remained unresolved. Since that time further discussions have taken place at National Joint Secretary level to try to find a proposal which would be acceptable to both sides.

During that period, myself and the Assistant General Secretary, with the assistance of officials of the Officers National Committee have given an outline of the ideas we have been working on to a number of meetings of affected members around the UK.

I wish to report that those Joint Secretary discussions have now concluded, and the outcome is a National Joint Secretaries’ “proposed solution” for consideration by both sides of the NJC, as an alternative to taking the matter to ACAS for arbitration.  This “proposed solution” is now being considered by both sides of the NJC. The Executive Council has agreed that the FBU will consult with its members, primarily the affected members in order to decide its position on the matter.

Attached to this Circular is the detail of the “proposed solution”. The Executive Council is fully conscious of the fact that the proposed solution differs from the FBU’s view, that the affected members deserve indexed pay protection for the rest of their career or until such time as he/she receives promotion.  However, the Executive Council felt that the “proposal” did have merit and was worthy of consideration by the membership.

Members are therefore asked to consider the “proposal” as a matter of some urgency in order that the Executive Council has an indication of whether it is broadly acceptable to the affected members by 3rd March 2008.

In the event that the proposal is acceptable to the members, a final decision will be made by the Executive Council on 13 March 2008 when we will know whether it will be made into an offer by the Employers.  In the event of the proposal not being made into an offer at the NJC, or if the FBU position is to reject the proposal as a means to resolve the current disagreement, then the matter of Pay Protection will be referred by the NJC to ACAS for arbitration.

Local officials will give guidance and assistance on this matter as appropriate.

Best wishes.

Yours fraternally

MATT WRACK
GENERAL SECRETARY
AD/sll 

Proposed Solution

PROTECTED PAY POINTS REVIEW

This review covers the following pay points:

• Watch Manager ‘B’/protected pay point L
• Watch Manager ‘B’ (control)/protected pay point L
• Group Manager ‘B’ (control)/protected pay point P

Both Secretaries will explore with their respective Sides the potential of the following options to conclude the protected pay points review.

Watch Manager ‘B’ protected pay point L
Watch Manager ‘B’ (control)/protected pay point L

• Application of the pay award minus £350 each year for the next 3 years (2008 – 2010)

• Those remaining in one of the above protected posts on 1 July 2011 to receive a lump sum, non-pensionable, payment of £1050 and to be assimilated to the Watch Manager ‘B’/Watch Manager ‘B’ (control)  pay rate at that time.  

Group Manager ‘B’ (control)/protected pay point P

The ‘gap’ for this group is markedly less and therefore will close sooner. The proposal for this group is therefore:

• Application of the pay award minus £350 each year for the next 2 years (2008 – 2009)

• Assimilation to the Group Manager ‘B’ rate on 1 July 2010

• Those remaining in a Group Manager ‘B’ post on 1 July 2010 to receive a lump sum, non-pensionable, payment of £700  

Additional issues

• It is recognised that this is a national agreement which may be supplemented or improved upon by local agreement

• Where there are already local agreements specifically on this matter in place,  these shall remain extant

• Authorities are encouraged to identify those employees receiving pay protection under these circumstances and are encouraged to make such arrangements as necessary in order to reduce the numbers of those staff eligible for pay protection. Whilst not an exhaustive list these arrangements may include: targeted development; rewarding utilisation of specific skills.

• An individual shall no longer be covered by this agreement where he/she is placed on a salary above their protected level. 

• The application of these pay protection arrangements will not result in any individual’s salary being reduced until such time as the pay protection arrangements finish. At that point individuals will move on to the substantive role-based salary applicable at that time.