The agency has now published it’s Pay Award for 2021/22. In addition a small number of officers all at G6 will also receive letters advising them of their £250 consolidated pay uplift or a pro-rata amount; in line with the HM Treasury guidance on public sector workers who earn less than £24,000 (FTE) per annum.
Whilst not unexpected, confirmation of this year’s pay award will be very disappointing for the vast majority of NCOA Members. In the likelihood that the NCARRB would make no recommendations, on the 14th July 2021 the NCOA wrote to the Agency with recommendations for potential non –pay awards for NCA Officers. A copy of that letter can be found at by clicking HERE
After several weeks of engagement, where the NCOA challenged the Agency to reward its officers in acknowledgement of the exceptional results gained against the backdrop of BREXIT and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Agency has now decided against making any tangible non-pay awards this year. Not wishing to delay the payments to G6 officers, the NCOA responded to this news on the 11th August 2021, a copy of which can be found by clicking HERE
Running parallel to the talks on the NCA pay award, a number of meetings have also taken place on the allocation of Recruitment and Retention Allowances. Whilst accepting that RRA’s are no more than a ‘sticking plaster’ which mask the obvious inadequacies in NCA pay ranges in predominantly in non-spot rate roles. By attending these meetings, the NCOA sought confirmation that the Agency will make best use of the RRA budget this year and there would be no repeat of the debacle of 2020/21, which saw a budget underspend on RRA’s. The Agency have made a clear commitment to us, that the total RRA budget will be spent for the specific purpose of rewarding officers in hard to fill roles this year. The final allocation of RRA’s was not subject to formal negotiation with the TU’s.
Rather than provide further commentary on the 2021/22 pay award now. The NCOA will publish more detailed information in the forthcoming Under Cover magazine including our thoughts on the need for a complete overall of the supposedly ‘independent’ NCA Remuneration Review process.
Regards
Steve Bond
National Officer