Dear Members,
At the end of this briefing note is a link which will enable you to access the NCOA’s NCARRB submission for the 2023/24 pay award. As was made clear in the recent Agency communication, for NCA officers to receive a pay award before 2024, all parties involved in this process need to meet the strict timescales set by the Office of Manpower Economics.
- Submission of written evidence by the 22nd September 2023
- Oral Evidence sessions on the 24th & 25th October 2023.
It is unclear at this stage whether the Agency will be able to meet the very first deadline relating to the submission of its written evidence. Whilst the submission of data by the Agency ahead of its written submission will enable the NCARRB to recognise the challenges the Agency faces, without the Agency’s detailed written proposals on how to resolve these challenges, I am not convinced that the 2023/24 pay award will be in place for December.
I encourage you to read the NCOA written submission in its entirety. This document provides solutions on how, with the support of the NCARRB, the Agency can tackle the challenges of unfairness, retention, recruitment, and low morale caused by years of delayed sub-inflation pay awards and a differentiated pay mechanism.
You will pick up that the NCOA Pay Team were provided with a draft and embargoed copy of the planned NCA submission at the end of August. It will be extremely frustrating if the Agency’s final set of proposals to the NCARRB does not reflect the draft version, as it forms the basis of some of our own commentary. It was also developed following many months of engagement with the NCOA Pay Team and aspects of it would have resolved some of the current issues facing the Agency.
Our expectation of the pay process remains unchanged. The outcome must deliver - as an absolute minimum, a 7% Consolidated Award in addition to a £1500 non-consolidated (non-pensionable) award to reflect the cost of living pressures of the previous 12 months. We expect all parties to play their part in delivering no less, given the current environment and unreasonable delays.
If it appears that there will be further delays to the 2023/24 pay process, then the NEC will communicate with you in the coming weeks on how we can escalate the current withdrawal of goodwill and put pressure on the employer to deliver a meaningful pay award prior to Christmas.
Regards
Steve BOND – NCOA National officer