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Dear Members,
Please click the link below to read the latest bulletin with the latest Ministry of Justice Shared Services survey details and how to complete the survey.
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Pay Core MoJ
62% of GMB members voted to accept the 2023 Pay offer to the core MoJ including its Agencies. Management has been informed and the offer will be implemented at the end of September. Towards the end of 2023 or early 2024, GMB will provide links to electronic surveys to determine members priorities in the 2024 Pay round.
Pay HMPPS
The Pay Review Body’s recommendations were accepted and implemented. GMB were not happy that the increase of the lowest paid was partly due to the increase in the National Living Wage, and while a £2000 increase for the lowest paid was welcome, over £700 of it was a result of the increase in the National Living Wage.
GMB intends to get involved in the Pay Review process to advance the issues important to members. While it is many months before implementation, we want to survey members in October about pay and terms and conditions of employment to ensure we have the evidence to advance members interests.
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC)
The safety of public buildings and the use of RAAC has been in the press this month. We are aware that it has been identified in some MoJ buildings and in Prisons.
Evaluation of the risk is continuing and further buildings are being inspected. In 2021 and 2022 the issue of RAAC was drawn to the attention public sector employers and they were asked to survey buildings. The process has been based on paper records, then inspection and in the event of any suspicions physical testing of the concrete.
The Government has not updated the list of schools affected since 6 September, nor is there a comprehensive list of public buildings affected by RAAC. However, the building industry believes that many public buildings are affected, and this includes some courts and prisons.
The Government has not been open with the information it has gathered and seems not to want to admit how bad things are.
Civil service employers have proposed using previous protocols for Covid and school closures allowing parents and carers to have flexibility if a school is impacted by a partial or complete closure.
GMB Political activity
As workers in the MoJ and the Legal Aid Agency, you provide a valuable service to the public and as your union we will always fight for you to get the recognition that you deserve for your work.
That’s why, as part of the Labour Party’s process for planning the policies it will put to voters across the country at an election, we fought for commitments to make your work better if Labour win the next general election.
The Conservatives have decimated access to justice leaving thousands without legal advice and support.
In response to a GMB representation Labour have committed to transforming our justice system and improving access to justice.
You’ve been badly let down by the Conservative Government the last few years. We won’t stop fighting for better, for you.
Recent Departures
Two of our long serving reps have stood down. Gina Skelly from Cardiff has retired from her role at the Legal Aid Agency and we wish her a very happy retirement. Gina was a hard working and stalwart union activist and she will be missed. Georgio Bugnatelli has stood down for family reasons and we wish him well for the future. Georgio has been a great Chair of many of our meetings and has been a solid and pragmatic Chair, keeping us all in order. Our best wishes to Giorgio and to both of them my thanks as GMB National Officer for their advice and support over the years.
New activists
GMB is always looking for new union activists to help develop the union and to get involved in Negotiations, Representation of individuals, Equality, Health and Safety, and a wide range of workplace issues. If you would like to know more about how to get involved please contact me: kevin.brandstatter@gmb.org.uk
Kevin Brandstatter
National Officer
GMB Union
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The ballot for MoJ/LAA pay is now open.
You will already know what the “offer” from the employer is and how it will affect you.
To put this offer in context:
Trade Unions met with the Cabinet Office towards the end of March 2023 to discuss the pay remit for 2023/4.
The Treasury set the remit at 4.5% of pay bill overall, plus 0.5% for the lower paid. The latter was proposed as a way of dealing with the impact of the 9.7% increase in the National Living Wage which in many civil service employers effectively merged grades.
Treasury also announced that civil service employers would make a cost of living payment to all staff of £1500, on a pro rata basis for part time staff, and only payable to staff in post on 31 March and the date of payment.
GMB opposed the reduction for part time staff on the clear grounds that the impact of inflation has nothing to do with the hours worked.
The £1500 payment is not part of 2023/4 pay.
The payment is from existing resources and was not funded by the Treasury. Treasury also keep the tax paid by individuals, which is akin to taking money back from Departments.
Pay negotiations resulted in the final offer which went to unions at the end of July. GMB has standing policy that members must be consulted on pay, and the employer was informed that a ballot would take place, ending on 8 September to allow for implementation of the offer at the end of the month.
GMB is aware of a few civil service employers implementing in August, though many are implementing in September, and others have yet to begin formal negotiations and/or have business cases with Treasury for more flexibility in 2023 to allow for an offer higher than the core offer.
GMB Representatives are not making a recommendation this year, wish to make it clear that a vote to reject is effectively a vote for industrial action to secure a better offer.
Please take the opportunity to have your say on your pay.
The ballot closes at noon on 8 September 2023.
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Kevin Brandstatter, GMB's Officer for the Civil Service, has written to the Ministry of Justice following a meeting of GMB Reps in the ministry, to state plainly their objections over the delays to the 2020 pay negotiations which at time of writing have yet to begin.
Staff at the MoJ have not had any increase in pay since 2019.
Delays to the start of talks adversely impact members in the MoJ as the backpayments on any pay increase accrues substantially over time.
When eventually paid, any increase could adversely impact members with Student Debt, on Universal Credit or means-tested benefits, and could also have tax implications for members temporarily in a higher PAYE tax bracket.
"Morale is not good in the MoJ, and these delays have only worsened the situation...
"Members need their pay uplifting now, not later. Their rent and bills have to be paid every month, and are going up, they can't just defer these payments for 2 years until their employer gets round the table."
Kevin Brandstatter, GMB National Officer
The reps have been told that the delay is partially due to challenges and queries made by the Cabinet Office or Treasury, as well as from within the MoJ and devolved administrations.
The MoJ faces a long term recruiting and retention crisis, as MoJ staff seek advancement outside of the organisation.
This comes ahead of a looming crisis for the organisation in addressing the backlog of courts casework after MoJ facilities and proceeding were closed due to Covid 19.
GMB reaffirmed our members' commitment to entering negotiations with the employer in good faith, and uge the government to come to the table with the union and negotiate.
Read the full correspondence raising GMB's concerns here.
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Last week we had a meeting of the HMPPS National Whitley Council. The meeting opened with a sober reflection of the damage done by the Covid 19 Virus to staff and residents.
The third wave of infection from December onwards has been the worst, with a relatively high level of deaths among directly employed, contractors and residents.
Outbreaks in Prisons can only have been caused by community transmission among staff and visitors, or by prisoner transfers from other prison or courts.
As members will know a vaccination programme is underway, which should improve the situation, however, working adults will not have completed their 2 jabs until July, and 10% may not be immune.
Public Health England has forecast that the opening of schools will lead to increased cases, so health and safety in prisons remains important.
Hence, you should ask the question – IS MY WORKPLACE SAFE?
Further information and guidance on this will follow shortly, but the GMB website has comprehensive information, especially the guidance which has come from the Cabinet Office, produced after extensive consultation with GMB and sister unions.
Unions and management have yet to agree changes to the Job Evaluation System – especially around factor 9 – relating the emotional demands of roles in the prison service. The union view is that the HMPPS proposal could lead to downgrading of existing posts, or would make regrading more difficult.
HMPPS has undertaken a review of Prisons FM. This is currently undertaken primarily by the private company Amey, in the North of England and Wales, and a wholly owned company, Government Facilities Services Ltd, in the South of England.
GMB and sister unions will be meeting HMPPS regard these contracts. If you have any information thoughts, advice, suggestions or ideas about the FM operation in your Prison, please e-mail me (See below)
GMB is the third largest union in the UK with over 600,000 members. We are currently seeking new workplace organisers in HMPPS and individual prisons.
If you want to become a GMB Rep, or just want some information about the role please e mail: kevin.brandstatter@gmb.org.uk (preferably from a private email address)
Any communication will remain confidential.
BY ALL MEANS PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO COLLEAGUES AT WORK.
Ask your colleagues to join GMB – They should go online: gmb.org.uk/join
