DPF Circulars

DPF CIRCULAR NO. 02/08

16 Jan 2008

 

The National Officers met today with the Secretary of State for Defence, the Right Honourable Mr Des Browne MP, to discuss the above issue specifically in relation to the Ministry of Defence Police.

Our position is that whilst the Wright Report analogues the MDP to the Home Departments, it does not specify this as being the Home or Scottish Office. To that end our proposal was that the pay deal awarded in Scotland should be mirrored UK-wide for a National Force whilst adhering to the ethos of the report. We had already asked the Official Side to follow the Scottish model and back-date the Pay Award to 01/09/07.

The Minister advised us that although he sympathised with our position, defence is a national UK government issue centrally funded by the Treasury; it is not devolved to the Scottish government. He pointed out that the offer made by the Home Secretary was backed by the Cabinet and was a joint decision. He was adamant that he would not move away from it as it was the decision of the UK government and also stated that he would not sanction two pay structures within one organisation.

Effectively it is now confirmed that MDP officers - regardless of their UK serving location - will follow the pay deal for the Home Office Forces in England and Wales. This remains confirmed as 2.5% wef 01/12/07. As such we will now pursue this Pay Award with the Official Side as a matter of urgency.

It should be noted that the National Officers will be attending the London Rally on 23/01/08 in support of the Police Federation of England and Wales and urge the wider UK-membership to do the same (Circular 01/08 refers).

Whilst the result of this meeting did not produce the positive outcome we would have wished, we have been assured that the Minister will endeavour to engage in future dialogue on Police Pay at an earlier stage.

Paul O'Neill General Secretary