NCJ Number
78120
Date Published
Unknown
Length
179 pages
Annotation
This report of the United Kingdom's Committee on Inquiry on the Police examines current police service negotiating machinery and pay scales and offers recommendations for revisions.
Abstract
The existing statutory negotiating body is the Police Council for the United Kingdom, which is now regulated by Section 4 of the Police Act of 1969. This body consists of an official side representing employers and a staff side representing the various police organizations. Council members are appointed by and represent those bodies which compose the Police Council. The chairman is elected annually and alternately from either side. The committee concluded that the Police Council has been ineffective in preventing the erosion of police pay scales, largely due to the paralyzing suspicion and hostility each side has toward the other. It is recommended that a new negotiating body with a new format that provides for an independent chairman and secretariat be established in an effort to avoid suspicions of prejudice and to facilitate progress in negotiations. Analysis of past and current pay scales supports the recommendation that national rates of pay throughout the United Kingdom be continued, with supplementary pay, such as rent allowance, varying according to the requirements of each locality. It is further recommended that pay scales for the federated and superintending ranks be updated on September 1, 1979, and in subsequent years in accordance with changes in the index of average earnings in the previous 12 months. Appended to the report on negotiating machinery are the names of persons who gave oral evidence to the committee and a history of the negotiating machinery. Information and data appended to the pay report include current pay scales, the history of police pay, crime statistics, traffic statistics, legislation since 1960, and recommended pay scales.