THE Staffordshire Commissioner has backed an offer to support PCSOs who will lose pay due to controversial shift changes.
Officers voted in May to take industrial action over Staffordshire Police’s changes to their shifts, which will see fewer patrols in the evenings.
Trade union Unison says the loss of unsocial hours pay will mean a 14% cut for some of its members, equating to hundreds of pounds a month.
The force has now made an offer to mitigate the financial impact of the changes, which came into effect last month, following talks with PCSOs and their trade union.
Commissioner Ben Adams, who was not involved in the negotiations, told a meeting of the police, fire and crime panel that he is "very comfortable" with this mitigation, and said he hoped Unison would take the offer to its members.
He also insisted that while the shift changes will save the force £700,000 a year, the primary reason for the move is to improve community safety by deploying PCSOs during busier periods during the day.
Panel member Charlotte Atkins raised concerns over the impact of the shift changes on PCSOs' income, suggesting that it could force some to leave Staffordshire Police.
Cllr Atkins said:
"PCSOs are so vital – I know I value my PCSOs very much. We need to be able to keep them in that role because we now recognise that it is a valued role."
The commissioner acknowledged that some PCSOs stood to lose a "not insignificant amount of money" in unsocial hours pay, but said that the proposed mitigation would help soften the impact of this.
He said:
"Because PCSOs are losing extra payments, their take home pay is reduced. Now that is regrettable. I wish there was some way that could be made to go away.
"Now what the force have done in the last few months in negotiation with PCSOs initially and then with Unison, is that they’ve kept the pay up – and there’s a pay rise coming in in September for all staff and officers. This will ease the impact, and they have offered to extend further some comfort around finance, to get as soft a landing as possible.
"I think as much has been done as possible. I’m very keen that Unison take this offer to their members now and see if they think it is a fair effort to help."
Mr Adams told the panel that Staffordshire Police had been "unusual" in providing PCSOs with unsocial hours pay, which had been due to the force using them to cover longer hours.
He believes that community safety can be improved by using PCSOs to handle crime and anti-social behaviour issues during the day, with officers being more suited to deal with incidents related to the night-time economy.
Commissioner Adams added:
"The service has got to make £13million of savings this year alone. There’s about three-quarters of a million pounds as part of the shift review. But that’s a secondary advantage – the primary one is that community safety is advanced by the new shifts."
Staffordshire Police and Unison have been approached for comment.
