16 February 2007
A wide-ranging review of Prison Service finances could introduce damaging changes to staff pay and grading systems, Whitehall's largest trade union has warned.
The Public and Commercial Services union, which represents thousands of Home Office and Prison Service staff, said it fears that a new pay system will be imposed by ministers and senior officials desperate to make savings after this year's Comprehensive Spending Review.
Prison Service director general Phil Wheatley has written to all prison governors and area managers informing them that an internal workforce pay and grading review is under way – the first major assessment of the service's creaking remuneration system for 20 years.
The pay study, led by Sandy McEwan from the National Offender Management Service, will feed into a wider review of the Prison Service undertaken by Lord Carter.
But the PCS said it feared that the purpose of Wheatley's letter sent at the end of January, was to pave the way for wage cuts or freezes for some staff.
Mike Nolan, the union's Prison Service group president, said: '[PS] management has been very reticent to give us all the details and one can only assume that there is a hidden agenda… to [impose] a new grading system through force rather than through negotiations.'
A huge proportion of the Prison Service's budget is eaten up by staffing costs, while the sector's independent pay review board, which recommends changes to ministers, has long criticised remuneration structures and a poor commitment to equal pay mechanisms.
Wheatley's letter says: 'With over 70% of our budgets allocated to staffing costs, it is essential that we ensure that our pay and grading systems are fair, remain fit for purpose and align with our wider corporate goals.
'[The] Prison Service Management Board has therefore commissioned a short review to examine the scope for implementing changes to our overall workforce and management structures, reward mechanisms and progression arrangements.'
The speed with which McEwan's study has been undertaken has also raised concerns. He is due to report back to Wheatley by February 16, which leaves little time for consultation.
Wheatley claims that the restricted timetable has been forced on to his team because Carter's final review, due next month, must be completed before the Home Office's Comprehensive Spending Review blueprint.
Home Secretary John Reid, responsible for prisons, has been told by Treasury ministers that there will be no new cash following the CSR, despite an over-crowding problem across Britain's jails and other problems facing the department.
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