Review of London & Regional Allowances

10/6/2020

 
Members
In our submission to the NCARRB published on the 20th March 2020, the NCOA again reported our frustration at the agency’s failure to deliver on a commitment from 2018 to a substantive review of London Weighting Allowance. 
 
Following the publication on the NCARRB Report and during the subsequent pay negotiations, the NCOA again made the case for an urgent review of geographical allowances in the NCA and as a result the agency made the following commitment to its officers in early August:
 
‘During consultation with our Trade Unions, we also agreed the following: - A time bound review of London Weighting has been commissioned, with an initial phase considering current anomalies (August to October), and a second phase looking to the future of London Weighting and how we may need to evolve (August to November). The Terms of Reference for this review have been agreed with the Trade Unions.
 
The initial stages of these discussions have now commenced. The NCOA have reaffirmed its position that on a no detriment basis to its members, the agency needs to review the footprint for the payment of London Weighting Allowance, as currently the payment is in the main paid to those branches and locations that existed in 2006 and has not adapted to reflect a changed estates picture. It therefore does not include all officers based at Stevenage and the more recently opened Chelmsford branch.
 
As we have made clear to both the agency and the NCARRB, whilst others in Law Enforcement now receive a geographical allowance owing to the increased cost of working in the South East and beyond the boundaries of the M25, NCOA members at corresponding locations do not receive such payments.
 
In recognising some of these anomalies, the agency has now shared some initial thoughts on updated allowances on an embargoed basis. NCOA members can feel sure that your NEC will make a strong case that there should be no further divergence from Police pay and we commit that you will remain fully involved in our recommendations to both the NCA review and our subsequent NCARRB submission.
 
Section 5 of the 2020 NCOA NCARRB report provides further information on Regional Allowances and is available via this link 

https://www.ncoa.org.uk/media/1181/pdf-ncoa-pay-review-body-submission-7th-february-2020_.pdf

Regards,  
 
Steve BOND
National Officer NCOA