Napo and our sister unions have exhausted every procedural avenue to make headway on our long running dispute on the failure of the employer to authorise pay progression on 1st April to eligible staff under the Competency Based Framework (CBF).
As we reported earlier this month, the parties agreed to seek conciliation of the dispute through ACAS and a meeting took place last week. Arbitration was not possible due to the agreement that was previously reached which was based on the assurances at the time that future funding would always be available to enable pay out of pay progression on 1st April.
Unfortunately, it has not been possible to make progress as the employer has persisted in their position and failed to take any of our representations into account again. In a communication received from the employer yesterday, it is clear they hold the view that pay progression in 2026/2027 for Probation Staff through CBF will require authority from HM Treasury and Cabinet Office and the outcome of pay negotiations. This is not a position that Napo are prepared to accept, and we still consider that there is a contractual obligation to honour the terms of the 2018 Pay and Modernisation Agreement.
This mirrors the position that was reached in the National Probation Joint Negotiating Committee dispute outcome last autumn, which tasked the employer to approach Treasury and Cabinet Office to ensure that pay progression would be implemented on 1st April 2026.
The talks at ACAS broke down when it became quickly clear to the unions that the employer had not made an approach to these departments in a form that that was consistent with what we had expected from them. No written evidence was supplied to ACAS to demonstrate that this had happened and what case had actually been made. In our view this is hugely disrespectful of the whole process, the trade unions who are joint parties to this collective agreement and the wider workforce.
To compound this failure, the employer has now indicated that they are now prepared to make a formal approach to pay out CBF progression if the unions are prepared to drop one of the trade unions key demands of the dispute, which is that pay progression must be paid as a contractual entitlement, separate to the cost of living rise and other increases that would result from annual pay negotiations.
This is an outrageous demand and is totally unacceptable. It casts a shadow over the review on wider ‘pay reform’, and CBF as a part of that, which the unions and employer had agreed to as part of the 2025/2026 pay award.
Napo to take legal advice
Meanwhile Napo will be seeking legal advice following this very serious challenge to the contractual terms and conditions of our members.
Napo’s Probation Negotiating Committee meets next week to review this development. We will also be meeting with sister unions after they have consulted with their negotiating structures on this issue, to discuss pay strategy going forward
18 responses
How am I to ever reach the top of my pay band if the CBF that I completed and submitted in good faith is not going to be honoured. If my CBF for year 2025/2026 is not being applied it undermines progression and motivation. It leaves me with concerns about stagnation at my current pay point and feeling that effort/performance is not recognised as there is no guarantee this will not happen again next year.
Keep up the good work – I am at the top of my pay band, but I believe very strongly that the employer should honour the terms of the 2018 Pay and Modernisation Agreement.
CBF should not be tied to any pay offer.
Obviously our employer has not taken note of the strength of feelings members expressed through the recent ballot which brought about the very much delayed increased pay offer for 2025-2026.
once again we are due to be significantly underpaid for another year, its so tiresome to have this same issue repeat every year, I have only been with the service a few years and in that time I think I have now had 3 backdated pays due to HMPPS not paying on time or agreeing a pay deal. I have never experienced anything like this in 23 years as an employee across multiple sectors.
I find it amazing how the employer pushed everyone to get their CBF work completed by April but then didn’t fill their end of the bargain by paying us.
As someone who submitted my first CBF this year and had no prior experience in probation – this way of going about progression is truly shocking. I have my manager telling me I’m going up a pay point due to all my hard work and to not lose positivity but then I’m not actually seeing that reflected. It’s impossible to stay optimistic about the service and motivated to actually work if I’m being rewarded exactly the same as colleagues who put zero effort in. What’s the point of working hard and spending my days in a high risk environment if I’m only receiving verbal thanks and no physical meaningful reward?
We once again find ourselves facing a significant challenge in securing what is fair, just, and previously promised by the government. The situation echoes the uncertainty experienced during the austerity years, now under a Labour administration that historically championed union representation. Instead, there is a growing perception of repeated shortcomings and unfulfilled commitments.
This is further compounded by what appears to be an ineffective response from union leadership. Too often, statements are made without corresponding decisive action. This must change.
Disgusting. Honour what you had agreed or watch staff leave. Honesty comes before everything and smack of dishonesty from my employer. Never felt so let down in my work life
and we aren’t striking because?????
Each year of backdated results in compounded bank interest (on our withheld pay) which they keep for themselves. Essentially; The 2% increase on the original 2025/26 offer was potentially less than the interest earned AND it should have been our money, in OUR bank accounts anyway ☹️
As a member of staff completing the CBF for the first time I had little understand of it – I am shocked it is impacted by the pay increases and is not separate.
Following the backpay we waited over a year to receive, there was a large amount taken from my wage for a student loan repayment. I do not yet pay student loan repayments usually as my salary is not high enough – when speaking to student finance regarding a refund, I was informed that I would not be able to claim this back until the end of the tax year – therefore I would have waited 2 years in total to access my hard earned wages. THIS is ridiculous.
ir’s actually even longer than that because the student finance company don’t normally get your earnings for the year till June/July – last time I basically had to wait till June-August till they got my wage for that tax year even though tax year is April to April
How long do HMPPS have to decide on what to offer with what unions asked for last week?
Hi there, Pay talks are still ongoing, but we will update members as soon as there is any news
Hi,
I know pay talks are ongoing, I’m asking if HMPPS have a deadline to reach a decision? so i’m guessing they don’t? so will get no push to make a decision so could take a year to get back to unions with their offer ? do the unions have a plan to push them to make a decision if they take a while as they could just sit on the proposed pay rise requested by unions last week for a year or more?
Is there any update on this? Nothing on CBF and nothing on the 26/27 pay deal, very frustrating!
Hi Eloise, talks around pay are still ongoing and members will be updated as soon as there is any news. With that being said, please come along to one of the many members meetings we have scheduled so that you can receive information on everything that is happening at the moment including the current workloads campaign. You can find more information here: https://www.napo.org.uk/confidence-broken
Everyone should at least strike on completion of the CBF come Feb / March 27- ive completed it twice with no CBF granted. Should be 2 pay points higher by now- what I was told would be happening before I chose to accept my position, is not now. The audacity to demand we complete a piece of work proving how we are entitled to recieve CBF progression to then not pay us is frankly wild!