Dear Mr Strang,

Industrial Action -  30^th November

I am in receipt of an email from Elaine Malcolm advising that the Force Executive has made the following decisions in respect of police officers:

It is regrettable that as this is a matter of welfare and efficiency this Joint Branch Board has not been consulted as this may have negated the need for me to write in the following terms.

I note that the email refers to "in the interests of consistency".  This JBB has consistently made the point that police officers and support staff have entirely different conditions of service and should not be treated in a similar vein.

The Police (Scotland) Regulations 2004, Regulation 33, Annex P states

1) A member of a police force shall not be entitled to be absent from duty on account of injury or illness unless a registered medical practitioner has certified the member to be unfit for duty. Provided that:

a)     with the consent of the police authority, a member may be so absent without such certificate of unfitness where the period of unfitness for duty does not exceed 7 days, including any day on which, even if the member were fit to do so, the member would not have been required to perform police duty;

Therefore the right to withdraw such a right to self certification lies with the Police Board and should only be used in respect of an individual officer - not as a blanket ban.

Further, Regulation 33, Annex T of the Police (Scotland) Regulations 2004 states:

1) With effect from 15 December 1999, a member of a police force is entitled to be permitted by that member's chief constable to take a reasonable amount of time off during the member's normal duty periods in order to take action which is necessary:

d) because of the unexpected disruption or termination of arrangements for the care of a dependant, or

e) to deal with an incident which involves a child of the member and which occurs unexpectedly in a period during which an educational establishment which the child attends is responsible for the child.

2) Paragraph (1) does not apply unless the member:

a) tells the chief constable the reason for the member's absence as soon as reasonably practicable.

As many officers will not know if there will be a disruption in their normal child care arrangements or the educational establishment their child attends will be closed until tomorrow the JBB believes it is unreasonable to expect them to be able to make alternative arrangements in advance.

The JBB acknowledged at their statutory meeting yesterday that the Force will be heavily committed to the policing of the Public sector day of action and we have worked with the Force to ensure all necessary contingencies have been put in place.  However, it should not be lost on anyone that while others in the public sector are striking and demonstrating their feelings about attacks on their pensions - police officers will be at work, protecting the public and facilitating others exercising their democratic rights.

I am not aware of any suggestion that police officers intend to do anything other than deliver the highest standards of policing to the best of their ability tomorrow.

In the event that a police officer is unfit to attend duty or requests time off under regulation 33, Annex T their individual and personal circumstances should be considered before any decision is made.

As this item has been published with such short notice, and without consultation, I request that this instruction be rescinded and that fact brought to the attention of my members.

Yours sincerely

Jackie Muller

Secretary JBB