Pay wins at Defence Equipment & Support show value of Prospect membership

Prospect has shown the value of union membership with successful pay cases in Defence, Equipment and Support.

Pay on promotion cases

The union supported two members promoted in 2017 who were allocated to the incorrect promotion entry points.

Despite being of similar age, having similar career paths and qualifications and having gone through the same external advert, one was offered only the 10% promotion increase rather than the minimum of the C2 grade as stipulated in the advert.

The other applicant was put on an entry point which was higher than the minimum of the C2 scale.

In the first case, the union was able to prove that the terms of the advert were for the minimum to be paid. The member achieved a significant increase in basic pay as a result.

Prospect successfully argued the case for the member who had been offered and accepted a pay increase higher than the terms of the advert.

The member had formally queried the salary when it was offered, had been assured it was correct and had a contractual entitlement to that salary. This member was able to retain his salary and not face a massive overpayments burden.

Pay on retirement

Prospect successfully ran a collective grievance on behalf of five members who lost out because of an unfair policy.

The success is even sweeter because it will apply to all eligible staff in the same position.

Staff who had left DE&S, or had given notice of leaving before the performance-related pay award was implemented lost their eligibility for an increase and/or a performance award.

Members were particularly angry that this also applied to those leaving on actuarially reduced retirement who tended to have decades of loyal service behind them.

These individuals had not been told about the policy before deciding to leave with an actuarial reduction. If they had, they could have deferred their notice date.

Prospect argued that this was grossly unfair because those retiring without any actuarial reduction were still eligible for the performance award.

Prospect negotiator Aveen McHugh said: “DE&S has listened and upheld the grievance. It will allow those leaving under ARR terms to be treated in the same way as those leaving at normal pension age.

“Significantly, this doesn’t just apply to the five members who took out the grievance. Individuals who left before August who have been calibrated will receive a performance award. Those under notice, but still in post, will receive a salary increase and performance award.

“DE&S has committed to reviewing the policy through discussions with Prospect and the other unions. We welcomes this decision and sees it as a clear indication of the scope that exists to work with the new DE&S management to iron out policy anomalies,” she concluded.