The Police Negotiating Board (PNB) was a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of n ...

established by Act of Parliament in 1980 to negotiate the pay and terms and conditions of employment of the British police. It was funded by the Home Office, and the

Office of Manpower Economics A Review Body in the United Kingdom is a government mechanism to replace collective bargaining for certain groups of employees in the public sector, for example doctors and nurses in the National Health Service. A Review Body makes independent recom ...

provided the Board with an independent

Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who is the ninth winne ...

. It was replaced by the

Police Remuneration Review Body The Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) is a United Kingdom Review Body that makes independent recommendations on pay and terms and conditions of employment of the police in England and Wales to the Government. It is funded by the Home Office, a ...

(PRRB) on 1 October 2014 in England and Wales but remained active in Scotland. The PNB has an independent chairman and deputy chairman appointed by the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, whose roles were to supply an independent voice in all negotiations. Chairmen of the PNB included: *

Sir Harold Atcherley Sir Harold Winter Atcherley (30 August 1918 – 29 January 2017) was a businessman, public figure and arts administrator in the United Kingdom. Early life The son of L. W. Atcherley and his wife Maude Lester Nash, Atcherley was educated at Gres ...

(1983 - 1986) When agreement between the Staff Side and the Official Side cannot be reached after

negotiation Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties to reach the desired outcome regarding one or more issues of conflict. It is an interaction between entities who aspire to agree on matters of mutual interest. The agreement c ...

, nor subsequently resolved through

conciliation Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process whereby the parties to a dispute use a conciliator, who meets with the parties both separately and together in an attempt to resolve their differences. They do this by lowering te ...

, the relevant issues are referred to the Police Arbitration

Tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a single ...

(PAT). Awards by the PAT have the status of a recommendation by the PNB as if it were an agreement by both sides, so they are effectively binding on both the Staff and the Official sides of PNB due to paragraph 39 of the PNB Constitution, as noted by Lord Justice Keene in the judicial review of the Home Secretary's decision. However, such decisions are not binding on the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

, demonstrated by her decision on the 2007

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

pay award, which was set aside for officers in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, who received 1.9% instead, although the award was implemented in full in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. She stated that this necessary to maintain has not responded to comparisons of her decision to that of the Minister for Education, Ed Balls, who implemented a 2.5% pay award in full for all teachers. There is cross-party concern that the Government's handling of the 2007 police pay award is seriously undermining the Police Negotiating Board machinery, and a national

ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16t ...

of police officers by the Police Federation resulted in 86% of officers calling for the Police Federation of England and Wales to start to lobby for a change in legislation to allow police officers full industrial rights. Over 200

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

have signed an

Early Day Motion In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a Motion (parliamentary procedure), motion, expressed as a single sentence, Table (parliamentary procedure), tabled by Member of Parliament, members of Parliament that formally ...

calling on the Government to reconsider its decision. The Motion was tabled by

Home Affairs Select Committee The Home Affairs Select Committee is a Departmental Committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Remit The Home Affairs Committee is one of the House of Commons Select committees related to government departments: its ...

Chairman

Keith Vaz Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz (born 26 November 1956) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester East for 32 years, from 1987 to 2019. He was the British Parliament's longest-serving Brit ...

- a Labour MP — who has stated that:

References

External links

* {{Home Office (United Kingdom) Defunct non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government Home Office (United Kingdom) Law enforcement in England and Wales