News from the FDA

Theunion for senior managers and professionals in public service.

03September 2002

[For immediate use]

FDA demands action on Fiscals pay

The senior civil servants union theFDA today demanded the Crown Office take urgent action over unfair pay, after acomparability study showed a pay gap of up to 10,000 between pay levels in theProcurator Fiscal Service and other comparable lawyer jobs in the civil serviceand wider public sector.

The comparability study was agreedbetween the Crown Office and FDA after the rejection of a three-year pay dealin 2001. The exercise was overseen by ACAS and carried out by independentconsultants.

The report indicates that the role ofProcurator Fiscal Depute, the main lawyer grade in the Procurator FiscalService, is directly comparable with legal jobs in the Scottish Executive,Crown Prosecution Service and Customs and Excise.

Pay levels in the Procurator FiscalService are, however, significantly below those of these other departments.Crucially, the report highlights that the pay system in the PFS results inexperienced lawyers being paid little more than new recruits. This results in apay gap of up to 10,000 when they are compared with lawyers of a similarexperience in the other departments.

Dave Penman, National Officer at FDAwith responsibility for the PFS said:

This reportvindicates our position that lawyers in the Procurator Fiscal Service have beengrossly undervalued and are doing work that is comparable with other legal jobswithin the Scottish Executive and the rest of the civil service. The CrownOffice has consistently refused to accept this but now we have the evidence,produced by independent consultants, to back this up.

The LordAdvocate promised our members last year that if the report highlighted thisdifference he would use his best endeavours to secure the funding necessary toput it right. He now has to make good on his promise. If the PFS is to recruitand retain talented staff, they must be prepared to reward them fairly.

The ScottishExecutive now faces the position where lawyers in the PFS are paidsignificantly lower salaries than those within the Scottish Executive itselfdoing comparable work, and those doing similar work in England and Wales. Thereis no justice in that.

Helen Nisbet, Secretary of theProcurator Fiscal Society section of the FDA said:

We are inthe perverse position where our members are paid significantly less for theirprosecution work for Customs and Excise than the lawyers carrying out the sameprosecutions in England and Wales.

Even withinScotland, we have a situation where one part of the Scottish Executive theFiscal Service is paying its lawyers much less than the rest of the ScottishExecutive. This is grossly unfair and will only continue to build resentment.We have raised these issues for years with the Crown Office, but on deaf ears.We hope that with this irrefutable evidence and a new senior management team inthe PFS, there will be recognition of the levels of discontent felt by ourmembers over this issue. Senior management must will come forward withproposals quickly to put this right.

Ends

Notesfor Editors

1. TheFDA is the trade union and professional body representing the UKs 11,000 seniorcivil and public servants. Our members include policy advisors, specialadvisers, senior managers, tax inspectors, economists, statisticians,accountants, government lawyers, Procurator Fiscals, crown prosecutors and NHSmanagers

2. Forfurther information contact:

Dave Penman(PFS negotiator) on 07976-503827 (mobile)

Helen Nisbet (Secretaryof the Procurator Fiscal Society section of the FDA) on 0141 418 5128 or 07813 166 421(mobile)

Simon Moore (chief press officer) on020-7343-1111 or 07967 484441 (mobile)