Understanding the National Agreement

Allowances

Upon transfer you are eligible for the appropriate NPS allowances and the benefits associated with being a civil servant.  This means that from 26th June, your CRC allowances and benefits ceased unless NPS pays the same and you meet eligibility criteria. Additional information about common allowances is highlighted below however please note that these lists are not exhaustive.

HMPPS will not provide the following allowances (this list is not exhaustive):

• Group or individual insurance (health, dental, life etc.);
• Private medical care;
• Employer student loan contributions;
• Disability income protection;
• Lease cars;
• Tuition reimbursement;
• Profit sharing;
• Reimbursement for car parking charges at normal place of work.

Common allowances within the NPS include (not exhaustive):

• Prison Supplement – paid to staff where their main place of work is a prison
• Standby – paid to staff who may be required to respond to work duties out of hours, on a rota basis.
• Acting Allowance for staff temporarily undertaking work in a higher band, they will be paid on temporary promotion basis with a 5% increase as a minimum and then placed onto the next highest pay point in the higher band.
• Market Forces Supplement paid to some Local Delivery Units who are experiencing difficulties with recruitment and retention.
• London Weighting

Excess Hours Payments (Overtime)

If you are a full time employee (up to and including band 3) who works in excess of contracted hours and has this previously agreed in line with business need, you will be compensated with Time Off In Lieu (TOIL) or, where this is not possible, excess hours payments.

Hourly rates are based on basic salary excluding any other payments and allowances. Depending on the days that the excess hours are worked, you will receive either 50% additional pay or double pay. Excess hours payments are only available when they are agreed in advance and supporting business needs.

Staff in Bands 4-6 and above who are working excess hours will be compensated with TOIL.

Unsocial hours payments

After transfer, you may be entitled to claim unsocial hours payments. This is when, as part of normal working hours, work is required for operational reasons to be carried out during the times identified below;

• Monday – Friday 7pm – 8am
• Weekend 8am Saturday – 8am Monday
• Public / Bank holidays.

These working hours are role specific and the unsocial hours will be a pre-agreed working pattern that suits the needs of the business. Unsocial hours payments are only available when they agreed in advance and supporting business needs.

This information is only applicable to those who were directly employed CRC staff who are covered by the National Agreement. 

Hours of work

All full-time staff were aligned onto the NPS standard 37 hour week. Some of you may have worked longer or shorter weeks and after transfer your working week will change to 37 hours. This does not impact contractual working hours for part time or job share staff, but the hourly rate may differ.

Your new NPS base pay will be calculated based on a 37 hour working week. However for three years from the date of transfer we will protect the difference between your old base pay and your new NPS base pay.  You can read more about pay protection and pay assimilation here.

After transfer, you can apply for reduced working hours using the standard NPS process.

This information is only applicable to those who were directly employed CRC staff who are covered by the National Agreement. 

Travel and subsistence 

After transfer, you have been aligned to the NPS travel and subsistence policy.  You can see more detail about the entitlements within the HMPPS below and you can read the full policy on the HMPPS intranet. Some people were eligible for a buy out of mileage allowances up until 20th August 2021.

If you are required to travel beyond your normal office location(s), you may be entitled to claim the additional travel expenses and subsistence. You can book train tickets and hotels via the online booking portal, and hire cars or your private vehicle can be used when no public transport is available, or where your car has been adapted or adjusted to support you. You can claim subsistence if you travel 5 miles beyond your normal permanent workplace.

When claiming travel and subsistence on SOP (the MoJ HR and Finance system), you will be required to tick a declaration and keep your receipts for 2 years. You can access policies and information here:

• https://intranet.noms.gsi.gov.uk/policies-and-subjects
• https://hmpps.myhub.sscl.com/

This information is only applicable to those who were directly employed CRC staff who are covered by the National Agreement. 

Annual Leave

Your new leave year will run from the 1^st March to the end of February. As a transitional measure, you will be able to retain your CRC annual leave entitlement until the end of February 2022. From 1 March 2022, CRC entitlements will cease to apply and the NPS Annual Leave entitlements will apply as set out in the National Agreement.

A calculator has been made available to help you to pro-rata your current annual leave entitlement and leave year to end on 28 February 2022. You can access the calculator here.

Your annual leave will differ depending on your years of continuous service.

If you started before or on 31 August 2017, you will have a total leave package of 27 days which rises to 32 days over 5 years and 33 after 7 years. 

Please note that you are only eligible for the privilege day from the 2022 – 2023 leave year.

If you started on or after 1 September 2017, you will have a total leave package of 26 days which rises to 31 days over 5 years. 

Please note that you are only eligible for the privilege day from the 2022 – 2023 leave year.

This information is only applicable to directly employed CRC staff who are covered by the National Agreement. 

Voluntary Redundancy 

VR means Voluntary Redundancy. The VR scheme is an important part of the National Agreement. The VR scheme will be launched at the point of transfer and will run for two years. More detail will be available when the scheme launches.

This information is only applicable to those who were directly employed CRC staff who are covered by the National Agreement. 

Family leave

If you have an Expected Week of Childbirth (EWC) date or matching date (for adoption) on day 1 or after  transfer, you will be subject to HMPPS policies. This means that your existing CRC terms applied up to the date of transfer and HMPPS terms apply from the date of transfer onwards. There will be no back-dating of the HMPPS terms prior to the date of transfer.

If you had an Expected Week of Childbirth (EWC) date or matching date (for adoption) prior to transfer you will continue on your CRC policy entitlement. Eligibility criteria apply to all types of family leave. 

Occupational sick leave

After you transition to the new Probation Service you will move on to the NPS occupational sick pay policies. The entitlements are highlighted below.

This information is only applicable to those who were directly employed CRC staff who are covered by the National Agreement.