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Specials Fed membership


Philbo

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Great as a Special Constable to finally receive an invitation to join the Fed. In addition the whole cost is being picked up directly by the force, although I understand this is subject to review and not necessarily the same with every force.

We’ll wait and see what real benefits it brings but is another step to achieving parity with the support regular officers receive.

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Sounds nice, but why should the force pay? Cant see any real justification for that decision other than buying some degree of “loyalty”!

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11 hours ago, BlueBob said:

Sounds nice, but why should the force pay? Cant see any real justification for that decision other than buying some degree of “loyalty”!

By-and-large, forces pay mileage and subsistence allowance, why treat Fed membership differently?

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On 17/11/2022 at 09:03, Indiana Jones said:

By-and-large, forces pay mileage and subsistence allowance, why treat Fed membership differently?

B and large, mileage etc is a cost to do the job. This type of membership is optional, in looking for parity, it suddenly seems some get to pay their own subscriptions whilst other have them paid for - good way to show parity!

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If this is going to turn into a discussion about parity, I think you'll find that there is very little of it in favour of the SC

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On 19/11/2022 at 17:54, Indiana Jones said:

If this is going to turn into a discussion about parity, I think you'll find that there is very little of it in favour of the SC

This.  Despite there being employment laws in place that one force is waiting for the outcome of we're treated like dirt in many forces.

Lancs have opted to pay our fees directly.  They're a professional subscription, and we're not legally allowed to be out of pocket.  Some forces have opted to let SCs pay, then reimburse them.  That seems unnecessarily clunky as you're just adding admin costs to the force itself. 

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On 19/11/2022 at 08:23, BlueBob said:

B and large, mileage etc is a cost to do the job. This type of membership is optional, in looking for parity, it suddenly seems some get to pay their own subscriptions whilst other have them paid for - good way to show parity!

@BlueBob +I still recall going to one of our special constable Wednesday night training sessions about thirty years ago (give or take)there would be at least ten or twelve specials present usually. 
 The trainer brought to our attention that after some negotiations we could now join the federation if we wished and said what the fee would be.
Unfortunately I can’t remember what this charge was to be per annum now but what I can remember was that I thought at the time  that  it was a vast sum to pay.
The rest of the class thought the same, some like me had been in quite a while while others were very new. I had had no problems whatsoever up till this time  so probably rightly or wrongly couldn’t see the point.
Do you happen to know what a “ball park” modern day sub is a year for a special?

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Membership cost is the same for SCs as PCs. Reduced fee in the first year of service, then £15 a month. 

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On 25/11/2022 at 19:47, Indiana Jones said:

Membership cost is the same for SCs as PCs. Reduced fee in the first year of service, then £15 a month. 

£15 a month?! Im being ripped off!

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37 minutes ago, Sir Penguin said:

£15 a month?! Im being ripped off!

A few years ago when an Inspectors Federation Rep this was in discussion,  which I was in favour of, but at that time we were talking of a reduced fee because of the disparity in the hours worked between Regulars and Specials.  Them being allowed membership is no surprise but the subscription rate certainly is.

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1 hour ago, Sir Penguin said:

£15 a month?! Im being ripped off!

Why?  For want of a better name, it’s insurance for when things go wrong.

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13 minutes ago, BlueBob said:

Why?  For want of a better name, it’s insurance for when things go wrong.

I completely agree, but my Membership cost is £24 not £15.

 

 

 

 

 

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It is the same as a regular PC, so I think from what I read it is £24 a month for specials (discounted in the first year the same as regulars). My force is paying it directly to the Fed when a special joins, about 60% have joined already, and the number slowly increases. I was at an event in which the Chief Constable strongly encouraged specials to join, and accepted it was a cost to the force but felt it was a useful insurance in case things ever went wrong.

Our Fed Chair and the fed reps have always informally tried to help specials when things did not go well, but now they can actively get involved and it may also see more training being made available to specials to counter the knowledge gap - something the Fed appears to have pushed for some time (at least locally).

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