Branch representatives have been attending Operation Talla Gold, Silver and Bronze groups for Police Scotland and SPA Forensic Services in response to the Covid-19 emergency to represent your interests.

At yesterday’s Bronze Business Continuity meeting the employer side has informed us that People Services are asking all business leads to assess their work area, the roles within, and make a judgement on what is “business critical”. If all or part of a business area is deemed to be “not critical” options must be considered for home working, redeploying staff into other business critical areas within the function and if that is not an option then staff should be advised to go home until further notice as per the advice of the Prime Minister and First Minister for non-critical workers.

Any individuals asked to go home are not reporting absent, they will be recorded as “home deployable”. They will be expected to be available during their normal working days as the organisation will look to redeploy some staff to business-critical areas across the organisation.

Branch representatives will meet with Police Scotland to work on a recognition agreement for redeployments to ensure your rights are protected and that guidance is clear.

We are satisfied this is the right direction to take and will continue to monitor the deployment of our members. Thank you all for your support, your emails and examples that have helped us move this issue, and for the service you are providing to keep us all safe.