Figures released under a Freedom of Information request has show that Devon and Cornwall Police are spending in excess of £120,000 annually funding union reps.
The full breakdown of figures :
2006/07 £103,424
2007/08 £106,056
2008/09 £108,810
2009/10 £116,697
2010/11 £119,704
We are informed that "The above figures cover salary only and exclude National Insurance, Pension and other costs. It does not include any ad-hoc time for other representatives but covers the 4.5 full and part time roles".
There are currently 4 full time union representatives, 2 for UNISON and 2 for GMB. Also, there is a further part time representative for UNISON.
We are told that the part time Unison representative "does not have formal release but spends around half his time on industrial relations activities"
Those figures above would just cover those workers.
However, we are also informed that there are a "number of representatives who take ad-hoc release but no central records are kept of the amount of time granted. It is estimated these will range from nil hours to 8 hours per week in terms of release".
Of these ad-hoc representatives, 16 are UNISON, 4 are GMB.
Overall, that's a lot of money and hours spent on union duties, especially with the sweeping cutbacks being imposed on the police service.
