Over the last number of weeks Management Side have been in consultation with NIPSA regarding competitions for EO2 and EO1 grades. As members will be aware, across the NICS there are thousands of vacancies and NIPSA have been pressing for internal competitions for both of these grades. In addition, given the current vacancies at these grades and the pressure that this is putting on existing members, NIPSA argued strongly that until such times as the competitions were completed the 2014 EO1 list should be used to deal with current vacancies. NIPSA also argued for additional candidates to be listed from the 2018 EO2 list. Despite significant pressure from NIPSA the Management Side refused to concede to this request.
The primary arguments put forward by the Management Side were Section 75 equality arguments regarding under-represented groups in the feeder grades. While there are certainly issues to be addressed regarding under-represented groups, these would only ever be addressed by significant outreach to these groups. This is something that NIPSA have asked for urgent further engagement on as, if the NICS are serious about addressing under-representation for whatever reason, then that will not be achieved by merely stating it in a section of the Candidate Information Booklet by way of a welcoming statement.
I wish to assure members that we pushed very hard for internal competitions but the equality data was difficult to overcome.
It is therefore important that members are aware of the dates for the launch of these competitions so that they can apply for either or both of the competitions. The dates for the launch of each of the competitions are as follows:
- EO2 competition - Launches on Monday 10 May 2021
- EO1 competition - Launches on Monday 17 May 2021
Please inform as many members as possible.
