Talloway
Sorry if I seemed a bit off hand - suffering (valiantly) from man flu.
Not sure about either EGLL or LAC - the fact of the matter is, I would fully support any unit getting paid proper AAVA rate for training on new kit - unless of course that training could be covered on normal rostered watch days and hours, without an impact on service delivery - but we all know that you can't pull the staff out of the ops environment without that impact - ergo you should pay them.
Our VCCS was introdued on 'O' date for TC Swanwick, training was several months before on simulator kit at West Drayton. As it was 'only' VCCS, it was covered either by one of the days clawback (instead of being feed or assessor for TRUCE, or by individual release from a working day.
The scale of training required by yourselves and LAC is/was of course much larger.
I honestly don't know what AC got, nor EGLL... and to be fair any other unit that moved to electronic strips (EGLL was not the first)... I don't know enough about what was all encompassed in the EGLL 'move' (of a few hundred yards) to comment.
I don't think it should be a jealously guarded secret though - if we are upfront with these things, then hopefully everyone would get dealt with equally.
But if management want to progress large scale moves and equipment changes, they need to allow for training and proper renumeration.
Wasn't needed for TC, different kettle of fish for other units. Of course that would mean management being willing to plan ahead
and not do things on the cheap (when money is thrown away elsewhere).
As for Band 6 for TC - unless something is done to differentiate the different tasks/units in the room, we couldn't justify it - no way could it be a blanket rate across the room...
and to tell the truth, although my validations would be included in the ones that would be awarded Band 6 (if it was ever introduced, purely speculative based on your comment) and I wouldn't turn it down if it was offered to me (as long as it meant no detrimental effect on other units in the country), I'd rather see the likes of Farnborough or Aberdeen (to name just 2 worthy causes), being given a slightly better deal
Vote NO
Thanks for fixing my error... my excuse is I've got man flu
(a lesser person would've died by now, I'm sure of it)