SESSIONS
WORKFORCE UNDER PRESSURE True scale of the wellbeing issues in policing outlined
In a hard-hitting session, sponsored by the College of Policing (CoP), PFEW Wellbeing Leads, Sue Honeywill and Paul Williams, were joined by Andy Rhodes, CoP wellbeing lead and Professor John Harrison, CoP chief medical officer. Sue opened the session by laying out the pressures faced by police officers across England and Wales.
“21st century policing is a complex profession,” she said. “As other public sector organisations have been contracting, the police have increasingly
stepped into that space, occupying and assuming responsibility for issues that are best responded to by other agencies.” Forty per cent of incidents attended by police are mental health related, a staggering percentage, which underlines the breadth of work officers are managing alongside more traditional police work. “At the same time, officers’ pensions have been eroded, assaults on officers are increasing and the cost-of-living crisis has squeezed pay to such a level that we know some are forced to resort to food banks to stay afloat,” Sue continued.
During her opening speech, Sue also highlighted how there has been a slight increase in long-term sickness absence and an increase in officers being placed on adjusted duties, which highlights they have been on recoup duties for more than 12 months. Following Sue’s briefing, Andy Rhodes QPM OBE delivered a comprehensive update on the work of the National Police Wellbeing Service, Oscar Kilo.
“The one thing that stands out for me is it is not the nature of the work itself that is making our people ill,” he said. “It is the way we run our organisations, i.e., not doing the work we signed up for and doing work that doesn’t give us meaning and purpose, is very damaging to our mental health and wellbeing.” This was followed by an introduction
to clinical governance by Chief Police Medical Officer Professor John Harrison, detailing the role of occupational health teams within policing and the role of those in charge. He called on leaders to make sure occupational health receives the attention required to ensure officer wellbeing is managed correctly. Paul Williams gave the hard-hitting closing remarks, outlining the true scale of the wellbeing issues in policing. “The evidence speaks for itself. In the current situation we have to ask ourselves, is there light at the end of the tunnel? “These stats paint a stark and grim reality of the challenges we currently face, but even without the statistics the situation seems obvious to all of us. Whether we choose to believe it or not, it is staring us right in the face and is a real risk to the future of policing.”
Q&A WITH PFEW LEADERS Members’ questions and concerns answered
National Chair Steve Hartshorn, Deputy National Chair Tiff Lynch, National Secretary Calum Macleod, National Treasurer Simon Kempton and CEO Mukund Krishna took questions from the membership on how the organisation is run, plans for the future and what support they have planned.
The session opened with a question for
Steve on what the organisation is doing to support firearms officers across England and Wales. Steve responded: “We are fully embedded in making sure the Home Office review announced into the use of force for firearms officers is comprehensive.”
The depiction of policing in the media was a contentious issue throughout the conference and Tiff was asked what PFEW plans to do.
She responded: “We will be coming out against the negative headlines from the press that paint us in a bad light. I also want our leaders to come out in support
16 | POLICE | SPECIAL EDITION | 2023
of officers and show the community and government we are doing a great job.” A major announcement from this year’s conference was the intention to cast a vote to members on industrial rights. Calum was asked what PFEW is doing to ensure members don’t end up losing more than they gain if this is to happen. He replied: “We have to do things differently, where has it got us since 2010? We need we will be looking at an indicative vote as to what route they would like to take. We have a decision to make as an organisation.” After delivering the treasurer’s update in the session prior to the panel session, Simon was quizzed on why subs had not increased in line with inflation. He responded: “As treasurers, we consider projected finances and bring recommendations to the board and council who have the final decision. The board has decided to retain the current level of subscriptions. We review this every year, and we will consider it again in 2024.”
With the discussion on industrial rights and the announcement made earlier in the day, Steve was asked whether the PFEW would consider organising a demonstration like in 2012. He said: “There is a significant cost involved with organising a rally - last time it didn’t seem to work. We have other options such as working with the media and directly speaking to politicians.” Mukund also reiterated the importance
of tailoring PFEW’s approach and stressed the importance of fighting for police pay. He explained: “We need to change how we influence and negotiate accordingly. The main issue we need to consider is the risk officers carry when they leave home, the P factor. Neither the Home Secretary nor the PRRB consider this.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
