THE CHAIR ANSWERS
How will that lost trust be rebuilt between law enforcement and the communities they serve? The report has raised many serious issues that cannot be ignored. They need to be properly addressed if officers can have confidence in the system in which they work, and the public can again have confidence in policing. PFEW believes that cultural change is needed across all forces, and this starts from the top, through directive, ethical leadership. There will always be negative media surrounding policing, including on social media, but we will always do what we can to bring balance to the discussion, provide context, and give our members a voice. So much positive work is being delivered within policing on a day-to-day basis and we really want to showcase this to the public, as it really helps with rebuilding confidence.
In March, my colleague, National Chair
Steve Hartshorn, took part in a week-long feature on Talk TV to discuss the various roles within policing with presenter Ian Collins and policing guests from the Federation, and the frontline. It was a perfect opportunity to educate the public, media and politicians, and paint the service in a positive light. Many members of the public phoned and messaged the show with supportive messages.
Shortly, we will be promoting our 2023
Police Bravery Award nominees, which receives nationwide coverage in the media. The awards acknowledge the outstanding acts of courage undertaken, and the lengths police officers go to to protect others, often putting their own lives on the line.
Why did the PFEW pull out of the 2019 judicial review of the pay award mechanism, only to launch another one in 2022?
Discussions leading to withdrawal of the 2018 Judicial Review proceedings remain confidential and, while PFEW does not
It does not recognise the financial hardships police officers are facing daily, and suppressed police pay to the point that many are finding it hard to live on their salaries and rely on food banks. Currently, the pay mechanism is just a
“Officers deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, and that begins with a significant uplift in pay and conditions.”
intend to discuss these in public, we can say our actions were based on positive and satisfactory discussions with the Government at the time. The decision to bring proceedings in 2022 was based on the 2021 pay award, which PFEW, and the other staff associations that were party to the claim, saw as typifying the biased, unfair mechanism for determining police pay and allowances.
The Government has already shown us that it does not value its police service.
white elephant, where the Government ultimately decides what police officers can and cannot receive by way of fair remuneration. PFEW has continuously tried to engage with the Government on this issue, but our efforts have been met with silence. Having launched an application for Judicial Review, along with Chief Police Officers’ Staff Association (CPOSA) and the Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA), we have to make any efforts necessary to ensure the Government realises this issue needs to be rectified. Taking legal action allows
us to fight this issue and engage with the Government. We have know they will continue to subjugate police pay and ride roughshod over officers, because they do not have employment rights in pay disputes. As a Federation, we are not being
unreasonable in asking for a pay mechanism that acts independently. As public servants, MPs are happy to accept the recommendation of their own independent pay body as binding. All we ask is that they do the same with ours.
25 | POLICE | APRIL 2023
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