PFNDF
REWARD, RECOGNITION AND RESILIENCE
The chair and secretary of the Police Federation National Detectives’ Forum reflect on the group’s accomplishments one year on
The Police Federation National Detectives’ Forum (PFNDF) is continuing to press for better reward and recognition for members in investigative roles. With an influential seat at the table
alongside Detective Chief Superintendent Martin Brunning, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for investigator wellbeing, Detective Chief Constable Jason Hogg, NPCC investigator resilience lead and Sarah-Hayne Bray, NPCC investigator wellbeing subgroup engagement lead, PFNDF representatives have been voicing the challenges faced by detectives and investigators to bring about positive change. Over the past few months, the forum
has raised the need for stronger research surrounding targeted variable payments. Ben Hudson, PFNDF chair, explained:
“Targeted variable payments are contentious because it is a postcode lottery. Less than half of chiefs pay it, and out of those that do, there is further inconsistency as some pay as little as £500 per year, whilst others get paid up to £1200 a year.” Mel Warnes, PFNDF
role, such as having their full title on their warrant cards, which currently isn’t the case across many forces. Resilience and welfare are also at the top of the agenda, with the PFNDF ensuring measures are put in place for psychological testing so members receive regular assistance, and putting the onus on forces as it is their legal responsibility. For instance, in the case of child abuse investigations, in order to fulfil the duty of care to employees and the requirements of health and safety legislation, those with supervision and management responsibilities in the Child Abuse Investigation Unit should be concerned with the balance of work within the team, the welfare of individuals and the quality of their work. On 30 August last year, the Police
Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) also launched an ambitious campaign –
amendments to the Joint Principles of Redaction and offered PFNDF a seat on the National Disclosure Improvement Board. Sustained efforts by PFEW have found two strong allies in Parliament, Jane Hunt, MP for Loughborough, and Peter Aldous, MP for Waveney. They have proactively corresponded with the Prime Minister, Home Secretary, Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire, Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure and the Attorney General and submitted evidence in favour of the amendment to the data protection law. Earlier in May this year, police officers
“We have a seat at the table - we are a voice that is being heard in national meetings
with key stakeholders. This is all is having a meaningful impact.”
secretary, added: “The system is very inconsistent, and we believe it would be beneficial to look into introducing a more standardised system across forces for when they encounter difficulties filling positions within certain roles. “We are exploring how we can gain solid evidence so we can put together a strong case for regulation changes for consistency, as opposed to targeted variable payments being chief dependent, to acknowledge detectives for their proficiency, additional skills and qualifications.” While a change in regulations is a slow process, the forum feels there are small gestures which would go some way towards recognising detectives for their specialist
26 | POLICE | OCTOBER | 2023
#SimplifyDG6 – to give voice to thousands of officers in England and Wales facing arduous workloads due to the unnecessary bureaucratic burden of redacting case files at the pre-charge stage. The campaign asks the Government for
one innovative solution to a large-scale problem: Amend the Data Protection Act 2018 to enable police forces in England and Wales to safely share data with prosecutors at the pre-charge stage without excessive obligation to redact evidence. Within 12 minutes of the campaign’s launch, the NPCC reached out to the PFNDF expressing support. Within a month, the NPCC had collaborated with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to issue
saw a glimmer of hope when Jane Hunt MP tabled an amendment to the Data Protection and Data Information (No. 2) Bill with Peter Aldous MP as sponsor.
The amendment to the Bill
seeks to adjust provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018 to exempt the police service and CPS from certain data protection principles so they
can safely share unredacted data with one another when making charging decisions. “The amendment would result in cutting thousands of hours from police officer workloads and save valuable resources,” commented Mr Hudson. “We have a seat at the table - we are
a voice that is being heard in national meetings with key stakeholders,” continued Ms Warnes. “We are delving into more topics than ever before under one portfolio, looking in far more detail at recruitment and retention - including professionalising investigation programme levels 2, 3 and 4 - and reliance and welfare, sharing good practice and shortfalls. This is all is having a meaningful impact.”
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