More help for officers planning to start a family

POLICE officers who are planning on starting a family should find the process much easier thanks to seminars provided by Essex Police Federation.

The force traditionally struggled with juggling the needs of the organisation with those of new parents, according to the Federation, but now the two bodies are working together to improve the situation.

Essex Police Federation Secretary Monty Montgomery (pictured) has set up meetings for officers on maternity leave. “We were getting it wrong,” he said. “There were all sorts of issues for officers on maternity leave – it was very much a case of out of sight, out of mind.”

He said many problems with flexible working could be solved with a bit of “imagination” from area policing commanders.

Mr Montgomery added: “We had one officer who was restricted for medical reasons. She told us that she could work three days a week, in uniform, for a set amount of hours but couldn’t do any confrontation work. The idea was that she would run the demand car, going out, taking statements and talking to victims.

“It was only when our chairman went to speak to the area policing commander that he saw the benefits of it. It only needed one other person to do the other two days, and the demand car would be covered all week, so you wouldn’t have to take anyone off response.”

The report Gender Agenda 3, published last year, said there were “negative cultural attitudes” across the service about part time and flexible working.

It highlighted a lack of consultation and contact with women during maternity leave, which generated stress and anxiety for new mothers and made organising childcare more difficult.

Jayne Monkhouse, policing equality advisor, said: “The problems I hear about are forces reorganising without taking women on maternity leave into account and women being moved out of their role and being put on restrictive detail as soon as they announce they are pregnant without a proper risk assessment.

“Due to cuts, forces are continually restructuring and women need to be kept informed about that. If they are not there are all sorts of pitfalls about being treated illegally.”

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, which was introduced in April this year, police officer parents can share parental leave following changes to Police Regulations. Mothers, fathers and adoptive parents will be able to share parental leave if they wish to do so. Prospective parents may also be granted unpaid time off to attend up to two antenatal appointment with their partner.