“Let’s try and influence proposed new officer pay structure”

THE Police Federation needs to ensure it is involved in the discussions for proposed new performance related pay structures for officers.

Steve Taylor, Chairman of Essex Police Federation, says he fears that the new way of remunerating officers is already a done deal, so it’s vital that Federations can have some influence on it now.

The College of Policing has said that major reform of police officer pay, work patterns, recruitment and deployment would be ‘quid pro quo’ for extra funding from the Treasury, currently being sought by the Home Secretary.

“Anyone that thinks the only way the Treasury can get police pay reform is by giving us more money – I think they’re being stunningly naïve,” he said.

“We’ve seen time and time again that our police service has things done to it, willing or otherwise, and police pay reform, I suspect, will fall into that category.

“That’s why I think it’s important we don’t duck the big issue here, that we don’t set our nose dead against it, because I have a real strong feeling that it’s going to happen anyway.

“Let’s get in there, let’s get down in the weeds, let’s start trying to bring influence to those decisions while they’re in their infancy rather than sticking our nose up, saying ‘it’s not going to work, we’re not getting involved’ and then having it done to us – this Government has a record of just railroading us anyway.

“Certain roles already attract certain additional payments anyway, so as a concept it’s not alien to us. It’s something that we need to be mature around, we need to have a clear understanding of what role and why may attract an additional payment, and it’s only when we have that general understanding and knowledge around it can we move forward without it being seen as derisive or detrimental,” he added.

“We see evidence of target driven activities all the time.

“We can’t bury our heads in the sand, we’ve got to have those difficult conversations.”