“Changes to Federation need to be right and proper”

ESSEX Police Federation will not be a “blocker to change” in the wake of the independent review of the Police Federation of England and Wales.

Speaking after the review was published on Monday, Essex branch board chairman Mark Smith said that in some ways the recommendations were “exciting” and he looked forward to reforms in the future.

“Essex Police [Federation] will not be one of the forces that is a blocker to change but one of the forces that is looking forward to change and getting everything in place for the future,” he said.

Mr Smith did, however, raise concerns about a recommendation that the branch chairman and the branch secretary should no longer come from the same rank.

“That is taking away the choice of the local membership and local joint branch boards to pick the right people for the job,” said Mr Smith.

The review claims that the move would ensure some “balance” among the leading voices in the local force Federations and is important to the composition of the National Council – a new board of local chairmen and secretaries that will hold the national federation members to account.

“If your branch board is working properly then no matter what rank you are when you join your local branch board, you can represent anybody, not just your rank, and that is the way we tend to work in Essex,” said Mr Smith.

The chairman also stressed that Essex Police Federation only has one financial account.

The review raised concerns about a lack of transparency among some local Federations that raise extra funds by providing additional financial and insurance services for their members from which they earn a commission. This is sometimes placed into a second account, which is not subject to the same transparency rules as their main account.

Mr Smith said Essex Federation’s number two account was scrapped many years ago.

“Everything regarding funds in Essex goes through the main account, it is audited and is available for any subscribing member to come and see in the office, which we tell members about on a regular basis,” he said.

Essex Police Federation will be circulating the review document to members via Federation reps and Facebook, and will be seeking feedback from members about the proposed changes.

“It is something that needs to be worked through carefully and we need to make sure that the changes that are implemented are correct,” said Mr Smith.

“We will be guided by Leatherhead about how quickly they want things to happen and then we will plan for the future.”