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Speculative Cuts in Police Officer and Police staff Numbers is Today’s Headline News
Posted on 15/07/2010
Speculative cuts in police officer and police staff numbers is today’s headline news. This is off the back of Police Review’s feature tomorrow, within which the former ACPO lead on finance, Tim Brain talks about future cuts in the service.
Paul McKeever has been interviewed on BBC Breakfast this morning and Simon Reed did 5-Live.
They both made the point that Tim Brain's feature is pure speculation. We know difficult and tough decisions will be taken but scaremongering ahead of the comprehensive spending review in autumn achieves nothing. We don't yet know what cuts may happen.
This was reiterated by the Police Minister, Nick Herbert.
They also made the point that clarification of what the front line actually is may be necessary if the government insist on saying frontline services will be protected. What does this mean to the public?
The issue of overtime was also raised and a solid defence put forward to explain that this is to meet the expectations and needs of the public. Also, an explanation that police officers make a high level of personal contributions to the police pension scheme. It's not all the public purse.
1) BOBBIES on the beat could look round in the future to see that their colleagues are no longer there to support them, as thousands of police officer and staff posts are slashed.
Tim Brain, the former ACPO lead on finance told Police Review that over the next five years at least 12,000 police officer and staff posts could go as a result of severe government cuts to the policing budget.
However Dr Brain warned that cuts in the workforce as high as 60,000 could be required when the government completes its spending review in the autumn.
Dr Brain, who retired as chief constable of Gloucestershire Constabulary at the start of this year, fears that funding levels to the service are likely to reduce by 6.7 per cent in the next five years.
Speaking exclusively to Police Review, Dr Brain rejected the idea that the numbers of frontline staff would be largely unaffected by the cuts and said there would be 'real pressure' on sustaining neighbourhood policing.
He said: 'The Office for Budget Responsibility says these cuts are just natural wastage. Yes, but normally when you get natural wastage you get natural replacement. So this is 12,000 careers that are not happening, 12,000 vacancies that are not being filled.
'So eventually people will come on shift, look left and look right and see that someone is not there. That is bound to happen. All these cold case review teams - are they going to be sustainable? There will also be real pressure on sustaining neighbourhood policing.'
Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police and ACPO lead on workforce development, said: 'The bottom line in all this is 80-85 per cent of the budget is spent on savings so you have to essentially reduce the size of the workforce.
'I would actually say that [the service losing 12,000 officers] sounds a bit tame to be honest. It sounds pretty conservative. However it is still too early as there are many questions about how it will be geared and how it will play out over the years.'
Dr Brain also warned that with no increase in Government funding to the service likely, a pay increase for police officers and staff could jeopardise more posts. And he questioned how wise reducing forces' 'back office' functions would be. He said: 'If this financial crisis drives out the inefficiencies then that is fine but there is not that much inefficiency out there.
'You look at where a lot of back office has gone in terms of admin support units and file building team – they are designed to keep the frontline on the frontline.'
2) THE level of training and responsibility for police staff should be improved as their numbers fall due to budget cuts, the ACPO lead on workforce modernisation has said.
Peter Fahy told Police Review that police staff recognised cuts would be coming as forces cope with large scale cuts in funding, but he said there was an opportunity to give them 'greater flexibility' in their roles.
Mr Fahy, who is also chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said: 'Forces feel sometimes they are constrained by very narrow job descriptions which do not always recognise the realities of operational policing so therefore we will need to try and achieve greater flexibility among police staff.'
Asked if he feared strike action from civilians working in forces he said: 'I do think they are realistic about the financial situation and they can see what is happening to friends and colleagues. We have to be able to offer some hope for the future, it cannot just be a wasteland out there.
'And through this we have got find ways in which we can give staff greater responsibility and a more fulfilling role while reducing the cost of policing like the level of bureaucracy and supervision. A lot of staff I meet feel they are not trusted enough. They would like a higher level of training and more mainstream qualifications and they do think that’s reasonable if they are to do a good job.'
Asked whether the government might consider targeting the thousands of officers on restricted duties as way of cutting down the wage bill, Mr Fahy said: 'I do not think you can ignore [that the number of officers on restricted duties] is an issue. But it is very difficult to think of a way through it because of the impact of the disability discrimination legislation but also the obligation we feel to those staff. So we are going to have to look at things radically.'
3) MERSEYSIDE Police could see 800 fewer officers over the next four years following a freeze on recruitment.
Ian Leyland, secretary of Merseyside Police Federation, told Police Review a recruitment freeze would see around 200 officers leaving the force each year without being replaced.
The force has put an immediate freeze on recruitment for the current year to cover the £4.1m cut to this year's budget, but the force's federation has said this will not cover the significant cuts proposed by the Home Office for October this year.
The force currently has 4,512 police officers and 2,220 members of police staff. Mr Leyland added that around 200 police staff a year could also go and added 'the reality is that if we do lose staff in those numbers it is a falsehood to say that it is not going to impact on frontline policing. It clearly is. In my view, it will reduce the service to the public.'
A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: 'Everything possible will be done to protect frontline policing services, including neighbourhood policing.'
Is your job safe?
The coalition government is slashing the police service budget, with officer and staff posts on the line. Tim Brain, ACPO's former lead on finance, examines where the axe may fall. Click here for the full article.
