ImportantI am writing in relation to the recent briefing to all Staff from the Chief Constable in relation to the financial position we are in as a Force.
As highlighted by the Chief we have to find £9m of savings over the forthcoming financial year and further savings in the years that follow unless there is some significant change in the funding position from Government.
In my discussions with both the Chief Constable and John Bloomer they have given their assurances that they do not want and are not seeking to address the funding gap at this time with redundancies as the way to achieve it.
Nevertheless, the gap has to be closed and the majority of expenditure is on pay. In the context of continuing insistence by the last Government and the current one to mandate how many Police Officers must be employed the only room for manoeuvre on staffing costs is adjustment in the numbers of police staff and overtime costs.
We will be working in UNISON to achieve savings whilst protecting your jobs and we support the current approach being taken by the Chief Constable and his team on the Executive.
However, we recognise that this approach means that filling vacant posts will be challenged as each role will be scrutinised to see if the vacancy can be used to achieve a saving instead of being filled and becoming a cost.
Overtime payments will also be scrutinised moving forwards and I would like to remind all staff that they should not be working overtime unless there is a time limited demand at the point it is worked and it is authorised in advance by line management. Unless overtime worked is agreed in advance with your supervision, they may quite rightly refuse payment for it.
This is not to say that overtime worked with authorisation will not be paid as it will, but it may not be as readily available as it has been in the past and all departments will be asked to reduce this cost.
The overtime budget is significant at around £30,000 a day and we all have a part to play in reducing this bill to protect our jobs and deliver a cost effective service.
I wrote directly to all 12 MP’s in Staffordshire at the start of January and you will find a copy of that letter attached to this email. I have to date only received a response from one of them which is very poor. I would encourage as many of you as possible to also write to your own constituency MP to highlight the funding crisis and the impact on the policing services delivered to Staffordshire. You can find out who your MP is Find your MP – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament
The MP who did respond was Dave Robertson for the Lichfield Constituency. He asked a question of the Policing Minister on what assessment has been done on the impact of us as Police Staff by the funding situation. Her response was that it is for Police Officers to fight crime and for Chief Constables and PCC’s to make operational decisions on how to achieve this with the resources available. The response is insulting to Police Staff who also fight crime and clearly shows a lack of understanding of the role of the Commissioner, who cannot and does not make operational decisions.
I will seek to put pressure on MP’s and the Home Office using the mechanisms available to me.
For now, your Branch of UNISON will work in collaboration with our employer to do all we can to protect jobs and the service we deliver.
Kind regards
Robert Birch
Branch Secretary
Staffordshire Police Unison
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