Christmas and New Year Message From Hampshire Police Federation

23 December 2021

Christmas and New Year Message From Hampshire Police Federation

And so we come to the end of 2021, another challenging year for policing, and one we won’t forget in a hurry.

The demands of policing COVID continued, all on top of a lack of resources, being under attack from the media and a total lack of support from the Government.

Yet our officers continued to work hard and do their very best to serve their communities in difficult circumstances.

On the positive side, Hampshire Police has welcomed a few hundred new officers. However the workload for those who are training and tutoring all these officers cannot be underestimated. The Policing Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF) means that trainee officers are only available for operational policing 80% of their time, so this puts extra demand on the rest of the team.

Meanwhile the demand for the police service has risen, and officers are over-worked, stretched to breaking point and struggling.

As we look ahead to 2022, we’re not likely to see an improvement in the PEQF situation, as it’s a three-year programme and our first cohort won’t finish training until September 2023. We are continuing to recruit more officers throughout 2022.

Of course, we all hope that COVID will go away next year and things can start getting back to normal, but that does not look likely at the moment.

The Federation will continue to push the Government for a pay rise next year, after this year’s pay freeze, and we will update you every step of the way.

Here at Hampshire Police Federation we are always looking to improve our welfare provision. Our welfare breaks to Sandy Balls are reserved for the whole of 2022, but we have expanded our flotation therapy provision, and now can provide members with physio if other avenues have been exhausted.

Our Federation elections have finished and we have 41 Fed reps across the force. Our 18 new reps are being trained as quickly as possible, so they can support all our members in any way that they need.

If colleagues need support and assistance, please don’t hesitate to shout.

We wish you a peaceful Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.