Christmas and New Year message from Hampshire Police Federation Chair Zoe Wakefield

21 December 2023

2023 has been another challenging year for Hampshire Police officers with a new Chief Constable, a new Deputy Chief Constable and a new operating model on top of the relentless demands from the public. However hundreds of new police officers have joined the Constabulary and are now able to join without having to commit to a 3 year degree.

From a Federation perspective, we have supported and continue to support numerous officers through misconduct processes both as subject and victim or witness. This is the bulk of our workload. We can access excellent legal advice but would urge officers to join the Group Insurance Scheme if they have not already done so. The Federation will only fund on duty matters related to your role whereas the comprehensive legal cover within the group insurance scheme will cover off duty matters.

Most recently the Federation has succeeded in getting the South East Allowance increased from £1,800 to the maximum of £2,000. The extra £200 per year will appear in pay packets from February, backdated to 1st January.

We successfully negotiated with the force to comply with the NPCC guidelines on the JRFT being reduced to 3.7 for access to PPST. This will help the small number of colleagues who struggle to pass due to factors beyond their control.

I have regular meetings with the PCC, CC and DCC. I am always asked how officers are feeling and I am always completely honest with them and pass on the feedback I get from our workplace Reps. The bosses don’t have the answers to some of the issues, i.e. not enough officers. The force are recruiting as much and as quickly as they can, but they are listening to your concerns. So please keep raising them with your local reps or contact the federation office.

This year we have raised over £3,000 for our 2 charities, The Police Children’s Fund (previously the Gurney Fund) and Children with Cancer.

Many of you will be working over the festive and new year period and missing out on time with your family and friends. Please stay safe and look after each other and I hope you all get some time with your loved ones.