PFEW Conference: Home office must ensure officers do not take a pay cut if they join CID

10 June 2021

The Chief officer in charge of investigator resilience has called on the Home Office to ensure officers do not take a pay cut if they want to join CID. 

Thames Valley Police Deputy Chief Constable Jason Hogg told the Police Federation of England and Wales’ annual conference today (10 June) that better pay prospects would help fill the gaps in investigative departments. 

He said: “There is a paper going into the Home Office recommending the reversing of the Winsor proposal so that officers do not lose that £1,200 when they step out of response to train as detectives.” 

Detectives are also entitled to a targeted bonus payment of up to £5,000, but this is down to chief constables’ discretion, leading to a “postcode lottery”, the conference heard. 

Mr Hogg said he was working hard to fill the 22 per cent vacant investigator posts that were identified by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in 2017. He also warned that welfare was a serious issue that put people off training to be a detective. 

He described officers starting their work day with their “head in their hands” because of excessive workloads. 

He said: “We need to focus on the wellbeing of investigators and we will roll out new toolkit of best practice looking at how forces can support the wellbeing of investigators. We know frontline CID officers have the worst levels of wellbeing and the most stress throughout the workforce.” 

Det Ch Supt Martin Brunning, of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Constabularies, said that a toolkit has been developed with “tried and tested techniques” that can improve wellbeing across the investigator ranks. The information will be posted on the Oscar Kilo website this month. The toolkit will be broken down into five chapters that address leadership, personal resilience; protecting the work force and managing mental health. 

He added: “If you get out of bed in the morning with low emotional energy because you have a busy life, a family, a partner working opposite shifts, you are dealing with pressures of life and you are coming into busy CID office with a full crime queue, a custody office, legacy jobs… you are in a very high risk of needing medical attention, be that for anxiety or depression or simply becoming unable to come into work.”