Ian Lester Bio

I am a Police Constable of 22 years and have worked in various roles across the County. I’ve been a Federation Representative for 3 years and I’ve supported numerous members who have been dealing with some very difficult situations. These range from Welfare Support Meetings, Grievances, REG 12 &13 as well as Misconduct cases.

I’m still an operation officer within Lancashire and can be found most weekends working Football, either on a serial or as a spotter.  I will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with you on the front line and I’m very keen to continue being an operational officer should I be voted in as your Chair.

Priorities

Pay & Renumeration – The 4.75 increase in pay across all ranks is a step in the right direction. Do my colleagues deserve more? Absolutely, and the Government must go further to pay officers fairly for the unique and dangerous job we do. As your Chair and national council representative I will continue to fight to get our members the pay they deserve following real terms cut of 18% during the last decade, the effects of which have taken their toll.

Wellbeing – This is an area I am extremely passionate about. I will continue to promote the health, safety and wellbeing provisions are available to the membership to ensure you can access support. As your Chair I will ensure Lancashire Constabulary continue to provide a service that supports all aspects of psychological health and wellbeing to assist our members. I will look to bring more Treat and Recover routes to our membership who have experienced health issues through providing a wide range of professional, evidence-based support options.

Pensions – Law firm Leigh Day, brought the legal challenge in 2016, regarding Police Officers who were moved onto pension schemes with reduced benefits. It was brought following the imposition of the Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) Scheme, which came into force on 1 April 2015. Police officers should have stayed in the pension schemes they signed up to, or better, and that remains my stance in any future discussions over police officer pensions. I can’t change what happened 12 years ago but as your prospective Chair and National Council Representative, I can ensure that these decisions about our Pension Scheme are never made again, certainly not whilst I am in office.

Misconduct – I hear all too often that misconduct hearings and meetings are brought for mistakes which could have been dealt with through more appropriate means, which cause unnecessary stress for members who are under enough strain already. “The whole blame culture”, a belief that any deviation from the Standards of Professional Behaviour has to be put through a misconduct process, belongs in the past.

I want to see more opportunities throughout formal misconduct proceedings for matters to be weeded out into the Reflective Practice arena which will result in more timely investigations.

As your Chair my aim is to ensure that a proportionate and balanced investigation is carried out as soon as possible and as quickly as possible, and the focus is clearly on cultivating a culture of learning, development and honest reflection.