Today we are publishing an update on the work underway to transform the Police Federation. I want every member to read it. You can find it here.

I will not pretend this has been anything other than a difficult period for the Federation. The Employment Tribunal judgment of 2023, and the governance failings identified by Baroness Bousted's Independent Review, exposed serious problems that we were required to confront honestly and to put right. The recent suspension of our CEO has added to the challenge. I know that has been unsettling for members and for reps.

We owed it to our members to face all of that head on. And that is what we are doing.

The transformation programme is our response: a serious, structured plan to reform governance, strengthen our finances, change our culture and improve the services we provide to the 145,000 officers we represent. The National Board expects to formally approve the full plan in the next four to six weeks. That approval will mark a significant step from planning to delivery. But a great deal is already underway.

What has already changed

We have made real progress. 41% of the recommendations and tribunal orders are already complete, with a further 47% in progress.

The Board has approved the appointment of Independent Non-Executive Directors. Job descriptions are in place and we are moving quickly to bring external expertise and independent challenge into our governance for the first time. These are not symbolic appointments. They are there to test our decisions and hold us to account.

A Remuneration Committee is being established to introduce a transparent framework for setting senior pay, with external benchmarking and full disclosure in our Annual Report and Accounts. A Nominations Committee will oversee appointments, replacing informal processes with open, structured recruitment. Board minutes are now shorter and clearer, focused on outcomes and available for all to read.

We are also delivering for members directly. We are shortly launching a Victims and Witness Support Programme to give officers who report wrongdoing the backing they deserve, because the officers who most want to see bad officers removed are the good officers who have to serve next to them. We are introducing an independent reporting service so members have a confidential route to raise concerns about the Federation itself. And we are developing our Real State of Policing report: an evidence-based account of what policing is actually like on the frontline, drawn from the people who do the job, to be launched at Annual Conference later this year.

We are also working to better support our reps. Serving as a Federation representative is demanding work. Our reps carry the weight of supporting members through some of the most difficult moments of their careers, often alongside their own operational duties. A Representative Development Model is being put in place to set clear standards and development pathways, alongside expanded welfare support for reps themselves. Those who look after members must be properly looked after too.

What comes next

Some of the most significant changes, including reforms to Board size, the introduction of tenure limits and the formal embedding of Independent Non-Executive Directors as voting members, require secondary legislation. We are working with the Home Office to progress that. We cannot deliver everything overnight and I will not pretend otherwise. But the direction is set, and we are pressing ahead with all deliberate speed.

The Federation also needs to look outward as well as inward. We are fighting hard on pay, the recruitment and retention crisis, and the appalling rates of officer suicide. Last year we secured over 44 million pounds in compensation for members, the highest annual figure on record. We have tabled amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to require recording and reporting of officer suicide. And we are making the case to the Police Remuneration Review Body for a pay award that halts the downward spiral in morale and operational capability.

A word on where we are

I was elected your National Chair because I believe the Federation can be what it needs to be: a body that genuinely earns the trust of its members, that fights with evidence and credibility, and that leads from the front on the issues policing cannot keep ignoring.

We are not there yet. There is a lot more to do. But as I said at Conference: being right is not enough. We have to do the work.

The transformation programme is that work. Read the update. If you have questions, ask them. And if you have views on how we are doing, I want to hear them.

 

Tiff Lynch

National Chair, Police Federation of England and Wales