A Christmas and New Year message from Norfolk Police Federation Chair Andy Symonds

23 December 2024

I want to start by saying to all of you our members that I wish you and your loved ones a happy and joyful Christmas. And a happy and healthy 2025.

In the Federation office it’s been another extremely busy year. We’ve seen the continuation of rises in performance and conduct work.

You will have seen the reports from conduct hearings in which officers have been dismissed for their actions. I want to make it clear that yes, we support officers through these processes but where we have members that should not be police officers we do not block or frustrate the process.

Our role is to make sure that law, Police Regulations and guidance are followed to the letter to make sure that the process is fair, open and transparent.

Where it is not, we make sure that it is.

We will have members who are subject of misconduct processes and we believe that the force have got it wrong in their assessment. These cases we do fight hard on behalf of the individual member as there are also benefits to our wider membership.

During these processes I’m acutely aware that we sometimes have other members who are required to attend hearings to give their evidence and this is an extremely difficult thing to do.

Particularly when they are victims of the actions by colleagues.

I want to make clear that the Federation not only deals with the officer who is subject of the process but we’re here for those members who are witnesses or victims. Please do reach out to us if you sadly find yourself in this position. We will allocate you a Fed Rep that has nothing to do with the other party.

Earlier this year we’ve seen the change of the make up of Misconduct Panels. In a move away from independent legally qualified chairs to having a Chief Officer chair the panels.

This is something we disagreed with and made representations during the consultation with Government.

However in my view politics and a false narrative around officers being treated more favourably by independent legally qualified chairs were in play. Which the statistics actually show that this narrative is completely wrong.

But as a Federation we were content that we had a fair process.

However some within policing and outside of policing wanted Chief officers chair these hearings. So from May this year officers subject of a hearing will now have a Chief officer as chair of the hearing. We will see how this plays out in the coming months and years in terms of results.

Not only have we seen rises in conduct work but also other work streams such as supporting members through flexible working applications, ill health retirements, fairness at work and many other areas of work. We support our members through of these areas. So it’s been a significant increase in demand for our support.

But we’ve risen to the demand and supported our members through whatever they need support with. A lot of work that does go unnoticed are the force meetings we attend on behalf of the members to put your interests and representations to the force. We also work hard on all of the force policies and make sure that these policies do not have a detrimental impact on our members.

Locally we meet the Chief, DCC, ACC’s as well as the PCC and the county’s MPs. In these meetings we cover a range of topics and we make representations on your behalf. All with the aim of providing improved conditions and working environment for our members.

On all things nationally, some of you will have read that the Federation has recently settled the claim against us from a significant number of our members in regards to discrimination that was caused as a result of the Federations position on pensions.

In that we did not challenge legally the now proven age discrimination in regards to transitional protections that allowed older officers to remain in their legacy pension schemes for longer than those officers younger in service.

I will be working hard to make sure that never again will we take a position that will result in some of our members feeling that way they had no alternative than to take the Federation to an employment tribunal.

In regards to the claim the Federation has against the Government on behalf of around 40,000 members for the detrimental impact their pension imposition has had on members. Which has proved to be a long drawn out affair. The claims have been stayed and I don’t believe we’ll see any significant change until well into 2025.

The reason for these delays is that much like the criminal justice system the civil justice system is on its knees in terms of demand and cases are taking years to get to a conclusion.

Those members in the claim will have been getting updates from the Penningtons who the Federation instructed to act on behalf of our members in relation to this civil action.

Keep an eye out in your inbox for further updates next year.

Many members will have received the RSS (remedial service statement) from XPS regarding the pension remedy. Many of you will be reviewing this and deciding what decisions to make in regards to money you owe (1987 pension scheme) by either paying what you owe now or leaving it until retirement.

For those in the 2006 scheme you will be deciding whether to take the money you’re owed or leave it until retirement and make a decision at this point.

My advice is that you make sure you seek independent financial advice before making any decisions. You will have seen that the force published the process in which you can claim back costs in relation to any financial advice you received in relation to the pension remedy.

The Fed welfare van has been well used this year.

Giving members somewhere to eat, drink, get warm whilst deployed at various scenes or operations. We have deployed it ourselves quite number of our members with treats, hot and cold drinks and on a few occasions a good old BBQ.

For those who haven’t managed to be seen by us in the welfare van - we have some more dates planned for 2025.

Since 2010 policing has been subject of austerity.

And sadly I predict that this will continue into the next few years.

The Government and Chiefs have to accept that if they accept a budget which means even more difficult decisions need to be made in the coming months and years that the community we serve need to expect a reduced service.

We cannot continue to expect our members to confine to work beyond their capacity. As to do so will mean we will see more officers become broken mentally, emotionally and physically.

We’re seeing recruitment becoming increasingly difficult due to the demands, unfair scrutiny and poor pay and conditions that police officers have to deal with.

More and more of the recruitment pool we select from are refusing to look at being a police officer as they don’t see it as a career in which they will be well paid, looked after mentally and physically. They see it as the opposite.

In addition they see the constant criticism of policing, they see officers being assaulted on a regular basis and the offenders not appropriately sentenced. They see the seriousness of assaults become more prevalent.

It’s very sad to say but being a police officer is simply not an attractive career anymore.

Those of us currently in service now, realise that it’s a rewarding career but this comes at a cost in terms of physical and mental health. It comes with sacrifice in that the imposition on our private lives in that we’re never off duty and the standards of professional behaviour are in place on and off duty. Officers work long hours, often late off. They have their rest days cancelled and re-arranged often at short notice.

They can and do have their leave cancelled.

They miss family events throughout the year. The scrutiny that is on police officers particularly when officers are at difficult incidents and they are being recorded on mobile phones.

Much of this footage is placed on social media. Some of the footage in my view is then edited and does not give the context of the situation officers were dealing with at the time. The intense scrutiny that follows investigations is tough. Particularly when these investigations carry on for many months and years the toll is considerable.

I cannot think of many professions in which when you attend a scene/incident particular dangerous, chaotic and stressful ones and you are recorded instantly. Every word, every facial expression and body movements recorded.

These are some of the reasons why the police service is seeing a reduction in those wishing to be police officers and at the same time, we’ve seen a record amount of serving officers resign. This figure sits at 5,151 in the year ending March 2024. Compared to 2,207 resignations in 06/2007.

More worryingly of the 5,151 that resigned, 3,964 were officers who had less than 5 years’ service.

This to me shows that those that we have a problem in retention and recruitment.

However for those of us still here, we know that that being a police officer is a vocation. It’s not just a job. It’s a way of life. But dare I say… the reason why many officers are still serving is because they have invested too much in their pension pot to leave the police.

Please rest assured that myself and the rest of the Federation team locally will continue to work hard in the background and upfront and centre fighting for you our members.

I want to end in saying, for those of you on shift over the festive and new year period, I thank you for looking after those of us not on shift.

Please be safe, look after each other and do find some time where you can spend some time with your loved ones over the festive period.