Chair reacts to election: ‘Will this Government fulfil commitments promised by predecessors?’

9 July 2024

Northamptonshire Police Federation chair Sam Dobbs says the next few days and weeks will establish if the new Prime Minister wants to restore police officers’ trust in Government.

The latest Federation pay and morale survey revealed officers were suffering low personal morale and felt undervalued by the last Government. In Northamptonshire, 95 per cent of respondents admitted how the police are treated by the Government had a negative impact on their mood. Additionally, 92 per cent reported they did not feel fairly paid, given the stresses and strains of their jobs.

This was compounded by a 20 per cent real-terms pay cut and a lack of faith in the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB), the supposedly independent mechanism for determining officer pay.

“I think both Sir Keir Starmer and our new Home Secretary Yvette Cooper have a golden opportunity to re-set the relationship between police officers and Government,” said Sam, adding: “I hope we get an early sign that they are going to make a commitment to doing that, but their actions in the next few days and weeks will be the tell-tale sign.

Confidence

“Public trust in policing is at an all-time low, and as officers, we have a responsibility to restore that confidence. However, backing from the Government is absolutely essential.

“It would be great to think that he will start by ordering an overhaul of PRRB. The current mechanism is far from independent. The Government sets its remit, in effect telling members of PRRB what pay award they can consider and, even then, if the Government doesn’t like the recommended award, it can just over-rule the recommendation.”

Sam continued to urge the Government to review pay at a local level, in particular, referencing his concerns around the funding formula in Northamptonshire.

Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer.

“The Government cannot continue to always look at police funding nationally - Northamptonshire is an expensive place to live, and this must be taken into consideration. Police pay reviews must be specific to each location,” he said.

"As a county, our cops continue to miss out, and it isn’t fair. Reviewing our pay is not only essential for current officers but we need to be able to attract new police officers to Northamptonshire.

"We were promised a review of the funding formula in Northamptonshire by the last Government. It’s time to find out whether our new Government will fulfil the commitments promised by its predecessors.”

But Sam points out it is not just about pay, and said there also needed to be sustained investment in policing so that forces have the resources to meet the needs of their communities.

The Police Uplift Programme, through which 20,000 new officers were recruited over a three-year period that ended in March 2023, has helped get officer numbers back up to 2010 levels but in the intervening years the demands placed on policing increased and the service also had to respond to new and emerging crimes.

“Police officers want to provide the best service they can to their communities, but in trying to meet increased demand with reduced resources, they were put under huge pressure and their mental health and wellbeing suffered,” says Sam.

Crisis in policing

“I think it’s now just a case of waiting to see how soon the Government puts its plans in motion and if there is a willingness to address the issues the Federation has been raising during what has become a period of crisis in policing.”

Labour, while campaigning in the run-up to the election, announced plans to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and said its mission was to ‘take back our streets’, reducing serious violence and rebuilding public confidence in policing by getting officers back on the streets.

The party said it would introduce a new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, restoring patrols to town centres by recruiting thousands of new police officers, police and community support officers (PCSOs) and Special Constables and putting 13,000 extra neighbourhood police and PCSOs on the beat.

It pledged to introduce new penalties for offenders, get knives off the streets, set up a specialist rape unit in every police force and launch a new network of Young Futures Hubs.

“Ahead of the General Election, we wrote to all candidates and received some lovely responses back. I’m grateful to the outgoing MPs for the work they have done in our county,” said Sam, adding: “And we look forward to developing new relationships with the new MPs to help them better understand policing, both nationally and locally. I’m very keen to meet with all successful candidates as soon as possible.”

Sam also acknowledged the positive early engagement he has had with the new Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone.

“I feel that the dialogue between us and the new Commissioner is extremely positive. She has already indicated her support for the police and clearly has a passion to improve officer welfare,” he added.

“I hope to continue building on and developing a collaborative relationship with Danielle in the coming months.”