Proud of our work

The Police Federation of England and Wales has fought long and hard for the rights of diverse groups in relation to the terms and conditions of police officers and we are proud of our achievements.

These have included:

• Reducing the gender pay gap by negotiating the shortening of the time needed for police officers to reach the top of a pay scale;
• Supporting the inclusion of police officers in disability discrimination legislation;
• Negotiating to increase the length of maternity pay for police officers;
• Robustly supporting our members to assert their rights through employment tribunals where necessary.

Our leadership in this area has also benefited workers and employees in other sectors across the UK, because the cases we have funded have often set a precedent. Anyone who has entered the arena of an employment tribunal will be familiar with the Vento scale in relation to compensation; but few realise it relates to PC Angela Vento of West Yorkshire Police and that PFEW funded the case. Similarly, a flexible working case which PFEW funded in support of PC Michelle Chew of Avon and Somerset Police is a landmark in UK employment law.

Every emergency and military service in the UK takes note of the Allcock case when designing fitness tests, which relates to PC David Allcock of Hampshire Constabulary and which PFEW supported. PC Carol Howard was able to shine a light on the Metropolitan Police’s practices in relation to her race and sex discrimination grievance because of funding from PFEW to take the matter before an employment tribunal.

These cases and many others have demonstrated PFEW’s unwavering commitment to supporting equality for our members. By ensuring that equality issues remain at the heart of how we represent, influence and negotiate on behalf of the current and future generations of police officers, we will continue to make a real difference to their lives.

For our members

The work of more than 1,400 police officers who are volunteer Federation representatives across the police service in England and Wales is the core of what we do. They support their colleagues with workplace issues and help solve problems. This activity not only supports our members but assists in creating an effective police service that can best serve the community.

Many of the issues that workplace reps deal with touch on equality; bullying and grievances, reasonable adjustments for disabled officers, support to pregnant officers and those on maternity leave, flexible working plans for officers juggling childcare and asserting rights when faced with unlawful discrimination. Local Federation representatives solve issues like this every day.

All our representatives are trained in police regulations and understand how to navigate local force policies to support our members. Many representatives have also completed our intensive Equality Course, which gives them a thorough understanding of the Equality Act and how to assert members' rights with the force, and to an employment tribunal if necessary.

All 43 of our Branch Boards have an equality lead who coordinates the work of equality trained representatives and negotiates with their force on related policies.

If you are a member of PFEW and need support, then we are here for you. Your local workplace representative should be your first port of call, but contact them in the knowledge that they are supported by a well-trained cohort of colleagues to ensure you get the best assistance possible.

Our representatives

We have implemented extensive positive action under the Equality Act to increase representation of women and BME Federation members in our organisation. We have a diverse cohort of representatives and are proud of what we have achieved so far but are working to continue to improve.

We have established four equality groups within PFEW (LGBT+, Race Religion & Belief, Disability and Women), these are internal networks for our representatives, similar to diversity staff networks that exist within forces, to create networks across our 43 branches and provide support to our representatives so they develop and thrive within PFEW.

The police service, however, is changing. The recent surge in recruitment after a decade of stagnation is leading to a more diverse police service and we are determined to aggressively use positive action to ensure we remain the authentic voice of our members.

We publish a report providing further details about our work in this area and the make up of our representatives here.