Surrey Police Federation Newsletter: June 21
7 July 2021
Do you want to be a Federation Representative?
In July 2021 the triennial election process starts. Look out for how to put yourself forward for being a workplace representative.
The commitment expected from you is to attend four Branch meetings a year which will be held at Federation House, Leatherhead (which is duty time) and help your colleagues by way of advice and support in the workplace.
As a new Federation Representative or a returning Rep you will be expected to attend a “New Reps” course. At the moment, these are on-line, but ordinarily all courses are held at Leatherhead. After you have attended this course you will be covered legally to give Federation advice.
Other courses are then available to you, depending on, if or what you would like to specialise in. These are: Conduct, Equality or Health & Safety. If you take on regular Conduct matters, an Advocacy course too.
The Executive Reps and some local Reps also perform on-call duties and need to have completed a Post Incident Procedures course. This could be a future role for you to aspire to.
We appreciate as a workplace Rep you are busy with your day job. A commitment to be there for your colleagues to support, give advice and ensure fairness in the workplace is a must. Your colleagues need to know there is someone they can go to for help. This is obviously through the ranks that we represent up to Chief Inspector, where those in supervisory roles who are also Fed Reps support their colleagues in doing the right thing.
There are seminars held by the National Police Federation including the Annual Conference, Conduct, Equality, Detectives, Roads Policing, Custody Seminars and Women’s meetings. There are opportunities to attend some of these, depending on availability and area of work.
Continued Professional Development is very important in the Federation and qualifications can be gained through the courses and using your knowledge in a practical way helping your colleagues. Seminars then give updated information and an opportunity to continue learning.
Representation is key and the local branch should represent the Force. In particular, relating to Female and BAME representation (the Federation are regulated for this). However, I am also keen to ensure we have representatives from other protective characteristics too.
We have already had some interest from officers who are keen to be new Fed Reps. If this is something you would like to discuss further, please feel free to either contact me or the office to discuss.
Melanie Warnes (Chair, Surrey Federation) 07494056597 or mwarnes@surrey.polfed.org
