Federation’s new office manager off to a flying start

15 May 2026

Settled in new role, office manager Tracy Keeley.

With a solid background of customer service, team leader, HR and accounts roles under her belt Tracy Keeley didn’t hesitate to apply when she saw the position of West Midlands Police Federation office manager advertised.

Equally when she was interviewed during the recruitment process, Federation officials felt she would be ideally placed to take up the vacancy created by the retirement of branch stalwart Janet Lee.

Now, six months in, Tracy is relishing her new role and is looking to further build on the progress she has made.

Priorities

“During my interview, I was asked what my initial priorities would be if I was offered the job,” she explained, “My response was that one of my first priorities would be to get to know my team properly. Only by getting to know the people in the team and how they work could I hope to run the office effectively and ensure that we were all supporting each other and the members.

“I need to know my team well so that I can provide them with support when they need it and so that I am aware when they are facing issues that I may be able to help with.

“I feel that I have made a good start with that, and we are a happy, strong team, pulling together for the benefit of the members and providing effective support not just for the wider membership but also for the branch’s full-time officials and workplace representatives.

“In addition, I have started to build effective working relationships with Force departments, such as payroll and IT, the national Federation and external partners such as our Member Service providers, as well as the Serve and Protect credit union and the Benevolent Fund who share our building.

“I am feeling really settled in now, and I am loving the new position. I have been given a strong foundation now to build on.”

Welcome

Tracy is keen to put on record her thanks to the Federation’s office team who she says have made her welcome and helped her get to grips with her new position and the workings of the Federation.

“I knew how to be an office manager, but I didn’t know much about the Federation and how it worked. Everyone has been amazing, though. The full-time officials and the rest of the office team have been happy to answer my questions and, when they have not had the answers, have been able to point me in the right direction of someone who might have them.

“In the early weeks, I would walk into the office of the branch secretary, Tim Rogers, with a notepad full of questions, prioritised if I thought time would be short, and he would work through them with me.

“Nothing has been too much trouble for people and that has been amazing.”

Tracy has put several new things in place to help the office team, and also improve the service provided for members. Within a few weeks of starting in the office, she set up a new out of office email response so that anyone emailing the branch email inbox would get a response with links providing the answers to frequently asked questions. Beneficiary update forms were also sent out to ensure that the details held by the office were completely up to date. More than 350 responses were received.

Course

She is also looking to undertake an AAT level accountancy course which will further enhance her skillset.

After leaving school in 1996, Tracy’s first job was at National Express, initially working as a telesales adviser. But, with evident abilities for leading people, she soon moved into the operations control centre with responsibility for ensuring passengers were kept safe and reached their destination if a coach broke down.

In 2003, she was named as the Customer Services Adviser of the Year and later became a team leader in a sales role and then in the company’s airport services division before being promoted to assistant operations manager.

While at National Express, Tracy pioneered a card-free ticket system, saving the company thousands of pounds and ultimately leading to a digital system being put in place.

From National Express, she moved to Sandwell Council as a customer improvement service manager, a position she held for five years and earning her an ‘In it together’ award for the positive impact she had on customers.

Children

Her career then took her to an online footwear retailer where she was able to move the firm from a bronze Feefo rating to a gold level standard before then taking redundancy and spending around a year looking after her two young children.

On returning to work she took on various positions, slowly building on her customer service and team leading background with roles that combined personal assistant duties for senior managers but always finding time to improve processes and streamline administrative work where possible. Tracy was also able to study for the CIPD Level 3 HR qualification, adding another string to her bow.

Before joining the Federation, she worked in HR for a vehicle repair centre with depots across five sites.

But, now firmly settled in at Guardians House, she is determined to drive forward change and improvements to ensure the office is run as smoothly as possible.

“When I saw the job advertised, I was ready for a new challenge. I know I can add value with all the experience and qualifications I have. When I first started, there was a hand-over period with Jan, and I was soon made to feel part of the team. Everyone has just put me at ease, and I am really looking forward to developing this role,” she says.