Independent Review of Police Officer and Staff Remuneration and ...

2 Employment Framework
2.1.58 The Confederation of British Industry argues that police forces need to manage their
workforces more effectively by reviewing the basic structure of all police officer and staff
roles. It suggests that roles be examined to determine the most efficient and cost-effective
deployment of officers and staff:
“As a starting point, police chiefs should define operational (neighbourhood and
response police officers/teams), non-operational (such as facilities management and
catering) and operational support functions (such as custody, offender profiling and
intelligence) and prioritise the ‘visible’ over the ‘invisible’. At every stage, the question
should be asked as to what category of staff can perform this role most effectively and
efficiently with changes made accordingly” 40 .
2.1.59 The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) operates a fully harmonised employment
framework. SOCA says that the harmonisation of officer and staff terms, which are nationally
applied, reinforces the flexibility of the workforce. SOCA says:
“SOCA is underpinned by the principle of ‘one culture’. There is no distinction in terms
and conditions between officers who hold powers and those whole roles do not require
them to hold powers. This also reinforces the flexibility SOCA expects of its officers and
mobility between jobs” 41 .
2.1.60 The review also received a number of responses from individuals, including police officers and
staff. Detective Chief Inspector Paul Cunningham of Cleveland Police said that police staff are
“catching up” with officers and should be equitably treated. He favours the development of “a
national police staff structure akin to police officers’ and pay according to that consistently”.
However, DCI Cunningham also warns against the risks of what he believes may become:
Seminars
“a minefield which will require subjectivity, bureaucracy, appeals and probable closing
of the gap further between the flexible police officer and the rights-protected staff
members” 42 .
2.1.61 At the review’s seminar on 13 July 2011, Mr David Hays, representing ACPO, said:
“For me, what is interesting [is] that in the language we use we seem to talk
instinctively about roles far more than we talk about rank. Rank is just a management
level ultimately. We talk about roles, but, certainly with the police officer side,
everything is predicated around it being a rank management structure when it is really
about roles. The debate is around whether the contribution that they can make would
be determined by the role they can do. It is less about being a police officer but about
the role they could actually perform.
… a single employment framework would actually bring some of that out to the fore,
to allow the service to make more informed decisions around some of these issues. It
would take down the barrier. If you have a police officer who cannot perform certain
duties but can perform some that may be performed currently by police staff members,
if everyone is in the same position, that barrier no longer exists. The movement across
the whole of the organisation will be open to a whole lot more people” 43 .
2.1.62 At the review’s seminar on 21 July 2011, Mr Blair Gibbs, Head of Crime and Justice at Policy
Exchange, said:
“I do not think you will end up with a fair outcome unless you acknowledge that there
is this unnecessary and historical divide between officers and staff. That may have been
justified 30 years ago, but the police service is a big organisation. There are 256,000
personnel taking into account all officers, staff and others. I think for morale and for
40 Submission from Confederation of British Industry, September 2011, page 3
41 Submission from Serious Organised Crime Agency, August 2011, page 6
42 Submission from Detective Chief Inspector Paul Cunningham, September 2011, page 5
43 Career model seminar (2011), page 72
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