UNISON’s police, probation and CAFCASS members voted on a number of key issues that are affecting their jobs and services, at the sector’s national conference in Brighton last week.
Chief amongst these was a call to end the government’s so-called ‘uplift programme’, aimed at increasing police officer numbers but in fact resulting in the loss of hundreds of skilled staff, who are being “sidelined, displaced, or made redundant”.
Other topics included the urgent need to improve both police force and probation service budgets, the erosion of the police community support officer (PCSO) role, and the physical threat to probation officers from far-right activists.
No less than three motions in Brighton addressed the crisis caused by the uplift programme. Introduced by the Conservatives in 2019, the aim was to add an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales by the end of 2023 – at the same time as Whitehall was cutting police budgets. Chief constables, who risked financial penalties if they didn’t meet the officer targets, had no choice but to cut their police staff to balance the books.
Since the programme began, the five forces in the North West alone for example, have disestablished over 1,350 police staff vacancies, over 200 police staff are a risk of redundancy, and over 170 fully fit police officers have been placed into police staff roles.
In January 2024 the National Police Chiefs’ Council revealed that 6,000 police officers were backfilling police staff roles due to underfunding and the officer uplift targets.
But in his 2023 annual state of policing report, Andy Cooke, chief inspector of His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, stated: “The police staff… are on the frontline of the fight against crime. No arbitrary target should prevent chief constables from having the right people in their forces.”
Nevertheless, the current Labour government has decided to continue what one conference motion in Brighton called “a failed programme”.
Conference delegates called for the end of the uplift programme and a return to workforce modernisation. The service group executive (SGE) will continue to prioritise and grow the We are Police Staff campaign, maximising its exposure internally, to politicians and the public.
Cash-strapped forces
Another motion drew attention to the UNISON research that shows that England and Wales territorial police forces face a total budget shortfall of just under £1 billion by 2027.
Some of the worst affected are a £38.8 million gap for Essex, £35 million for Avon and Somerset, £29.3 million for Kent and £27.9 million for Greater Manchester.
The motion noted that rising numbers of reported crimes, the increasing complexity of many crimes and the government’s early prisoner release schemes are all placing further pressures on policing that need to be met with sufficient funding.
And while government’s funding to rebuild neighbourhood policing in England and Wales is welcome, there are concerning reports that forces are not building that local presence around PSCOs but police officers – again to balance budgets and meet officer uplift targets.
Conference agreed that the SGE should:
- Increase public campaigning and lobbying of government for adequate funding of the police service, highlighting the importance of police staff to public safety and the impact of police staff job losses.
- Campaign to promote the role of PCSOs in policing and their importance in achieving the government’s ambitions to rebuild effective and visible neighbourhood policing.
- Produce a coordinated plan to lobby government and educate politicians on the need to rebalance policing investment and protect police staff roles from further cuts.
- Support branches to challenge any attempt to replace staff roles with officer posts and to campaign locally for the value of police staff to be properly recognised.
Probation services
On probation, the conference heard a motion welcoming the government’s independent sentencing review, with some reservations.
The review was commissioned in the aftermath of the 2024 prison overcrowding crisis, in order to address the pressure that this placed on the whole criminal justice system, and in particular on the probation service. Its terms of reference included the principle that greater use must be made of non-custodial sentences.
Delegates charged the SGE with continuing to promote the principles set out in UNISON’s own submission to the review, which included the proper funding of the probation service and its removal from central civil service control. The executive will also argue the case for greater investment in probation pay and conditions, and seek improvement to the working lives of probation members in relation to workload and stress.
Another motion – ‘no place for private enterprise in probation service’ – noted the intention in the sentencing review to explore options to once again involve private companies in the delivery of community services. Delegates agreed that, “As a trade union, we must firmly oppose any plans that amount to forced labour for corporate profit.”
Intimidation
On a different note, the emergency motion ‘protect probation officers from far-right activists’ addressed the pressure put on probation officers in the Eastern region, in September, when right-wing activists protested outside their council offices over their opposition to ‘immigration hotels’. Staff were clearly upset and concerned by the actions of these activists and it was decided to send them home early to avoid any potential risk.
The motion noted that the likelihood of such an event happening was raised with probation senior management following last year’s summer riots, yet no provisions or health and safety assessments were organised to deal with future issues.
“This kind of event is likely to occur again across the country as we have seen a coordinated approach from right-wing activists to demonstrate outside venues where they can antagonise those whom they decide are worthy of their anger and hatred,” the motion said.
“Probation staff should not be put in fear of doing their jobs assisting people on probation from all sectors of society, including right-wing activists.”
Conference called on the SGE and the national probation sector committee to engage with the employer over ways of addressing any future demonstrations outside probation premises, to ensure the safety of both staff and people on probation.
Don’t cut police staff to boost officer numbers, says UNISON
The article Government must end police officer ‘uplift’, say UNISON members first appeared on the UNISON National site.
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