‘Forces don’t train people on maternity policies’

THE SERVICE has a long way to go in supporting officers taking maternity and paternity leave, policing parents have said.

Officers have described lack of support from managers and forces around the country when they need time off to start a family.

Jayne Monkhouse, policing equality advisor, said: “The problems I hear about are about forces reorganising without taking women on maternity leave into account and women being moved out of their role and being put on restrictive detail as soon as they announce they are pregnant without a proper risk assessment.

“I think that sometimes managers do not know how to deal with people and they either become overbearing and paternalistic or they go the other way and ignore it. I don’t think managers know what people are entitled to. Forces don’t train people on how to deal with maternity policies.”

One officer from a northeast force, whose identity has been protected, explained: “I am currently on maternity leave and I have had no contact asking if I am okay or about my return to work. I wasn’t supported properly during my pregnancy and don’t expect any support from the job while I am on maternity leave or when I return to work.”

Another PC from a southeast force said: “Both my husband and I are police officers. When we had our first child, I found that my managers were clueless about the maternity policy. I had no support and no contact from anyone while I was on maternity leave.”

A PC with a northwest force added: “Both myself and my wife are constables who have recently had a child. My wife had a great supervisor, however I do feel the HR department were woeful. They kept messing up her shifts around her due date, trying to take time off her in annual leave and TOIL instead or her actual maternity leave.

“The way fathers in policing are treated is a joke. I am not looking forward to the battle of my wife going back to work and trying to convince the force that we need to look at our shift patterns.”

A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman said: “Ensuring appropriate maternity support for officers and staff is a key consideration for forces as part of their efforts to address gender equality and ensure the wellbeing of the workforce. Our responsibilities as employers are set out in the Home Office circular 29/2003.

“Whilst current resourcing levels have presented significant challenges that have led to difficult decisions being made in relation to the workforce, we remain fully committed to meeting our legal responsibilities in terms of both maternity and paternity leave.”