Police compulsory severance ‘remains on the table’

COMPULSORY severance for police officers “remains on the table” for the Government, the Home Secretary has said.

Theresa May said she was not currently in discussion with chiefs about police officers’ redundancy recently but she refused to rule out using it in the future.

She was speaking at the Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales Annual Conference.  
In December 2013, the Police Arbitration Tribunal decided that introducing officer redundancy to the service would be a “momentous change” and that the case for bringing it into the service was not “compelling”.

In February 2014, Theresa May (pictured) said she had “decided to accept the Tribunal’s recommendation not to implement measures to introduce compulsory severance at this time”.

However in a warning to police officers, she added: “This remains a reform I believe government and the police should continue to consider.”

Also at the conference on Wednesday 9 September, the Home Secretary ruled out police force mergers. “You only have to look north of the border to see that such a restructure is not needed,” she said.

“There is still no business case for Police Scotland and it has been suggested it will take 15 years to make the expected savings.

“The evidence is clear, it does not generate savings and can cause unnecessary complexity and local accountability can be lost.”

Mrs May also spoke out on stop and search. “I am very clear that stop and search is an extremely important tool for the police but you must be using it properly and effectively,” she said.

“It is frustrating that some officers now feel they can’t use it and there is maybe a job to be done about saying to specific officers that can still be used, as long as it is done legally and effectively.”

Speaking on impending cuts, Mrs May said: “Budgets will fall further and savings will have to be made in policing… this is the reality.

“We must have a grown up frank conversation about what is necessary and possible. There will be a number of difficult choices that lie ahead but it can be done.”