Norfolk police authority chief executive Chris Harding

Norfolk police officers could be forced to retire

By BEN KENDALL Crime correspondent
Saturday, November 6, 2010
1:00 PM

Long-serving Norfolk police officers could be asked to retire early as the force looks to cut costs.

Three police forces have been given approval to order their officers to retire as they look to reduce numbers following the government’s comprehensive spending review. Other forces across the country are monitoring the development.

Officers cannot be made redundant but regulations state that they can be “required to retire” after 30 or more years’ service.

Norfolk police is not among those to publicly declare that it backs the plan but Chris Harding, chief executive of Norfolk Police Authority, confirmed that it was one option that was under consideration.

The force is looking to reduce officers by 350 from about 1,600 over the next four years as part of a wide range of measures aimed at reducing the annual budget.

Mr Harding said: “It hasn’t been ruled in or out at this stage. We are aware of what other police forces are doing and it is an option which we may have to resort to.”

It is hoped the planned reduction will come from natural wastage as officers leaving the force are not replaced.

However, there is concern that the economic climate will mean officers will choose to stay on longer, reducing the number of leavers and meaning that chiefs will have to find other ways of reducing staffing costs. At present about 80 officers leave Norfolk police each year.

The situation is expected to be exacerbated by the fact that civilian roles, which are often occupied by ex-police officers, are also being cut. Earlier this week Norfolk and Suffolk police announced they would be merging back office functions and cutting jobs. As well as reducing officer numbers, Norfolk expects to lose 60 PCSOs and 230 civilians.

North Wales, Strathclyde and Surrey police have so far backed the plan in principle.

The little-used measure states that all police below chief officer rank, with at least 30 years of service, can be “required to retire” if their retention would “not be in the general interests of efficiency”.

Norfolk Police Federation has already expressed concerns that the drop in police numbers could lead to the loss of experienced office.

Police Federation vice-chairman Simon Reed described it as a “blunt instrument”, which could lead to officers experienced in such areas as child protection and serious criminals, as well as those on the street, being forced to retire.

Michelle Mitchell, director of Age UK, said the move “flies right in the face of equality legislation and runs contrary to the government’s plan to abolish forced retirement at 65”.

“The huge pressure to slash budgets is no justification for bypassing basic equality principles,” she said.

Norfolk police is looking to cut £35m from its budget over the next four years.

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7 comments

Aren't police officers Crown Servants? Can they be subject to compulsory early retirement then? And if they can, why not add their costs to the Civil List, and have Her Maj take 'em on the payroll? This is another example of collective madness by the (unelected) Coalition, who are apparently hell-bent on inflicting as much damage as they possibly can on Blighty - it's social fabric and long-held traditions and valued institutions - before they inevitably get shown THEIR P45s at the next general election (hopefully well before May 2015)

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martin wallis

Wednesday, November 10, 2010
are you accepting nominations? will there be a Policeman's Ball? if so, isn't that gender discrimination?

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martin wallis

Sunday, November 7, 2010
Surely having more than one identity is against the law ?

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CUTHBERT. J TWILLIE

Saturday, November 6, 2010
Surely this is against the law?

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John L Norton

Saturday, November 6, 2010
If anyone is forced into early retirement they may then have to face the Jobcentre trying to push them into non-existing jobs! I certainly don't wish that on anyone - many people have been through it!

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Lynda Edwards

Saturday, November 6, 2010
Wouldn't this be breaking the law? No seriously.

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John L Norton

Saturday, November 6, 2010
Police officers contribute to a final salary scheme. Which not only guarantees an annual pension, which is based on their final pay and length of service; but also pays officers, on the day of their retirement, a significant one off tax free lump sum. Pension payments, including the lump sums, come from two sources - contributions by serving officers and from the annual police budget. There is no pension fund to fall back on. I cannot understand the point of forcing out officers, when the force would be committed to be paying an even greater number of pensions from its decreasing budget. In addition there would be also be the loss of pension contributions to the pot from these officers, meaning even more money would have to come from the police budget to make up this shortfall. The two put together, that is the future pensions and the one off lump sums, would more than cover the costs of retaining these 30+ year officers. If budget cuts have to be made, why not dispense with the services of more of the civilian PCSOs, (who have very limited powers), in preference to some of the very highly skilled police officers whose futures seem now appear to be under threat. The economics of the current proposal seem rather illogical to me.

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BG

Saturday, November 6, 2010