Page 32 - Federation Magazine: April/May 2018

Officer welfare

workshops consider

demand and capacity

fficer welfare was under discussion austerity and the steady rise of recorded
at three workshops for senior crime, it’s clear that the current situation is
Oofficers and police leaders at Police untenable and no force is immune from the
Federation headquarters in Leatherhead. results.
The workshops, in February and March, “Although there is a lot of excellent work
came after research into the link between being done to address the symptoms of poor
demand, capacity and officer welfare. It officer welfare, there is little being done to
coincided with the publication of a new address their causes; and unless we start
report Police Officer Welfare, Demand, and focusing on reducing demand or improving
Capacity Survey Inferential Results. capacity, officer wellbeing will not improve.”
“Within the Federation, we are well The aim of the workshops was to gather
aware that officers are suffering due to the ideas, develop practical solutions, and agree
effects of the Government’s cuts to police a set of shared recommendations with a
funding,” says John Williams, acting chair of broad range of stakeholders to try to address
West Midlands Police Federation. the issues raised by the Federation research.
“They are feeling under pressure as they Those attending concentrated on both
try to respond to increased demand with the causes and effects of a demand and
reduced resource and that pressure is capacity imbalance; paying particular
causing them stress and, in some cases, attention to discussions around measuring
mental health issues. and balancing demand and capacity, as well
“All Federation branches are reporting Che Donald, vice-chairman of the Police as increasing the opportunities for welfare
their concerns in this area so I am pleased Federation. training and support.
the Federation has hosted these workshops looking at reduced officer numbers. The latest findings indicate that demand
so that police leaders can actively consider “As a result a large-scale survey on and capacity pressures have serious
the challenges officers are facing. demand, capacity and welfare was implications for the health and welfare of
“While we are, of course, worried about undertaken in 2016 to explore the officers, and are contributing to the creation
our members’ wellbeing, we are also relationships between officers’ experience of of a workforce that can be characterised as
concerned about the effect the imbalance these sorts of demand and capacity ‘tired, tense, and targeted’.
between demand and capacity is having on pressures, and aspects of their overall More specifically, officers who
the quality of service we can offer to the welfare,” Che explained. experienced any of the following 11 demand
communities we serve.” “After careful analysis, it is clear there are and capacity pressures were statistically
Che Donald, vice-chairman of the Police several links between demand and capacity, more likely to experience poor wellbeing in
Federation, has highlighted that its research and the health and wellbeing of our officers. one or more welfare aspects measured by
began in 2015 with members’ focus groups Within the current context of continuing the survey:
“ l Inability to meet conflicting demands on
l Unpaid over-time;
l Insufficient officers to do the job
While we are, of course, worried about
properly;
our members’ wellbeing, we are also
time at work;
l High overall workload;
concerned about the effect the
standard of which to be proud;
imbalance between demand and l Insufficient time to do a job to a
l Frequent single crewing;
l Frequent neglect of tasks owing to
capacity is having on the quality of l Frequent unrealistic time pressures;
having too much to do;
service we can offer to the l Frequent unachievable deadlines;
l Frequent refusal of annual leave
requests and,
communities we serve. “ l Frequent pressure to work long hours.

32 federation April/May 2018 www.westmidspolfed.com