“Should police officers seek industrial rights…? Let’s get the conversation started.”

11 October 2023

The Police Federation of England and Wales will ballot its membership to see if they should seek industrial rights.

Raff Cioffi, Deputy Chair of Sussex Police Federation said “The continual erosion of Police Regulations has left police officers worse off, sadly it has left them feeling disillusioned and angry.

“It’s clear that the Federation have been left with no collective bargaining options to act on their behalf and have been forced into a position to look at the option of asking our membership their opinion on the subject of Industrial rights.

“We need to remind the public that Police officers are a profession that have very restricted private lives and have no industrial or employment rights. In addition, the fairness has now been taken out of conduct procedures with the removal of independent chairs and also a pay review body without any independence that can’t implement fair pay without sign off from the Home Secretary.

“These issues and the declining working conditions officers are now working under are grossly unfair and need to be addressed. The membership have a choice to make, do we lobby government for Industrial rights or not? Please speak to your local Federation Representatives about this subject and let’s get the conversation started.”

PFEW said the decision to undertake the ballot follows more than a decade of requesting the Government to address police officers’ poor working terms and conditions. However, these requests have consistently been ignored by the Government, significantly depriving officers of the pay they deserve and the police service of much needed resources.

The Government’s neglect has resulted in a growing sense of anger and frustration amongst our membership. On its part, as the voice of more than 145,000 rank and file officers in England and Wales, PFEW is simply responding to its members’ very legitimate expectations and aspirations.

PFEW is working with a leading senior counsel (KC) on its approach to pursuing industrial rights for the membership.