"It's been an honour and a privilege" Sussex Police Federation Chairman Matt Webb bids farewell as he retires this month

28 August 2020

Matt Webb says it has been “an honour and a privilege” to serve as Sussex Police Federation’s Chairman for the past five years.

Matt retires from the service at the end of August, after a 30-year career at Sussex Police. He started in the police as a cadet for three years, then worked predominantly on the uniformed response frontline, specialising in public order. He was promoted to Inspector in 2012.

Matt said he was proud of being Sussex’s Federation Chairman and “the mouthpiece of the people who elected me into the post”. He said: “To have the trust of my peers and to be able to represent them at the top table within the organistion and at national council, it’s humbling really.”

He identified some of his achievements as improving communications between the Federation and its members, as well as identifying areas of unfairness and non-compliance, which he then got the force to rectify.

Matt added: “On top of that, we had a few misconduct investigations with officers that had been unfounded, unfair, and gone on for far too long. We managed to bring those to a conclusion and found that those officers didn’t have a case to answer. On days like that it makes the job worthwhile.

“Being with officers when it’s finally proved they’ve done nothing wrong is great, but also we have the ability to influence an organisation to the benefit of the majority of the members.

“When we’ve found non-compliance with Police Regulations, which meant officers weren’t in receipt of the right pension or hadn’t received the correct level of pay, we were able to change that, not only for those affected now but for those in a similar position in the future. It’s been an honour and a privilege.”

Daren Egan takes over as Chairman of Sussex Police Federation on 1 September. Matt said: “I hope Daren has as much success as we’ve had over the past five years and that he’s able to take some things forward, with a slightly different approach to things.

“We’re all different people, so he’ll bring something slightly different to the position and I wish him all the best in his tenure.”