Chief constable will ‘retire’ for a month before re-joining force

The move is in-line with national guidance following the changes to the Compulsory Retirement Age for police officers, introduced in April 2022.

Rachel Swann became Derbyshire Constabulary’s first female chief constable when she was appointed in August 2020.

The Retire and Rejoin Scheme is open to all police officers, including chief constables, in England and Wales regardless of rank and is designed to retain skills, knowledge and experience within the police service.

It allows for any officer to formally resign and take a break of at least one month before being reappointed at the same rank. Participation in this scheme does not create any additional cost to the taxpayer.

The scheme is designed to encourage chief officers to stay longer in post and is supported by national bodies, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, the College of Policing and the Chief Police Officers’ Staff Association.

It supports the Government’s objectives of achieving longer working lives, while removing the financial disincentive that may encourage officers who would ordinarily wish to continue working in the police to leave service for reason associated with pension benefit changes.

The NHS offers a similar scheme for retiring staff.

Derbyshire’s police and crime commissioner Nicolle Ndiweni-Roberts will present a report to the Police and Crime Panel at its meeting on September 26, when she will recommend the re-appointment of Ms Swann as chief constable. The appointment would be for a fixed-term contract of one year and nine months, until the end of July 2026.

The appointment will be subject to the panel’s approval of these arrangement.

Ms Ndiweni-Roberts will say that as it is a legislative requirement for every force to have a chief constable in post, Deputy Chief Constable Simon Blatchly will become acting chief constable from October 7 until November 8.

Ms Swann began her policing career with Leicestershire Police in 1994. Rising through the ranks, she took a key command role for the Team GB Olympic training camp at Loughborough University and the Queen’s Jubilee visit to Leicester.

In 2015 she joined Northamptonshire Police as assistant chief constable before being promoted to deputy chief constable in 2017.

She joined Derbyshire Constabulary as deputy chief constable in February 2019 – taking command of the operation to save the town of Whaley Bridge during a severe flood warning – before becoming chief constable in August 2020.

She received the Queen’s Policing Medal in June 2021 for her distinguished service, as part of the late Queen’s Birthday Honours List.