GMP begins process of redundancies

The human cost of jobs cuts to police officers and staff is becoming obvious as Greater Manchester Police (GMP) begins notifying staff about the future of their jobs.

Staff have received letters from GMP informing them of the likelihood and timing of redundancies. The letters were colour coded: red, blue or green.

Staff who received the green letter were safe, for the time being at least, while those who received the red letter were made aware that their job was to be cut very soon.

GMP has publicly stated that it will cut 2,950 jobs by 2014 in its effort to save £134 million.
Police forces across the country are keen not to make cuts to the front line but others argue that the ‘front line’ and ‘back office’ are often interlinked.

Chief Constable Peter Fahy said: “The reductions we have to make are extremely painful for the staff involved and we have worked hard to keep them informed. Many of the ideas for change came from staff themselves.

“It is inevitable that it appears to those faced with losing their jobs that their effort is not appreciated.

“That is not the case, but the fact is that policing has been funded and measured in a particular way over recent years and that has now changed. We are determined to look at every pound we spend and do all we can to preserve the service to the public through the efficiencies we are making.”

Tom Lloyd, Labour MP for Manchester Central, said: “You can’t make this scale of funding reduction without it having an impact on frontline services.

“You can move people around on the chessboard but the reality is that there are not going to be enough chess pieces.”

Mr Fahy has also raised concerns over the consequences of cutting funding to other services as well, saying that it is the police who will be left to pick up the pieces.