Guernsey Police officers to receive £5,000 retention and recognition payment

The Committee for Home Affairs said due to carrying a number of vacancies, the force has been operating under “sustained pressure for some years”, with officers working longer hours and undertaking ever-more complex case work to support and protect the island’s community.

The committee said this “extraordinary” one-off payment is designed to retain officers for the next 18 months, while the benefits of recently successful recruitment campaigns are translated into an increased number of staff and therefore more manageable workloads

The payment has been agreed by Policy and Resources Committee and follows discussions with the Guernsey Police Association (GPA) – which represents officers of constable, sergeant and inspector rank.

The Committee for Home Affairs said recruitment efforts both locally and in the UK have been “challenging” due to a wide variety of factors.

During this time Guernsey Police has received some support through UK secondments, but unlike many other sectors, securing short-term staffing cover or relief is very difficult, it said. This in turn has led to local officers covering an ever-increasing number of unsociable shifts, working additional overtime, having leave and rest-days cancelled, and providing discretionary effort across heavy workloads.

The payment is coming from the Committee for Home Affairs’ budget, using within-year salary underspends, and is to thank officers for that “significant professional effort and commitment”, and to assist with maintaining a “resilient and experienced workforce within the police”.

The payment will be made to all fully-warranted officers of constable, sergeant and inspector rank. It will only include officers who have passed their probation and were employed on or before the July 1, 2024 (and remain employed).

If an officer resigns or retires before a period of 18 months has passed from the date on which the payment is made, that person must repay one eighteenth of the total amount for each month they have fallen short.

No payment is being made to any officer on unsatisfactory performance procedures.

Deputy Rob Prow, president of the Committee for Home Affairs, said: “Officers working for Guernsey Police have been working in conditions of acute sustained pressure for some years now, as the organisation has been below the number of officers required in its current operating model. This has all been while the complexity of police work has continued to grow and the number of extremely sensitive and intricate cases has increased. It is clearly very important to the Guernsey community that we maintain a resilient workforce within Guernsey Police, and it is also important that we reward these officers for the efforts they have put in during this protracted period. That is why we have made the decision to make this reward.

“Recognising how stretched public money is, this was not a decision that was taken lightly. That said, however, the summation of this decision is that, following discussion with Policy and Resources, we as a committee both feel it is an important recognition of the burden officers have born, and a necessity to ensure our force remains staffed, stable, resilient, and holds onto the levels of expertise it needs.”

Guernsey Police’s minimum target operating model (TOM) would see it staffed with 151 warranted officers. The annual average headcount has not exceeded that number since before 2013 but has continued to trend downwards. It has averaged at 137 in 2024 (year to date). These numbers are further impacted by long-term sickness.

The Committee for Home Affairs, in conjunction with the Chief Officer of Police, is currently reviewing the police target operating model and the TOMs of other services under its remit.

It said recent efforts to recruit both on-island and from the UK have been more successful than attempts from the past five years. There will be a local cohort of trainee police constables starting training in the autumn, three transferee officers have started in recent months, and a cohort of potential transferees are currently being interviewed or reviewing options regarding moving to the Bailiwick.