Quarter of GMP’s workforce to be lost

Police staff at Greater Manchester Police (GMP) gathered at two mass meetings to hear how the cuts will affect them.

A quarter of GMP’s police force will be lost to the cuts, which amounts to around 12,000 staff including frontline officers, according to the Greater Manchester Police Authority (GMPA).

The meetings were held at Bolton’s Reebok Stadium, in which 1,900 members of staff were told that a total of 1,387 officers and 1,557 police staff jobs could go.

Chief Constable Peter Fahy said that 750 civilian employees and 309 officers would go by 2012, and that by 2014/15, there would be a 23 per cent reduction in employee numbers.

Meetings have been arranged between staff and their managers to discuss what the announcement means for their future prospects.

The jobs have been divided up into four categories:
•In the first group, posts will be unaffected;
•The second is made up of departments which will be merged;
•The third will be where posts are reduced and staff may have to reapply for their own jobs; and
•The fourth group will be posts which will disappear.
The Chancellor’s announcement last month means that GMP has to find savings of around £134 million over the Comprehensive Spending Review period.
One way in which it is hoped some savings will be made is through a recruitment freeze, natural wastage, and forced retirements for officers with more than 30 years’ service.

However, the forced retirement plans have come under attack from Shadow Home Secretary Ed Balls.

He warned that more than 3,000 police officers nationwide who fall into this bracket could be affected by the “legal loophole”.

Mr Balls said: “People are rightly concerned that 20 per cent funding cuts being demanded by the Government will see fewer police officers and undermine the fight against crime.

“But it is very worrying that the scale and pace of the coalition’s cuts mean that we could lose thousands of the most experienced officers in the country.

“This would be madness, but the Government is putting police forces in an impossible position. A number of forces have already said they may have to take this drastic action, but with big cuts on the way I fear this could be just the tip of the iceberg.”

According to Mr Balls, Home Office figures show that 3,260 police officers have more than 30 years’ service and could therefore be affected by part A19 of the Police Pensions Regulations.