Police in Norfolk and Suffolk to Merge Civilian Teams

04 November 2010

Norfolk and Suffolk police will combine every major backroom department within four years in what could be the first step towards a full-blown merger of the two forces.

Police chiefs announced the decision to bring together 11 civilian departments yesterday in a move aimed at saving at least £9.8m from their combined budgets by 2014.

The number of job losses has not yet been decided but Norfolk police has already said it expects to shed 230 civilian roles and a similar number is likely to go in Suffolk. Norfolk has currently frozen 153 vacancies in an attempt to limit redundancies.

Suffolk police has so far resisted Norfolk’s approaches to merge forces and last night chiefs continued to insist that, despite the collaboration, the counties would maintain individual frontline services.

But Stephen Bett, chairman of Norfolk Police Authority, said that the partnership could reach a critical mass over the next four years at which the forces would form a “federation” overseen by a single chief constable and chief officer team.

Former Norwich South MP Charles Clarke, who first put forward proposals for police force mergers in 2006 while serving as home secretary, welcomed the latest development.

He said: “I am 100pc supportive of what Norfolk and Suffolk police are doing. These are tough financial times and I have been impressed about the creative way they have gone about tackling the challenges they face.”

Shared teams of officers, such as the joint major investigation team, have already been formed. The forces are also working together to build new custody suites across the region.

Agreement has also been reached to share a number of senior officers, including a chief superintendent in charge of joint protective services, covering areas such as public protection and counter terrorism, and a joint head of justice services.

Mr Bett said: “Suffolk police have been very clear that they would not support a merger at this stage and we are proceeding on the basis of closer collaboration.

“But in four years, when backroom functions are combined along with a number of key policing functions, it would make sense to have one chief constable overseeing a single policing federation, albeit with a separate identity on the frontline. Such a move would realise massive savings.”

Yesterday’s announcement means that the professional standards, media and communications, estates and facilities, human resources, learning and development, finance and insurance, procurement and stores, information and communication technology, change and corporate services and performance departments will all merge.

Only executive support and business support will continue to operate as separate teams while further work is being carried out to decide whether or not to merge legal services. The forces will now begin looking at precisely how each department will operate in future.

Caren Reeves, the Unison branch secretary at Norfolk police, said: “As far as we are concerned there should be no distinction between backroom and frontline - if civilians don’t do the work, the burden on officers will increase which limits their ability to do their job, especially at a time when officer numbers are expected to fall.

“We accept that this is a difficult economic climate and organisations everywhere are going through similar unsettling processes, but over the coming months and years we will be working to ensure the best outcome for our members and to ensure continued service to the public.”

Assistant chief constable Charlie Hall, who is in charge of collaboration for both forces, said the priority was to re-design back office functions to provide more efficient support for the frontline.

He said: “We acknowledge the fact that, while there will be efficiency increases, it is inevitable that some jobs will be lost. We are committed to managing this as sensitively as possible through regular communication and engagement opportunities with staff.

“We will need to minimise any adverse impact on the frontline and will have to look long and hard at how we do that.”

Colin Spence, chairman of Suffolk Police Authority, said: “Having approved the proposals, we will continue to work closely with colleagues in Norfolk and Suffolk whilst the changes are implemented, and will monitor progress to ensure that the re-design of our essential support services does not damage our ability to deliver a high quality policing service.”