On Monday (13 February) Chris Burrows, chairman of Greater Manchester Police Federation, and Ian Hanson, chairman elect, held the Federation’s first live question and answer web chat with rank and file officers in the force.

Here is the transcript of the session which was published live on the federation Twitter account and Facebook page.

"With our increment pay frozen for two years, where will officers go back in the increment process?" 

Good question, very much on our radar. We need to see what the new Regulations are when they come out. As things stand you are paid based on level of service which would mean you would re-enter where you should have been if the increments had continued. As soon as we know the definitive answer on where officers will return to the increment process we will publish it.

"Are the Federation going to fight for officers' right to strike so we can't be bullied in future by government?" 

Be careful what you wish for. There is a difference of opinion among officers about industrial rights. With the right to strike will also be a right to make you redundant. We in GMP believe there should be a new national ballot of all members, after full information about what industrial rights actually means. Then a vote from a fully informed position as to whether cops do want industrial rights. We will then have a clear mandate one way or other.

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"Officers are asking what happens next? The national Federation's "Enough is enough" [poster] campaign won't stop the government shafting us. What do we do next?"

We understand your frustration but the reality is that until we know what we are fighting we can’t answer that. The most important thing is for cops to contact MPs/Councillors and let them know how this is affecting morale and the service to the public.

"What are the Federation doing on lack of promotion opportunities?"

We have asked force on numerous occasions to review current temporary positions to establish whether permanent promotions can take place. We have been told this will be done by the end of February

“Latest rumour is a degree will be required for promotion?”

There is nothing official at all regarding promotion although pay and conditions reviewer Tom Winsor has spoken of pre entry qualifications. This may be covered in Winsor part 2 when it is published [scheduled to be March]. As regards promotions, they are rumours only and we have not heard them here actually.

"I'm due to retire with 30yrs service aged 49. Are the government trying to stop this/make me work longer?"

It depends when you are retiring. Like all public sector pensions, the Government wants to change ours but we still don’t have the full information as to what to. The only thing we know is that they want to do it in the lifetime of this Parliament (before 2015). They have also said that the ”uniformed services” will have a lower pension age than the other public sector pension schemes. It would be misleading to say we had any detail as we quite simply do not have it yet. 

"What is the Federation's position on “lateral promotion” whereby officers can gain experience and skills without getting the extra pay?”

We believe there's perfectly adequate way of rewarding officers in place given the flexibility of posting available.

"What do you think about the 'tick' in the book culture? I was under the impression that the tick, detection culture was now out however, the big push in the force is about arrests, which ultimately, will lead to officers not using their discretion. It's pathetic and immoral fighting figures. It leads to competition within shifts, which, believe it or not, is happening."

Excellent point which should be addressed by command. The Chief tells us we have moved away from rigid adherence to performance indicators. If you give us specific examples we can highlight them at Force command level and get the Chief to back us……….or not!

"What do you think of an introduction of short term contracts based on fitness and performance?" 

Policing is a vocation not an employment. We would start to lose dedication and commitment if policing was something people could butterfly in and out of just to make a CV look good. There would be no time for police officers to build up links with the community and the service and the public would suffer

"Custody is an absolute joke. We have gone to 12hrs shifts, in order to modernise, yet there still is not enough Sgt's to cover custody. Why did we we break something which was not broken in the first place. It's a complete mess. Does the Federation have any views on this?"

We have a new custody rep who meets regularly now with the command from the Custody Branch and he will take forward everything you raise. With regards custody, please contact us with any examples you have of failures and we will take these to the people that matter.

"Given the financial pressure on cops, will we be allowed to have second jobs?"

Officers are already allowed to have second jobs. Tom Winsor is going to cover this again in Part 2 of his review into officer pay and conditions - but we don’t know what he is going to say. The point on cops having second jobs is that we believe officers should be paid well enough not to need to have secondary employment

Thanks so much for all your questions. Hope the answers have helped clarify some concerns.

We will take part in another web chat in the near future and as always, feel free to get in touch in the meantime. 

Chris Burrows, Ian Hanson