please help answer 1-4

Police officers provide a unique and vital public service in modern society. Because of the special relationship which the police have with society, over the years the UK government has been keen to ensure their special status as public servants is protected. In 2011, police pay and conditions remained based on a scheme devised in 1978 by a Committee of Enquiry chaired by Lord Edmund-Davies. This committee decided to index police pay to non-manual worker pay and, while the pay formula had changed over time, police pay was still linked to external comparisons. In June 2010, following the severity of the 2008 economic crisis facing the UK government and consequent reduction in public spending, the UK government announced a two-year pay freeze for central government departments, including the police service. Thomas Winsor was appointed to conduct a review of police officer and staff remuneration and conditions in 2010 (Winsor, 2011, 2012). The Winsor Review was established with the clear objective of contributing to reducing the national budget deficit. In addition, there was a stated intention to move away from existing pay systems largely determined by 'time served', and introduce systems that would recognize and reward 'skills, performance and successful crime fighting' (Gov.uk, 2020). Police pay and conditions were seen by the government as having developed 'a degree of rigidity and a distance from modern management instruments and practices' (Winsor, 2011: 16). These rigidities 'inhibit the ability of the police service to adapt to the changing needs of the public and the demands properly made of the police' (Winsor, 2011: 16). The terms of reference of the Review stated that it should make recommendations as to the means 'by which the police service might acquire the necessary management flexibility to structure, incentivize and remunerate their workforce in a way which will ensure the greatest efficiency, economy and effectiveness, providing value for money for the taxpayer' (Winsor, 2011:323). Thomas Winsor adopted a number of principles in making his recommendations on reward changes: - Fairness is an essential part of any new system of pay and conditions. - The particular demands of policing work need to be taken into account. - People should be paid for what they do, the skills they have and are applying in their work, and the weights of the jobs they do. - People should be paid for how well they work. - There should be a single police service and distinctions between the conditions of police officers and police staff should be objectively justified. - The new system should be simple to implement and administer. - The reforms should be introduced over time so police officers and police staff do not feel threatened and have time to adjust. The main recommendations of the Winsor Review were as follows: - Changes in payments for working unsocial hours (20.00 to 06.00). - Reductions in overtime payments for some staff. - New, shorter pay scales for constables and sergeants. - Skills-based pay progression based on rigorous tests of skills, knowledge and experience. - Contribution-based pay progression based on annual appraisals. - Abolition of competence-related threshold payments. - A new power to make police officers open to redundancy. - A pension age of 60 , rather than 55 . Whilst these are merely proposals at this stage we remain extremely disappointed that Tom Winsor's report fails to demonstrate any evidence-based methodology or reasoning ... To make any changes to police terms and conditions, the unique working arrangements and special relationship the police have in society must at all times be borne in mind. Whilst police officers understand that these are just proposals at this stage, they are putting their last ounce of faith in this government to honour the processes and procedures in place to protect their unique working status ... Many of the proposals put forward in the Winsor Report cause grave concern and constemation among the rank and file, particularly as some officers would suffer a pay cut of up to 4,000. It is clear that police officers will be the biggest victims of the financial cuts in the public sector as this would be in addition to a two-year pay freeze and possible increased pension costs. The 20 per cent budget cuts imposed by this government will not only see a reduction in the numbers of officers fighting crime but will also impact on the unique working arrangements of police officers which reflect the dangerous and often thankless job they do. (Police Federation press release, 8 March 2011) By 2015, the government reported in a Windsor Review update that 'the vast majority of recommendations are complete and of those recommendations still in progress, most are at an advanced state of implementation' (Gov.uk, 2020). However, in 2019 a Police Federation survey of police officers found that around 80% of respondents were dissatisfied with their basic pay, and this figure has increased every year for the past six years (Boag-Monroe, 2019). Questions 1. What do you think of the principles adopted in undertaking the Winsor Review? Are they principles that could be applied when designing any reward system? 2. Do you think the suggested changes would meet the objectives of the review? 3. Why do you think the representatives of the police were less than enthusiastic? How could they have been encouraged to accept these changes? 4. What do you think has caused the increasing levels of dissatisfaction with police officer pay? What other factors might contribute towards police discontent