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The collaboration between Suffolk and Norfolk continues putting more jobs at risk

Tuesday, 19 November 2013

More civilian jobs are at risk in Suffolk and Norfolk as the counties two polices forces continue to merge together.

A total of 38 staff in Suffolk have already been made redundant during the first two years of the process to merge the 2 forces and now more than 70 jobs are at risk. It is thought that the number of jobs affected in Suffolk counts for slight less than half this figure.

Many of what are known as back office functions have been reviewed and combined in order to contribute to saving million pounds that both forces have been made to make.

The merge of the two forces started in early 2011 and around 340 civilian jobs have been under review in the 2 counties. There have been 80 redundancies since the merge began. Police officers cannot be made redundant. However, the number of officers in the Suffolk constabulary has declined as the result of government cuts. Before the cuts the total number of officers stood at 1245 which dropped down in 2011 to 1171. The current freeze on recruitment means that the number of officers now stands at 1,200.

Suffolk Constabulary implemented regulation A19 to help cut the number of staff down in the force. The regulation gave the two police forces the power to end officers contracts when they had reached 30 years service.

Suffolk Constabulary responded with a statement to the news of the potential staff cuts, “Suffolk Constabulary is involved with Norfolk Constabulary in a programme of collaboration as a way of driving down costs and providing services in the most cost effective way.

“This programme commenced in early 2011 and has resulted in the reorganisation or restructure of a number of departments within both organisations.

The latest part of the ongoing programme includes Joint Criminal Justice Services and Joint Performance and Analysis and this has resulted in 72 police staff being placed ‘at risk’ of redundancy.

“Consultation with UNISON and with individuals in both Suffolk and Norfolk is ongoing with the common objective of minimising the number of staff that may be redeployed or made redundant.

“Since the start of this programme, 339 members of police staff have been placed ‘at risk’ of redundancy across both Forces, however due to the careful management of the process, actual redundancies have been kept to 42 in Norfolk Constabulary and 38 in Suffolk Constabulary.”