The Defence Police Federation has been discussing pensions and allowances at its first meeting with the UK Police Remuneration Forum.
The Chair Eamon Keating and General Secretary Mitch Batt attended the meeting at the forum where staff associations gather to talk about strategy in negotiating matters of police officer pay and pensions.
Also in attendance were representatives from the Chief Police Officers’ Staff Association, superintendents representatives from across the UK, members of the Police Federation of England and Wales, as well as the Police Federation for Northern Ireland and the BTP Federation.
Eamon said: “This was our first invitation to sit down with the UK PRF and it was a really positive and productive meeting.
“Nobody knows better than the Ministry of Defence Police what it’s like to be treated differently to other forces across the country because our officers are paid the least and we get the least amount of allowances than any other force.
“Being at the meeting provided a unique opportunity to join forces and work together for a common goal with all of the other representative bodies. As a force and a Federation, we are facing very difficult times within the Ministry of Defence and being a part of this group adds strength and a professional element to the representation of our members which we are very grateful for.”
The Defence Police Federation is currently challenging the Government position on its members’ pensions, and the meeting provided an opportunity to learn from other associations and share its own experiences.
Eamon added: “Together we talked about commonality and tried to come up with strategic options for how to take issues forward. So from our perspective it’s excellent that we’ve been included and it’s an opportunity that we will really want to take advantage of.
“We weren’t talking about local issues or issues that are relevant to individual groups or forces, but more the strategic issue that cut across all policing – whether that be the different pay between Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, allowances and on-call allowances.
“It was an excellent opportunity, a really good meeting and very productive. Mitch and I were really impressed with the coordination and the want to work together from all of the different representative bodies.”
Eamon said pensions were discussed at length, and that he is looking forward to attending such meetings in the future, adding that the forum has the potential “to be incredibly powerful”.
