The chairman of the Kent Police Federation is warning of more heavy job losses after it emerged 43 posts have been lost from Canterbury police station.

Ian Pointon spoke out after 36 civilian employees opted for voluntarily redundancy, with another seven moved as the force grapples with finding £61 million savings over the next four years.

He fears there will inevitably be an impact upon the police’s ability to perform its duties.

“Policing is a team effort and when police staff colleagues lose their jobs the work doesn’t disappear, but instead gets redistributed,” Mr Pointon told the Kentish Gazette this week.

“I know that police officers will pick up their share of that work, eating into their availability for frontline duties.

“We know that Kent Police will have to find considerable savings in the coming years. This will mean job losses for police staff and will mean considerably fewer police officers.”

The Kent Police Federation is the body which represents frontline police officers.
Civilian employees belonging to a union will ordinarily be members of Unison, one of the largest public sector unions in the UK with 1.3 million members.

However, Mr Pointon believes those losing their jobs at the Canterbury station in Old Dover Road face an uncertain future.

He went on: “When I learn about colleagues losing their livelihood the first thing I think of is the impact on them personally.

“Do they have another job? How will they pay their mortgage or rent? Do they have children? How will they cope financially? Behind every job loss is a real person, a family and we should never lose sight of that.”

Last week, the Gazette revealed that the force had arranged the redundancies as part of a reorganisation process.

The Criminal Justice Unit (CJU) has been centralised in the North Kent police area. Its work involves updating the police national computer, handing out of court disposals and conducting case reviews.

Det Supt Ann Lisseman says the changes are necessary to find savings of £61 million over four years.

“The restructure forms part of cost-saving measures as part of Kent Police’s estimated budget reduction,” Det Supt Lisseman explained.

“The Criminal Justice Unit is responsible for a variety of tasks, quality assurance and are a key conduit between police, courts and CPS.

“These tasks will all still take place, but from the centralised location at North Kent police station and members of the public should not notice any difference in the service they receive from Kent Police.”