Cheshire PEEL 2017

Cheshire Constabulary is good at treating the people it serves with fairness and respect. The constabulary’s chief officer team provides clear leadership on the constabulary’s values, with the aim of ensuring the workforce understand and use the values and show an awareness of procedural justice when dealing with the public. All the officers and staff we spoke to during this inspection demonstrated that they understood the constabulary’s values. We found a good understanding of both unconscious bias and the importance of communication skills among the workforce. The constabulary has many established methods of seeking external challenge and feedback, but could further develop its work with its independent advisory group. The improvements made to stop and search, including in the recording of reasonable grounds, the monitoring of data and public scrutiny, are impressive. The constabulary should now apply this experience to make similar improvements in the data and analysis on the use of force.

Cheshire Constabulary is good at ensuring its workforce behaves ethically and lawfully. There is excellent leadership from the constabulary to maintain and develop its ethical culture. We found awareness and examples of ethical decision making throughout the workforce. The constabulary publicises lessons learned and provides guidance to inform staff continually. It is easy for the public to make complaints, and, in general, the constabulary investigates complaints to a good standard and provides a good level of service. The constabulary identifies cases of discrimination correctly and provides a good level of service to complainants. The constabulary is making progress with its re-vetting backlog and is confident it will complete its re-vetting by March 2018. The constabulary should improve its process to allow the workforce to raise ethical concerns with the ethics board.

Cheshire Constabulary treats its workforce with fairness and respect. It has many ways for its workforce to communicate with management and has responded to various concerns that its officers and staff have raised, and has made improvements. Its grievance procedures are used and the majority of the workforce have confidence in them. The wellbeing of the workforce is a priority for the constabulary and it has invested in mental health awareness and support, recognising this is the biggest area of risk. The work the constabulary has done in addressing disproportionality in its workforce is excellent and it has been recognised for this in awards.

It has put considerable effort into improving how it manages the individual performance of its workforce and, although there is more to do to ensure one-to-one conversations with officers and staff take place regularly to identify performance and wellbeing matters, we recognise the progress made. The constabulary has excellent promotion processes that its workforce consider to be clear and fair.

The constabulary should consider how it develops staff confidence in its consultation processes and consider monitoring interventions made by its managers in resolving workplace problems, ensuring that its grievance procedures are understood by all managers.