The countdown to next week’s 2022 Police Federation annual conference is well underway with members from all 43 branches looking forward to attending the first in-person event for four years.
The conference theme is Fighting for Fairness and features a wide range of speakers providing valuable insights through debate and discussion, raising awareness, sharing good practice, and challenging the balance of fairness around key issues affecting the policing community.
It takes place in Manchester next Tuesday and Wednesday (17 and 18 May) and will explore conduct performance, pay and conditions, misogyny, operation uplift, pensions, LQC hearings, case file preparation and keynote addresses from national Federation chair Steve Hartshorn and a senior minister.
Break-out sessions will provide further insight into topics covering mutual aid, the driving legislation bill, disability discrimination, ill-health retirement, wellbeing and the unlawful possession of S5 firearms.
This year’s conference is also being live streamed so members have the option of attending and taking part in the sessions virtually via an online platform.
The main sessions will take the form of panel discussions allowing the exploration of differing viewpoints and enabling the audience to participate with questions. Virtual attendees can pose questions via the online platform.
Cambridgeshire Police Federation chair Liz Groom said: “We are all very excited about the 2022 conference because it has been four years since we last held the event in person so it will be great to get together properly and discuss the issues our members are facing.
“But it is also our first ever hybrid annual conference which gives members who can’t make it to Manchester the opportunity to take part virtually.
“The theme is Fighting for Fairness and I think that pretty much sums up our position as a Police Federation. Policing has been through an extremely challenging few years in which we have felt betrayed by the Government and vilified by certain sections of the press.
“But we will always fight for the interests of our members and for what we believe are fair and reasonable outcomes when it comes to pay and conditions.”