Superintendents’ Association equality adviser accuses police of paying lip service to flexible working

Police forces are just paying lip service to flexible working, according to a force equality adviser.
 
Jayne Monkhouse, equality adviser to the Superintendents’
Association, which represents more than 1,600 superintendents and chief superintendents, said force managers still show a “grudging acceptance” of staff who wish to work flexibly.
 
Monkhouse estimated that just 3% of officers were working part-time, and that 97% of those were women, Police Review reports.
 
“Flexible working is unpopular because it is complicated," she said. "Forces need to recruit backfill, so if someone reduces their hours by 50%, forces must recruit someone to fill the extra hours. I think forces pay lip service to flexible working, but the practical implication of it is not there.”
 
Monkhouse added that she did not believe the police service would be ready for the new Gender and Equality Duty  when it is introduced next month.