Policing Board members on full pay 13 months on

Members of the Policing Board are still in receipt of full pay despite the body being unable to function properly for more than a year.
May 2017: Chief Constable George Hamilton and Anne Connolly, chairwoman of the Policing Board, pictured together at a lunchtime seminar to discuss policing mattersMay 2017: Chief Constable George Hamilton and Anne Connolly, chairwoman of the Policing Board, pictured together at a lunchtime seminar to discuss policing matters
May 2017: Chief Constable George Hamilton and Anne Connolly, chairwoman of the Policing Board, pictured together at a lunchtime seminar to discuss policing matters

As well as the nine current board members receiving full rates, it has also emerged the board members who are now being sought to replace them are also set to get the same pay.

The Policing Board held its last full meeting in February 2017, with the collapse of Stormont the following month leaving it largely paralysed.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The board oversees the work of the PSNI by questioning its top officers in public sessions, sets targets and priorities for the force, and appoints senior police.

It is meant to be made up of nine independent members and 10 MLAs. However no MLAs have sat on the board since last March because they cannot be appointed without a justice minister.

This left the nine independent members to carry on alone, with much of the board’s work unable to be completed.

Seven of these independent members earn £15,000-a-year for four days work per month, while the independent chairwoman of the board Anne Connolly gets £50,000 for three days’ work per week, and the vice-chair (also independent) gets £30,000 per year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As to what Policing Board members have been doing for the last 13 months, the board said meetings have been held with top officers and others, visits made to police premises, information from the PSNI and the National Crime Agency analysed, and more.

It acknowledged whilst “a wide range of work has been progressed”, it is unable to fulfil all its statutory duties, including “public accountability sessions, committee meetings, publication of new reports or policing plans or progressing senior officer appointments”.

It adds Anne Connolly “has placed on public record her concerns” about the situation.

The Department of Justice (DoJ), which sets Policing Board pay, said that none of the current board members have “refused remuneration or paid back remuneration received”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It is currently seeking new recruits to replace the existing nine independent members, who have been in post since July 2015. It indicated the new board members will be employed on the same terms and pay, saying there is “no provision in the terms of appointment to vary the level of remuneration”. Applications close at noon on May 3.

The Northern Ireland Office told the News Letter the Secretary of State, DoJ, PSNI, and board itself are “exploring... what can be done in the absence of the Executive” to get it working properly again.

Alan McQuillan, ex-assistant chief constable who formerly helped oversee MLAs’ pay, said the board has been reduced to “a talking shop denuded of any real power”.

But he said this is not the fault of the independent members. “These people have not asked for this,” he said, adding that it lies with the Secretary of State to press for the board to be fully operational again, and “not just allow this continual drift to go on and on”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ross Hussey, UUP Policing Board member from 2011 to 2017, said since the board oversees appointments of officers from assistant chief constable level upwards, in the present situation “if George Hamilton or other senior officers decided to leave no action could be taken” to replace them.

However, the chair and vice chair in particular are still “putting their heart and soul” into the board, and a lot of “behind the scenes” work is needed to keep its structures alive for the future, he said.