Contribution
I thank noble Lords for the opportunity to speak to this amendment in my name and that of the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Rainow, whose support I appreciate. This amendment seeks to extend the group of people in the criminal justice system who have the right to time off to fulfil their duties as a special constable.
In 2018, Section 50 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 was amended to include lay observers in prisons, and immigration visiting committees for immigration centres and short-term holding facilities. This added to the right of magistrates and justices of the peace to take time off from their employment. Each of these volunteering groups is of course essential to the effective functioning of the criminal justice system, but so are the special constables who have existed since being created by the Special Constables Act 1831—although today’s version was created by the Police Act 1964.
In my view, special constables are special by name and special by nature. They are unpaid volunteers. They have all the powers of regular constables: to arrest, to search and many more things a constable has the power to do. They also take all the risks that their colleagues take, including being stabbed or assaulted and people abusing them. Basically, they put their lives on the line in the same way that people such as those in the RNLI do on our behalf too. They are not paid, except for expenses, but this of course covers their outgoings—they make no profit.
After being trained, they are usually expected to be on duty for at least four hours a month, but most do very much more than this. Some work every weekend and some during breaks in employment; at such times, they work almost full-time hours. They were designed to be a contingency for war, backfilling for the police officers who would be expected to join the Armed Forces. We might think that particularly apposite at the moment, given the situation in Ukraine and the general threat from Russia. Only last week, the Government published a resilience plan to prepare our emergency and civil defence response for a higher level of threat from the multiple risks that exist. Specials are part of that national contingency when we deploy our Armed Forces.
Special constables are a visible representation of community policing, giving of themselves without payment to stop crime and keep order. For me, they have always been a way to have the community in the police station, holding their regular colleagues to account and not captured by the prevalent police culture—almost a pre-body-worn video. The Government have a commitment to neighbourhood policing, with a promise to deliver 13,000 more neighbourhood officers in the next few years. This comprises regulars, community support officers and special constabulary. If they cannot recruit or retain “free” special constables, they will need larger funding for police officers and police community support officers.
Yet presently their numbers are dropping dramatically. In September 2023, there were 6,330 and, by September the following year, they had gone down to 5,818. But, 10 years ago, there were around 15,000, and in the Met at that time there were around 5,000. So there has been a very significant drop in their numbers.
As far as I can determine, no other police force in the world has this sort of arrangement. If you talk to Americans or New Zealanders, they think it is amazing that people will be police officers, taking all the risks, without being paid. So this is a remarkable thing that we have. They have achieved an awful lot as they have done all the things that we need them to do over the years. In this context, on the grounds of equity with the other volunteers in the criminal justice system, surely we need to enhance the volunteer offer to encourage the recruitment, retention and diversity of the people in the special constabulary.