Single force chief discusses potential job losses with staff

Published on 02/10/2012 00:00

The chief constable of Scotland’s new single police force has started visiting police stations around the country to discuss potential job losses.

When he was ­announced as chief constable last week, Stephen House said the merger of the eight forces could lead to 3,200 support staff losing their jobs.

He has now been sworn in to his new position, at the Scottish Police College, in Tulliallan, becoming the first officer in the Police Service of Scotland which comes into effect on 1 April.

Mr House, former chief constable of Strathclyde Police, said he started to visit offices in the Central Scotland force area last week and aims to meet as many staff as possible over the next few weeks.

“The cuts are potential, and that’s the thing to be focusing on. I understand that it’s really concerning for people that their jobs are under threat but I think what would be worse would be pretending that that’s not the situation.

“At the moment we don’t know exactly how many jobs need to go,” he said.

“I think the government has been very clear in the undertaking that jobs will be lost voluntarily and that it won’t be forced redundancies.

“I’ve visited some offices in central Scotland and met staff to talk about their concerns.”

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