Imagine you are a Police and Crime Commissioner, and having settled into your role you think it is time to review your support structure. You would probably have a report drafted presenting a variety of options and some analysis of them, consult people who might be able to assist, make a decision on a new structure and then go about seeing who from the organisation can fit into the new posts available and where it is necessary to look outside for new talent.

If there were any posts you simply had to have, then those posts would be safe and their incumbents would remain. Others might have to go through a compulsory redundancy process if there was nothing suitable for them.

What you wouldn’t do is spend money on making people redundant who you don’t have to make redundant, or indeed can’t make redundant, because you are stuck with their posts – and you wouldn’t make the changes and then do the review, because that is the wrong way round- yet today Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw announced that his Chief Executive is leaving on voluntary redundancy, and that now there will be a review of support arrangements.

I can put it no better than the two tweets by Mark Ryan on the subject

@LancsPCC Sorry u cannot make the statutory office of Chief Executive redundant!You make positions redundant not people! @TopOfTheCopsCom

— mark ryan (@markdpryan) June 25, 2014

@LancsPCC Sorry your office cannot legally operate if u do not have a Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer! @TopOfTheCopsCom @BernardRix

— mark ryan (@markdpryan) June 25, 2014

What Mark is referring to is that Schedule 1: 6(1) of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act provides as follows:-

“A police and crime commissioner must appoint—

(a)a person to be the head of the commissioner’s staff (referred to in this Part as the commissioner’s chief executive); and

(b)a person to be responsible for the proper administration of the commissioner’s financial affairs (referred to in this Part as the commissioner’s chief finance officer).”

 So those posts are a given – they do not give an opportunity for compulsory redundancy, and they do not therefore give an opportunity for an employee to volunteer their post as redundant.

For her part, Miranda Carruthers-Watt says she is looking forward to some time off and then moving to other challenges. If she wanted to do that, then there was no need for Mr Grunshaw to spend taxpayers’ money on a redundancy payment in the process.