Are police forces past their due date? Examining the impact of pregnancy, maternity leave and returning to work on women in policing

Duddin, Keely; Wright, Kendal; Bell, Sean and Wright, Frances (2023). Are police forces past their due date? Examining the impact of pregnancy, maternity leave and returning to work on women in policing. Centre for Policing Research and Learning, The Open University.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.00016ead

Abstract

As UK police forces drive forward recruitment drives such as Operation Uplift, there are increased proportions of female officers and staff recruited. Two main priorities across the board are wellbeing and inclusion. It is therefore essential we better understand the organisational health and personal wellbeing of officers and staff, as a direct consequence of pregnancy and maternity leave. This research seeks to join up the actual experiences of both officers and staff who have been pregnant and had a period of maternity leave.

The key aims of this research.

• To provide a platform for mothers in policing who have not yet had their voice heard but wish to help shape the future experiences for their colleagues.
• Forces to have a clearer understanding of how valued their working mothers feel when returning to work.
• For the findings to inform positive change to policies on the communication before, during and after maternity leave.
• To change the bias towards a mother’s commitment to her professional career should she wish to look for professional opportunities after returning from maternity leave.
• Where our research finds issues and we have the evidence to support it, we will look to make recommendations to support mothers and organisations to improve the experiences for all.