Kent Police Benevolent Funds

03/07/2023

I’d like to give a big shout out on behalf of the Benevolent Fund to one of our retired members, Keith Whitnell. To be truthful I’m not sure what Keith’s day job is these days (if indeed he has one) but what he clearly does have is a sideline as a bit of a raconteur. I know this because I’ve just taken receipt of the latest cheque from one of a number of groups in the Medway area (The Probus club, the Medway U3A group and the Bredgar historical society to name but a few) which are donations which at Keith’s request, have been sent to the fund in lieu of a speakers fee being paid to him. I’m not sure how wide Keith repertoire is, but I understand his talk on “Murders in Medway” goes down well, although I believe it was the Medway U3A group who wanted to know about the miners dispute of 1984.. There were certainly plenty of stories to be had covering that event as some of us will know.
Thanks Keith, the fact that you have kindly donated your speakers fee to the Benevolent Fund, is greatly appreciated

12/12/2022

It seems that a few members have been wished a doubly good Christmas this year by the benevolent fund, and have received two Christmas cards from us. I don’t know why this is, it sometimes happens when two members live together ( married or otherwise) and sometimes when members who were officers, and now pensioners themselves, are also widows/widowers of former members. This is because I get sent separate lists for pensioners and widows and they obviously will appear in both. I do my best to sort these out, which is an interesting exercise because it involves sorting a huge excel list by postcodes which highlights what I can only describe as “enclaves” of former officers living in many areas of the County, when I find numerous members with the same postcodes but obviously not all living at the same addresses.
I know of at least three people who have “doubled up” for no obvious reason so far this year, which I suppose is better than getting no card, and much better than getting an empty envelope as happened to a few members a couple of years ago. We used to print individual labels for every single card and post everything manually. It’s more automated these days, which saves a huge amount of time, but it seems that the posting machine does occasionally have a blip.. Rest assured I know how many we asked I be posted and that’s all we’ll pay for.
Happy Christmas
Gary Sutton
Benevolent Fund Secretary.

16/11/2022

It’s approaching that time of year again, the time when we touch base with all our members both at home and abroad with a Christmas card. The piles on this desk each represent a different country where our members live, this does not include the four uk home countries. We certainly spread ourselves all over the world, 24 different countries this year, with Spain having overtaken France as our members favourite overseas home from home.
There was an issue last year and some of our cards to members “down under “ arrived late for some reason, so I make no apologies if our cars to overseas members ( particularly those outside the EU) arrive somewhat early this year.

13/10/2022

I did an online presentation today, talking about the benefits of being a member of Benevolent Funds today as part of a Health Awareness Week organized by Kent Network Of Women.

As part of my presentation I did an up to date count of our membership numbers. I thought these might be of interest as people are often surprised at the number of members we have. The below figures are correct as of today, with the exception of the 124 new recruits who started on Monday. Their details are not yet on the system

I think it is reasonable to expect that of those 124 new recruits, we'd get at least 100 new members, which as you can see, would take our membership past the 7000 mark in the Police Fund.

20/07/2022

****** CHANGE IN FLINT HOUSE POLICY re. Retired Officers *****

It's been a long time since I have added to the Benevolent Fund page which is something I do need to address, however there has been a major change in policy at Flint House, which could affect so many of our retired members that it has forced me to post this update as it needs to be shared as widely and as quickly as possible. I understand that some of you may already be aware of this, but somehow despite us having almost 3000 retired officer/members they forgot to tell me:

The previous policy at Flint House whereby retired officers could only attend on payment of £400 for the week has now been rescinded.
Their new policy is that Retired officers can now subscribe and subsequently attend Flint House by signing up via the direct debit mandate on their website (www.flinthouse.co.uk) for £5 a month.

I have however clarified a couple of bits.
1. Retired Officers can still only attend for one week at a time ( serving officers can stay for two weeks.)
2. They have 158 rooms at Flint House but there is no set number put aside for retired officers, all they can say is that each weekly intake will include a number of retired officers.
3. Timing as to when people need to attend the centre e.g. Following an operation is key, because there is a waiting list. Currently ( mid July) they’re taking bookings for October, so you will need to plan ahead.
4. Any retired officer in receipt of a police pension ( unless dismissed/required to resign from the service) is eligible to attend. This does include those who may have chosen to resign at any point during their service, before their pension was due, but are now in receipt of a deferred pension due to their age.
5. Retired officers who are members of the benevolent fund, can ask for a contribution towards their travel costs in the same way as serving officers. The form for this is downloadable from www.kpbf.org.uk.
Regards
Gary Sutton
Benevolent Fund Secretary

Helping people in the police service to be healthier, fitter, more resilient and recover from mental and physical injury.

17/04/2021

I recently came across this document which I thought I'd post just for its historical value. I was never really sure about the history of the benevolent fund in its current guise, but this document seems to suggest that we started in 1981 so this year is our 40th birthday. I know from previous office "clear outs" that a welfare fund of some kind had been assisting police officers since just after the second World war because I found paperwork documenting loans that had been issued from that period but I just didn't know what this fund was. It now appears that there were two similar funds and these amalgamated into the fund we have now. I'm sure plenty of our retired colleagues were about when this amalgamation occurred, and this probably won't be news to them, I'm obviously younger than I look because it was before I joined the service..

13/04/2021

A message, or more a reminder especially for our retired members...
If you continue as a member of the Benevolent Fund on retirement you pay a reduced subscription until you're 65 whereupon no further subscriptions are required from you literally for the rest of your life, although all the benefits remain unchanged.
I've identified 6 retired members have become or are just about to become 65 this month. I've asked payroll to cease further subscription from the beginning of next month. Happy 65th to you all, and do spend that extra £2.80 a month wisely.
On a serious note, if you're 65 and deductions to the benevolent fund are still being taken from you, it means you've managed to slip through the net. I'm not aware of anyone who has, but if you have slipped the net, please contact me and I'll ensure future payments are stopped and get payroll to reimburse anything you may have overpaid.

06/04/2021

Well I failed miserably... it was one of my intended new years resolutions to try to update the page for the Benevolent Fund much more frequently, and yet here we are in April, and I've added nothing meaningful this year.

Allow me to just say that the Benevolent fund is still very active, albeit Debbie and I are still predominantly working from home, but rest assured no one who has been eligible for a grant or any other support from us has missed out at all.

I would however like to confirm our contact details should anyone need to get in touch.

The office email (which both Debbie and I can access) which is now our primary address is;

[email protected]

This is by far the easiest way to get in touch and I will reply asap and if you leave a number I'm happy to call you back.

We used to have an address that ended .polfed.org but that has recently been closed down as we were unable to remain on the Police Federation system, so if you have [email protected] in your address book please delete it.

If you call the office telephone number 01622 653066, the answer phone message will get sent to me on a force laptop.

Should you need to speak to me urgently, the following mobile number is a temporary contact during office hours... I have to turn it off outside office hours otherwise people ring me on when they're on "Night duty"

07377 231176

27/11/2020

Our page has taken somewhat of a backseat for a while, but we do intend to start posting on it in due course.. I might make it a new year resolution. We have however ensured that any messages received via Facebook have been answered.
In the meantime here a few updates:

My part time colleague Debbie O'Neill and I have been working from home since the end of March. This has had no impact on the day to day business we do. I've been circulating all non contentious applications to the committee for approval, and when necessary we've held virtual committee meetings via MS Teams, in order to be able to discuss any applications that required more in depth debate so no one has missed out on anything they are entitled to due to our absence from the office.

The only issue you have is the inability to pick up the phone if someone rings the office, but if a message is left on our ansaphone, the message does get transferred to my force laptop at home, so I do respond to messages that are left but please accept our apologies if there is a slight delay in getting back to you. BY far the easiest way to get a response from us is to email the office on [email protected] . If you do need to speak to us in person please leave a number and we will call you back asap.

As you can imagine, we have had a number of members/ former colleagues or their partners affected by the current pandemic and sadly some deaths as a direct consequence. I do try to speak to the families of all those who have died to pass on not only our condolences but also to ensure that the £2000 grant we give to the family, gets to the right person and helps with the expenses involved in arranging a funeral. I am always at pains to point out that we appreciate that no amount of money compensates for the loss of a loved one, but it is the most practical thing we can offer at the time and the families are always very grateful for the support, particularly when it comes "out of the blue" for some who have no idea that we provide that particular grant. Can I just remind everyone that every member is entitled to a single death grant, but that is payable upon the death of the member, but can also be paid to the member if his/her spouse/partner dies first. It can also be paid upon the death of a members child (under 19) and tragically we've had one of this in recent months. When we are able to hold an AGM there is a proposal to amend our rules to allow a death grant to be paid to a member even if one has previously be paid out due to the death of a young child many years ago, and also to allow more than one grant to be paid if as a result of a tragic accident more than one member of a family is killed at the same time...... I know its a bit heavy, but we're just trying to cover all the bases so that our members get as much benefit from our fund as we can reasonably provide.

I was unaware until recently that our web address www.kpbf.org.uk wasn't working. This was apparently because the webpage was hosted on a National Police Federation server, which was replaced and the link was not copied. I am assurred that as of today this has been fixed and www.KPBF.org.uk should now provide you a link which will take you to our webpage which is on the Kent Police Federation Site. If all else fails, just google Kent Police Federation and click the members section, you'll find a link to the Benevolent Fund there.

Finally for now, it's that time of year, so unless you've opted out, all our members and widows/widowers will be getting the annual Christmas card through the post soon. It's a nice one this year, based on an original painting which has been "seasoned and "Policified" by one of our members.

Best wishes

Gary Sutton... Benevolent Fund secretary.

26/04/2019

They say little things please little minds, and I probably qualify in that respect because one of the joys I get in my role is opening the Benevolent Fund collection boxes that periodically arrive from front counters. Some arrive already counted ( which takes the fun away) but today I had a complete box arrive from Ashford ( I even had to break into it as the key had gone awol.) We’re extremely grateful for any and all contributions that have been made to those boxes, but once I’ve accounted for the English monetary donations, its always nice to see what I can also add to my stash of cash from around the world.
Today’s total was £114.97 in English cash ( including 2 x old £5 notes and 5 old £1 coins) along with 11 Rumanian Lei, 1 x old sixpence and 330 of an as yet unidentified coin ( see photo below.) If anyone can help me identify these coins I’d be very grateful. I’m not expecting these to be of any value but I’d like to know what they are. My 11 Romanian Lei, are worth £1.99 apparently, but these will be added to my collection which currently contains:
3000 Japanese Yen
16 Malaysian Ringgits
6 polish Grosz
70 Euro cents
6 Turkish Lira
1 US cent
1977 Silver jubilee commemorative coin
1965 Winston Churchill commemorative coin.

Can someone identify these please

15/04/2019

Group Insurance Scheme Update for Kent Police Federation Members

From May 2019 there will be changes to our Group Insurance Scheme for members. Whilst this unfortunately will mean a slight price increase, we are delighted to say we will now be including Gadget Insurance as part of the package.

From May the new provider of our insurance – which also provides RAC cover and travel insurance - will be Ageas Insurance Ltd, a company we have used in the past.

Dan Pearce, Kent Police Federation General Secretary, said: “Unfortunately due to a number of reasons - mainly claims history - our existing travel insurance provider was looking to greatly increase premiums.

“As a result we have secured a new provider – and whilst there is some unavoidable increase in cost - it is great news that members will be getting more for their money.

“In these days of expensive repairs to our ever growing list of gadgets, we think this new strand of insurance will benefit both serving and retired members.

“We would encourage members to look at the terms and conditions and remember to check to make sure you are not doubling up on cover as some of you may have this offered by other providers.”

The new Gadget Insurance covers items such as laptops, phones, tablets and cameras. More details can be seen on our website http://www.polfed.org/Kent/group-insurance/

The cost of the new monthly cost of the scheme is:

Serving Police Officers and Staff - £11.50

Retired up to 65 - £13.09

Retired over 65 - £19.60

Deductions for the new scheme will be taken from salary/pension payments with effect from 1 May.

Retired members are required to notify Kent Police Federation by 24 April and Serving members prior to 14 May should they wish to no longer be part of the scheme.

Kent Police Federation can be contacted at 01622 652250.

Kent Police Federation is pleased to be able to offer its members a wide range of attractive benefits. We have arranged a series of schemes and services at preferential rates with companies who are acknowledged leaders in their fields - have a look through the list.Please note: It is vital that memb...