Review ordered into Thames Valley Police race discrimination

The officers won a claim after an employment judge ruled they were directly discriminated by reason of the protected characteristic of race.

In an attempt to improve the diversity of its senior staff, a Thames Valley Police superintendent was told to “make it happen” by appointing an “Asian” sergeant to the rank of detective inspector, despite having been warned about the legal risks of not holding a competitive process.

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Detective Inspector Phillip Turner-Robson, Inspector Graham Horton and Kirsteen Bishop, a custody inspector, brought employment tribunal proceedings against the force claiming to have been disadvantaged because of their race – described by the tribunal as “white British”.

The experienced officers had been working with the force – which covers Oxfordshire – for between 19 and 26 years when they were blocked from applying for the role in 2022, an employment tribunal was told.

Matthew Barber, police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley, has since released a statement labelling it as "clearly unacceptable".

He said: “It is critical in building confidence across our whole community that there is never any discrimination in policing.

“In this case, the employment tribunal found that the Force had discriminated against the claimants on the basis of race.

"This is clearly unacceptable and should not have happened.

"I recognise Thames Valley Police’s commitment to building a workforce that represents the whole community, but it is apparent from the judgement that the force was wrong on this occasion in that the processes it followed were not fair, transparent, or competitive.

“I am clear that Thames Valley Police must treat everyone equally when making appointments, determined solely on merit.

"I will ensure a full review into the processes, policies and approach by the force to ensure this cannot happen in the future.

“There must be no place for any form of discrimination in policing and I expect the chief constable to ensure that all communities are treated equally by Thames Valley Police.”

The tribunal heard that in August 2022, plans were discussed for a job advert for a detective inspector in the force’s “priority crime team” at Aylesbury to be put out as soon as possible.

Having been made aware of the vacancy, DI Turner-Robson expressed his interest on the same day, the Norwich tribunal heard.

But the following month, Superintendent Emma Baillie made the decision to move Sergeant Sidhu, whose forename was not provided, into the role without undertaking any competitive process or advertising the vacancy to staff, the tribunal was told.

The sergeant had not even been promoted to inspector at the time she was made detective inspector, the tribunal heard, after deputy chief constable Jason Hogg and the superintendent had “jumped the gun” and given her the senior role.

Chief constable Jason Hogg (Image: Oxford Mail) Mr Hogg, an experienced officer who joined Cleveland Police in 1995, became Thames Valley Police chief constable in April 2023.

The Superintendent had been told to “make it happen” by the deputy chief constable and “took the decision without thinking it through”, the tribunal said.

She then tried to “retrospectively justify” the decision by saying the appointment came under a “BAME Progression Program which clearly did not exist at the time”.

“Superintendent Baillie and no doubt the deputy chief constable had been warned of the risk of operating such a policy,” the tribunal said.

Employment Judge Robin Postle concluded the three white officers were directly discriminated by reason of the protected characteristic of race.