Coronavirus has brought many changes to our lives, not least, how we work and communicate.  During this time, the key focus for Police Mutual has been what we can do to help the Police family.

The first step, was to contact to our Members. Over 4,000 Members responded to a short survey about what we could do to help them during this time. The majority (76%) said their main concern was the health and wellbeing of family and friends, but respite breaks, support with debt and the confidential counselling service, all came out as key ways we could continue to offer our support.

At the start of the lockdown, John Perks CEO of Police Mutual, wrote to all Chief Constables outlining what our support would entail. Whilst Government advice meant that we stopped our face to face meetings, educational inputs and events, we have continued to offer help, via the telephone and in the form of a digital version of the welcome letter from our team of Financial Wellbeing Consultants. We have also increased the number of “Definitions and Points to Prove” booklets available to support those Officers returning to, or joining, frontline services. 

Our team of Relationship Managers and Financial Wellbeing Consultants have continued to work with Forces to understand how we can deliver digital versions of our free, tailored financial education programme. We have listened to feedback from the Forces and as a result we are offering virtual classroom sessions and modules to continue to support Forces during this time. Our approach will evolve back to normality as soon as it is safe to do so.

We have contacted over 27,000 Members to reassure them that our team of Mortgage and Protection Advisors would be continuing to offer free advice on mortgage and life protection products over the telephone. We have also contacted over 14,000 Healthcare Policy Holders to notify them that we will continue to authorise consultant appointments during the pandemic.

Our call centre teams are committed to providing uninterrupted levels of service, whilst safely working from home. We have issued a guide for Members about how we will be keeping in touch and tips on keeping in touch with us during lockdown including letting people know there might be a little bit more noise in the background on calls! 

From a wellbeing perspective, we have published several guides offering help and support on wellbeing including looking after your mental health during the pandemic, supporting children during the Coronavirus outbreak, working from home and coping with bereavement. 

In addition, we have produced a dedicated Coronavirus edition of our “Let’s Talk Money” newsletter, an article on how we are helping during the crisis and factsheets detailing how insurance might be affected during the pandemic. 

For our NARPO Members, we have produced specific support, detailing how Police Mutual are here to support them during the crisis and a coronavirus factsheet with everything they need to know about managing their finances during the pandemic. See the latest versions of some of this information here.

We are producing articles on how Police Mutual are helping during the crisis which are featured in our monthly newsletter, ‘On the Beat’ which goes out to over 74,000 members, and also in the Force  Authorised Officer and Authorised Officer newsletter and app.

The debt advice service provided by Payplan continues for those that need support and we have extended the amount of referrals to the CareLine provision, which offers 24/7/365 access to a confidential telephone helpline and a health and wellbeing e-portal and app, along with counselling for those that need it.

On respite breaks, we will be rescheduling all existing respite breaks that have been affected due to lockdown and continued to take referrals for new respite breaks for Officers and families in need.

To make all of the information easier to access, a Coronavirus hub on our website has been set up, giving easy access to all the information here. This has been supported by social media posts on any new information and details of how to contact us during the pandemic.

We also did not forget the families of Officers and Staff too and have produced a Police Mutual children’s activity book for those looking to keep children occupied during lockdown.  Visit the link to download a copy  https://www.policemutual.co.uk/activity/family-activity-pack/

And finally, a FREE spork campaign has been launched across social media so that our much loved Police Mutual sporks could still be sent to those that wanted them, whilst on the front line or in lockdown.