Amie Bridson and Tam Whipp recently spoke at our Supporting Women in Policing Conference 2026. Both working for the The Workforce Development Trust, Amie has over 15 years’ experience designing and delivering solutions to public and third sector organisations. She’s worked with police forces across the UK on various projects, giving her a keen insight into police management. Alongside her in the session was Tam Whipp, a previous detective inspector, who could provide valuable first-hand experience. Together they explored how EDI across policing, specialist operations and investigations can lead to enriched teams, and how management and leadership can further enhance the experience of women in policing.
The Workforce Development Trust offers end-to-end workplace development solutions. Whether it’s workforce planning, designing training programs, regulated qualifications or apprenticeships tailored to industry needs, they’re committed to transforming workforce development across the UK and internationally. One part of the organisation is Skills for Justice, where Amie and Tam operate. For over 20 years, Skills for Justice has been licensed by the UK government to be the skills council for the UK’s justice, community safety, fire and rescue, central and local government sectors.
“Our work really centres on helping organisations improve both their workforce, but also their services, to deliver better outcomes.” – Amie Bridson
How policing has changed over the years
In the past, policing could be described as hierarchical, patriarchal and even militant in its approach. When Tam first joined the police force, 30 years ago, she felt that leadership was more about rank and resilience than it was wellbeing and inclusion.
“If you struggled, you just had to get on with it. And if you didn’t fit the mold, you had to adapt or you left.” – Tam Whipp
Tam also notes the serious lack of female role models in the police force when she first joined. She felt that there was a definite plateau for career growth in women. Whether it was due to an unwelcome, male-dominated culture, a lack of mentors/role models or work-family conflicts, the obstacles between women and career prospects meant many women ended up leaving the force.
A good example of this is how recent research from The Open University found that only 20% of women reported adequate mental health support when returning to policing. (Keely Duddin, Kendal Wright, Arun Sondhi, Frances Wright, Sean Bell and Shona Morrison, 2026)
So whilst today’s culture is far more open, with conversation on mental health and diversity being commonplace in policing, there is still work to be done to create environments where the challenges faced by women can be addressed, respected and catered for.
The global transition of mental health and support being embedded into organisational strategy is certainly a positive one, and it is reflected in the police force too. This shift often results in healthier mindsets, employee confidence and a more positive work environment. For employers, this support ensures they retain and attract workers and operate at a high standard.
The best leaders are now those that listen, that value people as well as performance, and who understand that empathy and strength can exist at the same time, even compliment each other.
Shifting workplace culture and its impact on policewomen
One area of modern culture that is supporting women in policing is flexible working patterns. These are getting more and more common across the working world, and it is especially helpful for people who are parents, care for someone or have personal situations that means they can’t work a traditional work schedule.
When employers work with staff to create situations that accommodate flexibility, employees feel much more confident and cared for, leading to better retention and motivation. It breaks down the barriers between people entering the force and results in a more diverse and embraced workforce. Initiatives like flexible shift patterns that signify the positive direction the police force is heading.
“I’ve seen across policing, in particular in my days as an EDI inspector, great initiatives, fantastic, positive work happening, driven by incredible people. And I’m proud to have worked with many of those people.” – Tam Whipp
Tam has seen mentoring schemes, gendered support networks and support groups for important topics like the menopause and cancer support. It’s all about creating environments where people feel heard and supported. These groups go a long way in breaking down taboo topics or increasing awareness of the challenges that surround them.
“However, we know there is still work to do. We know policing remains demanding, and cultural change doesn’t happen overnight. But compared to the past, 20, 30 plus years ago, of course, we are moving in the right direction.” – Tam Whipp
Tam then raised 3 questions that Skills for Justice believes are essential when thinking about women in policing.
- Where do we lose women in the pipeline?
- When do we lose them? And what are the pinch points?
- Why do those pinch points persist either locally or nationally?
The distinction between men and women here is important. You might lose women for reasons that you wouldn’t a man, and vice versa. The pinch points are essential, as by finding where the bottlenecks are, you can work to resolve pressures and streamline processes.
Finally, the distinction between local and national pinch points is important as Tam and Amie noticed that police forces up and down the country are operating slightly differently.
“We know that workforce planning maturity varies significantly between different forces, with each organisation adopting basically different ways of doing it.” – Tam Whipp
This can make it extremely difficult, as one force might be doing brilliantly at reducing pinch points, retaining talent and supporting women, whereas another area might be stuck with stagnating leadership where growth and development can feel impossible and pinch points too restricting, resulting in disengagement and a higher staff turnover.
Tam and Amie believe that this lack of a unified approach is one of the biggest restrictions of women in policing.
A more coherent and unified police force is just one of the ways in which we can fight to tackle extremism and radicalisation in the UK. With a 27% increase in referrals to the Prevent Programme last year alone, we’re proud to be hosting the Preventing and Countering Extremism in the UK Conference 2026 on the 11th June – a chance to share key developments, knowledge and best practices amongst leaders and professionals.
Addressing police leadership with a workforce planning lens
Skills for Justice have been working closely with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) on a workforce planning programme, seeking to support forces by developing a national approach to workforce planning and defining good practice. This endeavour aims to unify the approaches of police forces up and down the country, resulting in better workforce planning, which will see capacity and capability of forces improve, letting them meet current and future demand.
“It aims to also align strategies with things like police force management statements, your financial planning, and standardised workforce planning language to assist forces.” – Tam Whipp
The pilot project plans to develop resources that better support forces in understanding the makeup of their workforces. It will enable them to clearly see where the right people should be and to make the best use out of people. The important thing to remember is that when teams are operating with differences in leadership and management styles, there will be misunderstandings and confusion, this is where pinch points can arise and disengagement begins.
Through approaching this a nationwide initiative, Skills for Justice hopes to create a foundation on which all future police leadership can build off of, a foundation embedded in EDI, modern understanding and flexibility.
Skills for Justice provided us with a leadership checklist for supporting and retaining women in policing:
- Leadership behaviour & accountability
- Strategic oversight & governance
- Decision making & resource allocation
- Talent management & career progression
- Flexible working & workload management
- Health, life stages & wellbeing leadership
- Culture, standards & misconduct
- Equipment, uniform & environment
- Voice, engagement & listening
- Retention, exit & organisational learning
This checklist covers 10 key areas which organisations can consider to what extent their leadership measures up. For Tam and Amie, it’s all about recognising where improvement can be made. This is important, as continuous improvement is essential to high-performing teams.
Whilst the outcomes of women entering the police force has greatly improved in the last 30 years, work still needs to be done to unify the leadership strategies of forces. The pilot being set up will work with Cumbria, Merseyside, Staffordshire and Warwickshire to develop workforce planning methodologies. The programme will unify leadership strategies and create a suite of workforce planning solutions, including toolkits and templates.
“The aim of this is to create a more coherent national approach, one that aligns your workforce data with your demand, forecasting, financial planning and strategic priorities.” – Tam Whipp
We’d like to thank Tam and Amie from The Workforce Development Trust for their insightful session at the Supporting Women in Policing Conference. The event was full of meaningful learning and collaboration, and it is always a pleasure to bring professionals together to network and teach. We’re looking ahead to our Preventing and Countering Extremism in the UK Conference, which will bring together industry experts to explore how we can build strong communities, tackle disinformation and prevent extremism and radicalisation.