South East Allowance Rise Is Fantastic News

IT is “fantastic news” that the South East Allowance for Essex Police officers will go up from £2,000 to £2,500, Essex Police Federation has said.

In February, Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington announced the rise, which will come into effect on 1 April. Essex Police Federation said it was needed at a time when National Insurance and interest rates are both going up, and household energy bills are estimated to rise by nearly £700 a year.

Essex Police Federation Chair Laura Heggie said: “Essex Federation has been pushing for this for a very long time, and I also don’t underestimate the amount of work that has gone into it from the chief officer team.

“I know that the Chief had to convince the PFCC panel. It might have been easier for him to have accepted additional officers for the same amount of money, but it’s a good way to show that he’s valuing the workforce.

“It’s not the fix to everything, but cops would have been suffering a lot more come 1 April with all the other bill increases at the moment. There’s still going to be a struggle and it’s going to affect all of us, but this goes a little way to try and assist with that.”

Laura said the announcement had been positively received by officers. She said: “They’re extremely happy with the fact they’ve finally had an increase, its long overdue. We’ve been asking for it for a long time, as have all of our membership, so it’s nice to know that we’ve finally been listened to.”