Officers Have Been Struggling Financially For Too Long

The Police Federation of England and Wales has called for a minimum 17% pay rise for police officers this year.

The PFEW came to the figure after a report by independent think tank Social Market Foundation showed that police officer pay had declined by 17% in real terms since 2000.

Laura Heggie, Chair of Essex Police Federation, said: “We see other public services taking action, striking, and receiving the pay rises they ask for. Police officers don’t have that right to strike, but that doesn’t give this Government the right to abuse and walk all over the officers it expects to step up and protect.

“Our members are fed up being treated like this. They want, deserve, and need to be treated fairly, which is why we are asking for a minimum of a 17% rise in pay.

“This isn’t officers being greedy, this isn’t them wanting extra, this is them wanting what they have lost. MPs must accept that between 2000 and 2022 police pay has fallen by 17% while others have increased. The cost of living has rocketed and is set to increase.

“Our officers have been struggling for too long and this Government needs to finally listen and give the officers the pay rise they so rightly deserve.

“We are seeing more officers unable to make ends meet than ever before, officers having to apply for pay day loans, attend food banks, running up debt just to put fuel in their cars – not to enjoy themselves or for days out, but just to get to work.

“Officers are going without food in order for their children to eat, yet are expected to fully function 24/7. This has all gone very wrong.

“If things continue, we won’t be able to recruit or retain officers simply because they cannot afford to do the role and live.”

The SMF research also found that police pay fared badly when compared to other protective services and public sector workers, whose pay rose by 1% and 14% respectively over the same period.

The report also claimed that the decline in police pay is likely to be linked the restrictions on their right to strike.

And it added that if the current police pay trend continued, officer remuneration would drop by a further 4% in real terms by 2027.

PFEW National Chair Steve Hartshorn said: “The Government can no longer sit by and ignore our members’ basic needs and must recognise the impact of this independent research. In the context of ongoing inflation, indications of a police retention crisis, and reports of officers being forced to turn to food banks, the issue of police pay must be addressed now after more than a decade of being ignored.

“Police officers deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, and that begins with better pay. Pay that not only reflects the cost-of-living crisis that many of us face but puts right the 17% decline since 2000 and compensates officers for the dangers they’re exposed to as part of the job. They must be compensated fairly for doing a job that is so important and unique that they do not have access to industrial rights.”

The report also found that a key factor in discussions over police pay should be what it called the “P-factor”: an element of police pay that reflects the unique obligations and responsibilities police officers’ experience relative to other comparable roles. This includes their unique risk of exposure to physical and psychological harm, alongside the restrictions that are placed upon their private lives.