“Pay rise of 1% is insulting to police officers”

THE Chairman of Essex Police Federation, Mark Smith, has slammed the 1% pay rise for police officers as “insulting”.

The government accepted the recommendation made by the Police Remuneration Review Body of a 1% pay rise for all officers in England and Wales from 1 September 2016, despite calls for a 2.8% increase from staff associations.

The Federation put forward “very good” evidence for the pay rise to be higher, said Mr Smith.

“The pay review body even acknowledged the evidence and still came back with 1%, so they’re obviously heavily directed by the Government,” he said.

“I think it’s insulting to police officers. It’s all very good having sound bites saying we are ‘the best police service in the world’, but let’s put the money where the mouth is.”

Mr Smith said police officers need to be recognised for doing a hard job, which has become even harder in recent years.

“If you’re a police officer it means higher workload, higher stress, more injuries, more assaults,” he said.

However, he rejected the idea that it was time for another ballot on industrial rights for police officers.

“We don’t join to strike, and this is what the government needs to realise,” he said. “It takes a special kind of person to join the police; they join for a reason, and it’s not for the money, that’s for sure. It’s because they want to serve the public. They don’t want to go on strike – they join to protect the public.”

Mr Smith noted that the UK is in “uncertain” times as it withdraws from the European Union and that the police service would have to wait to see what is going to happen.

“We also don’t know what’s going to happen until we see what the new Home Secretary does, as well as the new Chancellor, who directs the Home Secretary’s budgets,” he said.