Federation backs pay plan but says forces will have to make tough calls

YEARS of pushing for proper police pay through the Police Remuneration Review Body has got the service ‘nowhere’, says Essex Police Federation.

The Federation has thrown its support behind the PFEW’s proposals that officers should receive a 5% pay increase over the next three years and says that toeing the line with successive Governments has not worked.

Essex Federation Chairman Steve Taylor said the increase was being put forward to try and claw back some of the losses suffered due to decades of cuts and austerity, although he has ‘sympathy’ with forces who will have to find the cash to pay for any rise.

“I understand why they’re asking for it, to recoup some of the losses officers have personally suffered under austerity,” he said.

“For the past couple of years, we’ve made measured and evidenced submissions to the Pay Review Body and we’ve tried to toe that overall line, and where’s that got us? It’s got us nowhere.

“I don’t know if there’s a degree of frustration in the submission or not but it’s certainly a departure from previous tacks, and it’ll be interesting to see how the PRRB deal with it.”

The PFEW is already taking the Government to task legally over how the last pay review was handled by the Home Office and Steve says the pay proposal is more evidence of them having to take matters into their own hands.

“Balancing a submission which could be dismissed out of hand against our pedigree of measured and considered submissions, I’m sure that’s been discussed and worked through.

“Of course, officers are worth 5% a year. Equally, forces like Essex are not going to be able to pay it without making some pretty difficult decisions, and ultimately those decisions could involve paying the officers they have more or have less officers.

“I’ve had these conversations with our Chief. I’ve expressed we’re uncomfortable boiling it down to such a basic equation as that, because it’s not fair and it’s emotive. But I think that’s the reality of it. My force would really struggle to find 5%.

“If we had our own way, we’d be paying officers far more, of course. If it was simply a question of ‘what are police officers worth?’ we could easily quadruple that figure.”