Police officers under pay freeze react with mixture of astonishment and anger to the 2.7% MP pay rise

2 March 2022

Police officers – subject to a brutal Government pay freeze since 2020 – have reacted with a mixture of astonishment and anger to the news that MPs are being granted a 2.7% pay rise.

All MPs will get a £2,212 pay hike on 1 April, seeing an MP's basic salary go up to £84,144 a year.

Over the past 10 years due to ‘austerity’ based pay freezes and subsequent below inflation pay rises, police officer pay has fallen in real terms by 20% behind the cost of living.

Unlike nurses and firefighters, police officers were given no pay rise in 2021 with the public cost of the Covid-19 pandemic blamed by the Treasury.

Now household bills are rising sharply and National Insurance is going up in April – the same week MPs will receive their rise.

Officers have reacted to the news with fury – especially as the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which sets MP salaries, said the politicians should be paid fairly for the responsibilities they carried, which ‘dramatically increased’ during the pandemic.

Mike Reed, Chair of The City Police Federation, said: “I would love to say that i was surprised when I saw the award given to MPs for the last year when our officers have got 0% yet again. It's absolutely disgraceful.

“This Government seems to be self-serving and just wishes police officers to be their punch bags and their scapegoats. For what the majority of hardworking police officers do day in day out it's a kick in the teeth, yet again.

“What can we do? I think the national Police Federation needs to be stronger, needs to represent it's members better. There is an election coming up, and I think it's time that members select who they think will be best for them and to push the agenda, and the tiger to stop being toothless. 

“To add insult to injury, a couple of years ago, it was passed that the Commissioners in London could give police officers up to £1,500 London allowance increment, which was linked to recruitment. We aren't recruiting as we can, people don't want to join policing, whether it be social media, kickings in the press, or indeed our pay.

“£2,200 is above the increase they could have London police officers. It's disgraceful that they can earn that much and our hardworking members earn so little.”

In May 2021 the Police Federation withdrew from the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) after recommendations from the body were once again disregarded by the Government, seeing officers with no uplift in pay despite the efforts and challenges faced during the Covid-19 pandemic.