Chairman's Blog: Police officer pay

29 June 2022

“Ironically the Police cannot strike yet we will be expected to police industrial action for lack of pay with Police Officers who are underpaid and overworked”

Paul Williams, Chair of Cumbria Police Federation, blogs on Police Officer pay.

“More than a decade since this Government announced police pay freezes due to austerity, cutting our numbers in response to increasing demand and dismissing our warnings on the dangers of these actions, here we all are much worse off.

“Since then we have continued policing in an ever more complex environment through a national pandemic and now at the foot of a recession with a 20% real time pay cut that is crippling our members. This is in turn crippling policing at a time when this country has never needed it more.

“We hear how the Government states it is committed to law and order and how they are increasing officer numbers when in reality they are trying to replace numbers they themselves cut.

“This is like trying to put a sticking plaster over a gushing wound. If we don’t get fair and meaningful pay we will haemorrhage numbers as cops will seek employment elsewhere or just give up and leave. We are already struggling to retain it is a real crisis that cannot be dismissed yet with up and coming announcements on what a potential pay rise may look like I expect very little out of anything despite the action we have taken so far.

“We have witnessed recently the RMT action surrounding pay and potentially we may see much more with other public sectors. Ironically the Police cannot strike yet we will be expected to police industrial action for lack of pay with Police who are underpaid and overworked.

“My message to this Government is for the country’s sake get a grip and start treating us with respect and fairness. As quoted by Sir Robert Peel ‘The police are the public and the public are the police’. The public are also the voters.

“The very fabric of law and order is now in tatters with motivation for the job continuing to decline as we are continuously placed at the bottom of the pile yet expected to put our lives on the line to keep the public safe.”