Pay crisis exposed: Federation backs hard-hitting campaign

2 May 2025

As International Workers’ Day (1 May) was recognised across the world yesterday, Gwent Police Federation has thrown its support behind Copped Enough, a national campaign calling for immediate change to the long-term exploitation of police officers.

Led by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), Copped Enough: What the Police Take Home is Criminal has been created to expose the increasing demands and pressures leaving many cops at a wellbeing breaking point, all while pay goes down in the opposite direction.

The campaign is set against the backdrop of 20 per cent of police pay being lost in real terms since 2010, despite officers putting themselves in harm’s way to protect the public on a daily basis.

It is urging action across three areas:

1. Restore police pay

• A fully funded restoration of pay enacted urgently

• Introduce a ‘P-Factor’ allowance to reflect the unique demands and risks of policing

• Implement a binding, independent pay review system, free from political interference

 2. Stop the exodus of experienced officers

• Develop retention packages for skilled officers

• Create a national workforce strategy focused on experience, not just recruitment numbers

• Improve work-life balance with better parental leave, protected rest days, and career transition support

3. Protect Frontline Officers

• Enforce tougher sentencing for assaults on police officers

• Centralise funding for police treatment centres, not out of the pockets of individual officers

• Make recording of police suicides and suicide attempts across England and Wales mandatory, with dedicated mental health support

Branch chair Matthew Candy gave his backing to the movement, saying: “Unless meaningful and comprehensive change happens, this crisis will continue to loom over the job we call our own and dedicate ourselves to.

“Experienced officers will continue to leave faster than we can replace them, causing forces to lose direction and have morale deplete. The Government must then pump more money into an already damaged service, where even if the number deficits are filled, the overall loss of confidence and knowledge won’t be.

Catalyst

“Therefore, I fully stand with this new campaign, and I hope it can become a catalyst for progress towards a happier, healthier and fairer future for police officers everywhere.”

Copped Enough has been launched on the same day as findings are released for the 2024 PFEW Pay and Morale Survey, which revealed 69 per cent of participating Gwent Police officers said they did not feel valued within the police.

Similar feelings towards the Government were also indicated by these respondents at an overwhelming rate of 90 per cent.

Other results from Gwent captured in the survey included:

• 48 per cent of participants said they find their job ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ stressful – above the national average (44 per cent)

• 80 per cent reported feelings of stress, low mood, anxiety and similar wellbeing difficulties experienced over the last year

• 64 per cent regarded their workload over the last 12 months to be either ‘too high’ or ‘much too high’

• 57 per cent admitted to being ‘dissatisfied’ or ‘extremely dissatisfied’ with their overall remuneration, including basic pay and allowances

• Three-quarters considered themselves worse off financially than they were five years ago

“No one is asking for special treatment here – just fairness,” Matthew added.

Campaign

“It simply can’t be right that police officers are expected to sacrifice so much in return for so little. There are always going to be demands, but these should be reasonable ones, and even if we get back to something more like that, compensation still needs to be greatly improved.

“Something has got to give, and it’s important we stay united in making that happen. If we can bring along as much of the public as possible along with us, even better, and I hope this can be helped by the campaign’s digital picket line.

“Ideally, this will be the sort of thing which helps us gather momentum in making ourselves too hard to ignore for the Government and key decision-makers."

Gwent Police Federation stands united with the national campaign and calls on local MPs, chief officers, and community leaders to back police officers by delivering the fair pay and support they urgently need.