Police officers are £1,000s worse off than they were 10 years ago as a result of wages failing to keep pace with prices.

4 January 2022

Sgts/PCs inflation-adjusted pay is £5,595 a year lower than a decade ago, according to a TUC report.

Zoe Wakefield, Chair of Hampshire Police Federation, said: “I am not surprised by the findings of this report. Police Officers look at their payslips and can clearly see that they are taking home about the same as they were 10 years ago.

“It has a huge impact on morale. Some officers have resigned themselves to the fact that they will get a real terms pay cut each year and will only see an increase in their wages if they get promoted. Many officers are looking for alternative employment.

“Officers feel like the Government don’t care or have any interest in the difficult job they do. The Government cannot keep using austerity as a reason for not paying police officers the pay they deserve. You don’t become a police officer to become wealthy but you expect to be paid a fair wage for the dangerous, high risk work that you do.

“At the moment, the pay is not fair and needs a significant increase this year, with planned increases for the next few years at least. We obviously also need a fair process for reviewing our pay each year that is independent and not able to be disrupted by Government.”

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/dec/23/essential-workers-thousand-of-pounds-worse-off-than-a-decade-ago-tuc-says