Fed welcomes increase to South East Allowance

13 July 2022

Hertfordshire Police Federation chair Luke Mitchell has welcomed the Force’s decision to increase the South East Allowance (SEA) payment to its £3,000 maximum.

Luke has been campaigning for the increase since taking over as chair in May and warned that failure to do so could lead to an exodus of police officers seeking better paid jobs elsewhere.

The Force increased the SEA payments from £2,000 to £2,500 last April but has now agreed to extend it to the full £3,000.

The extra payments will be backdated from April and Luke said the money would hopefully be landing in officers’ pay in a lump sum before Christmas.

Luke had earlier warned of a crisis and had called on the Force to increase the SEA as a short-term measure to ease the financial pressure on members.

But he said the bigger picture involved the Government which he urged to pay attention to what he described as the “disaster” that is happening in policing.

He explained: “I’m really pleased the Executive has listened to our pleas around increasing the South East Allowance and reacted quickly to the changing landscape we’re living in.

“We’re the first Force to go to the full allowance possible and I’m aware of further ideas that will be announced shortly that will hopefully help officers around the rise in the cost of living.

“But once this is announced the Chief Constable won’t have any more rabbits he can pull out of hats so it is now time for the Government to react and play its part.

“While the work going on in Hertfordshire is good, it still doesn’t get anywhere near close to resolving the financial pressures our members are facing.

“I want all MPs to now play their part in ensuring police officers get a proper, meaningful pay rise that takes into account the unique job we do, the 20 per cent reduction in pay over the last 12 years and the rise in the cost of living.”