‘Pay is having crippling effect on officer morale’

22 March 2022

The Police Federation has written to Rishi Sunak urging him to ensure members are given a proper pay rise this year.

National Federation secretary Alex Duncan told the Chancellor that police officers had faced increasing workloads and a real-terms pay cut of 20 per cent since 2010 and that there was now little difference between the hourly wage of a new starter and the national living wage.

He warned that evidence suggested this was having a crippling effect on morale across the police service.

Hertfordshire Police Federation secretary Al Wollaston said the branch was fully behind the letter to the Chancellor.

He said: “Pay and conditions have become a massive issue for our members and last year’s zero per cent offer was a real kick in the teeth for officers who had worked so hard during the pandemic.

“Our calls for a proper pay deal have fallen on deaf ears so far but the Government has to recognise the impact this is having on our members and must do the right thing by making a realistic pay offer this time round.”

In his letter to Mr Sunak, Alex highlighted the recent Police Federation pay and morale survey which found 92 per cent of members felt they were not fairly paid for the stresses and strains of their job, and 67 per cent said that they would not recommend joining the police to others.

He wrote: “We’re asking that you use the Spring Statement to guarantee a real-terms pay increase for our members this year.

“With morale so low this matters hugely for the ability of police forces to recruit and retain the skilled officers they need over the coming years.

“The Prime Minister was elected on a promise to recruit additional officers. Without further action on pay, experienced officers will leave inexperienced recruits replacing them at best and, at worst, your Government’s recruitment target to recruit an additional 20,000 officers over three years will be missed entirely.

“It matters what kind of officers we’re able to recruit – we want the brightest and best to want to join the police – in service of their communities.

“But this won’t be possible if potential new joiners believe police pay doesn’t fairly reflect the demands of the job.”

Alex said the Police Federation welcomed the announcement that the public sector pay freeze was coming to end but warned the Chancellor that any pay increase below the rate of inflation would be an insult to members.

He wrote: “A decade of real-terms pay cuts has done damage to our police forces.

“Guaranteeing a real-terms pay increase for our members would show you’re finally treating officers with the respect that the British public demand and that they deserve.”

Read the letter.