Fed steps up wage demands amid public sector pay warnings

29 June 2023

Hertfordshire Police Federation has warned the Government not to use police pay as part of its strategy to tackle inflation.

Branch chair Luke Mitchell spoke out after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he might have to make some unpopular decisions as he grapples with soaring costs.

Luke repeated his calls for a 17 per cent pay claim and said members would not accept a low offer after several years of real-terms cuts.

He said: “The idea that police pay might now be pegged back to help the Government deal with inflation is an outrage.

“We took the hit with austerity and the policing cutbacks, we worked incredibly hard throughout the pandemic, we are delivering results day in and day out and it is now high time we got the pay increase we deserve.

“No more excuses. The Government must accept that we are not being fairly paid for the work we do and that the crisis in policing will not end until it does so.”

Mr Sunak said he would not shy away from making decisions “people may not like” as he vowed to halve inflation by the end of the year.

He said inflation was “higher than we’d like” and insisted it was important to “make the right and responsible decisions on things like public sector pay”.

The Prime Minister also refused to commit to accepting recommendations for public sector pay rises as part of the Government’s economic strategy.

Luke Mitchell has repeated his calls for a 17 per cent pay rise for police

Pay review body recommendations are not legally binding on the Government and, although they are typically accepted, ministers can choose to reject or partially ignore the advice.

This would be a controversial move after the Government defended last year’s below-inflation pay rises by saying it had followed the bodies’ advice.

The Police Federation withdrew its support for the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) and branded it unfit for purpose after the 2021 pay freeze.

Luke said: “Earlier this year some Hertfordshire  MPs suggested we re-engaged with the PRRB so the irony of this isn’t lost on us.

“The Government always insisted we had to go along with the PRRB and castigated us when we withdrew our support but now it’s suggesting it might not follow the body’s recommendations after all.”

The latest skirmish in the long-running pay row comes after the Police Federation announced it would ballot members on whether the organisation should pursue industrial rights on their behalf.