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.

Rob Grunner, Secretary of Humberside Police Federation, said: “The facts in this article speak for themselves. Policing has stagnated in terms of pay and when compared to the costs of living increase officers are now around £5,500 a year worse off at the ranks of PC and Sergeant.

“Not many people in today’s society could afford to lose this amount from their wages and it shows why many of our colleagues are struggling and having to reach out for financial support. We have seen officers using food banks just to feed their families.

“How this can be acceptable in the United Kingdom in 2022 is simply unbelievable. We have also in the last 10 years taken on more and more work that we feel should sit with partner agencies, dealing with people suffering mental health crisis is a key area.

“This takes up vast amounts of policing times caring for people in the community and also at mental health facilities. Doing more and more yet getting paid less is a sad indictment of where we are.

“Policing has not got safer and it has not got easier. The fact that we see month after month, year after year assaults on our brave officers increasing when their pay has spectacularly failed to keep track shows how poorly we are seen by the current Government.”

Rob concluded: “PCs and Sergeants are very much at the sharp end of policing, they are the officers out there in all weathers, running towards the danger others are fleeing from and for them to be seeing the worst of the pay cuts is simple appalling

“We call upon the Government to start to make a difference in this, they have an opportunity to show how much they value and rate policing in this country. Awarding a significant pay increase will be a start but they have a long way to go before we are anywhere near back at parity as to where we should be. Let them move away from warm words and statements of how highly we are regarded and show us in terms of proper pay that recognises the work that police officers do all across this country.”

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