New Home Secretary must ‘repair damaged relations’ with policing, says Fed

28 September 2022

The Police Federation has called on new Home Secretary Suella Braverman to agree to urgent talks on the issues facing policing.

Ms Braverman, who has replaced Priti Patel, has been congratulated on her appointment by the Federation and told it is unacceptable that police officers have suffered a 25 per cent real terms pay cut over the last 12 years.

The Federation has also written to the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, highlighting its serious concerns over police pay and working conditions and pointing out that this year’s pay award, which came after the pay freeze of 2021, will barely cover soaring energy costs this winter.

Nottinghamshire branch chair Simon Riley said: “None of our members feels reassured that this year’s pay settlement is going to leave them with enough to cover their ever-increasing household bills and this is putting a real strain on their health and wellbeing.

“The new Home Secretary must make police pay and conditions a high priority because until the issue is resolved the recruitment and retention crisis in policing will only get worse.

“Too many good, experienced officers are quitting the Force because they no longer feel valued or properly rewarded for the incredible effort they put in and Ms Braverman should be making every effort to ensure that is no longer the case.

“I hope she agrees to meet Police Federation officials to talk about these serious concerns and at least make a start on redressing the balance.

“Her predecessors ignored or dismissed our warnings in the past and we have now reached the stage where the public has started to lose faith in policing because the service has been stretched to its absolute limits.”

Simon congratulated the new Home Secretary and Prime Minister, on behalf of the branch, and wished them well for their challenging new roles, while expressing the hope they are “on our side and that we can work with them” and try to repair the broken relationship between policing and Government.

The Federation has also written to the Chancellor while the Home Secretary on Friday sent an open letter to police leaders.