Spending Review: call for sustained investment in policing

10 June 2025

Suffolk Police Federation secretary Ben Hudson has backed a hard-hitting national newspaper article warning that policing is facing ‘a national emergency’.

Tiff Lynch, acting chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) and Nick Smart, president of the Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA), have co-written an article for the Telegraph spelling out the crisis in policing.

In it, they write: “When a young constable looks down at their payslip and wonders how they’ll make rent this month, something is deeply wrong.

“When experienced detectives walk away from decades of service, broken by the demands placed on them, it’s the police service itself that’s broken.

Branch chair Ben Hudson.

“When chief inspectors and superintendents – often the most senior officers on duty overnight across entire counties – are battling burnout and crushing stress, it becomes a national emergency.”

Their article warns that policing faces a £1.2 billion shortfall, and that forces are ‘forced to shed officers and staff to deliver savings’.

As the Chancellor prepares for her spending review, the pair have called for ‘sustained investment in structures, people, and new technology’, saying policing needs:

A fair, independent pay review system not bound by Treasury limits, nor instructed in what is allowed to consider.
Immediate action to raise starting salaries, so policing is a viable, long-term career, not a financial sacrifice.
A long-term funding settlement that reflects genuine investment and allows chief constables to plan.
Real investment in officer wellbeing, not just words.
And a commitment to a defining purpose so that the police police, rather than doing the work of other public bodies.

Ben said the consequences of funding cuts to policing were growing, underlined by the results of Suffolk Police Federation’s recent Pay and Morale Survey.

The survey found that half of members had low or very low morale and 92 per cent did not feel respected by the Government.

Spending Review

Two-thirds (65 per cent) were dissatisfied with their remuneration package while 14 per cent said they did not have enough money to cover all their essentials.

Ben said: “We welcome the joint article from PFEW and PSA and hope that the Government takes heed when its Spending Review takes place.

“For more than a decade we as a Federation have warned about the consequences of austerity and cuts to policing.

“The consequences are accelerating with a recruitment and retention crisis, falling morale, and real terms pay for our members pay has been slashed by more than 20 per cent.

“We need sustained long-term investment to turn things around and to deliver the police service that the public demands and expects.”