Jon discusses potential pay freeze in radio interview

23 November 2020

A public sector pay freeze will hit the morale of police officers hard, says West Midlands Police Federation chair Jon Nott.

Jon was commenting after speculation Chancellor Rishi Sunak may freeze the pay of public sector workers when he announces the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review this week.

Jon spoke to radio presenter John Fox on BBC WM after the speculation began on Friday.

Jon said: “I appreciate the situation we’re in at the moment but if you look across the last 10 years, police officers have suffered approximately an 18 per cent cut in real pay.

“Having been policing through the pandemic, and not just ourselves but all the other emergency workers and all public sector workers, to then have the suggestion of a pay freeze just doesn’t sit right with us.

“I think it will hit officers hard. We’ve had years of austerity so not just pay cuts but also cuts in numbers, which has meant that the job is harder because there’s less of us around to do it.

“Then we’ve had the pandemic. We’ve carried on through the pandemic. To then have this released on a Friday morning, not even from the Government officially itself, but just released as speculation, has caused concern and worry for members about what it will mean going forward in terms of their pay.”

Media outlets reported that the Chancellor is looking for ways to bolster public finances after a huge rise in spending to fight coronavirus.

Those affected include key workers such as police officers, teachers, armed forces and civil servants, while frontline NHS staff could be excluded.

Jon said a freeze would be a “kick in the teeth” for police officers.

“I have nothing but utter respect for the NHS workers and the work they’ve done throughout the pandemic,” he said, “All public sector and all key workers have still been providing their services throughout the pandemic, so to be treated differently doesn’t sit right with us.

“We are alive to the situation of the country, but to come out and suggest there is a complete pay freeze for all other public sectors is like a kick in the teeth for us, when we’ve been trying to keep the country safe as best we can through this pandemic.”

Jon added: “If there are guidelines for the separate pay review bodies to work to then let the Chancellor come out and say that directly rather than this speculation.

“It almost seems like he’s put speculation out around it so he can gauge the feeling in the country before he comes to do his spending review.”