Federation says it has no confidence in Home Secretary

23 July 2021

The announcement of a police pay freeze has been the final straw for officers who are angry at the way in which the Government has repaid their commitment to serving their communities during the pandemic, according to the national chair of the Police Federation.

At an extraordinary meeting of the Federation’s National Council yesterday, in the wake of the confirmation of the pay cap, it has announced it no longer has confidence in the Home Secretary and that it will be withdrawing support and engagement from the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB).

National chair John Apter said: “The PRRB is not truly independent, the body which is the only mechanism we have to consider any pay award for police officers, has its hands constantly tied by the Government which continually interferes.

“The PRRB itself recognises its lack of independence. We can no longer accept this and have no confidence in this system which is why we are walking away.

“We often hear the Home Secretary praise police officers but our members are so angry with this Government. They have been on the frontline of this pandemic for 18 months and will now see other public services given pay increases while they receive nothing. At the beginning of this pandemic they endured PPE shortages and were not even prioritised for the vaccination. They continue to be politicised and this pay announcement is the final straw. As the organisation that represents more than 130,000 police officers I can say quite categorically – we have no confidence in the current Home Secretary. I cannot look my colleagues in the eye and do nothing.”

The Federation’s stance has been welcomed by Tim Rogers, deputy secretary of West Midlands Police Federation.

He said: “Police officers are just sick of hearing all the noise coming out of the Government but with no firm action to back up what politicians are saying. Politicians need to realise that officers are going the extra mile every day, every shift and in every type of incident they deal with. They are forced to work outside legislation at times and put themselves at significant risk as they go about their duties keeping the country going and ensuring people are safe.

“They need to be appropriately paid for this and for the fact that they put their lives on the line to serve their communities. During the pandemic, despite the risks involved, they remained on the frontline, serving the public in incredibly challenging circumstances. They couldn’t always socially distance and they couldn’t always completely protect themselves, particularly given an increase in officer assaults and the weaponising of Covid-19 by people spitting and coughing over them while claiming to have the virus.

“Officers are fed up of hearing politicians saying they recognise the commitment of police officers and that they have got our backs when those warm words are not backed up with firm action. The failure of the Government to give officers any priority in the vaccine roll-out programme has already left our members disappointed and frustrated. Confirmation of this pay freeze is just going to add to that, affecting our existing officers but also our recruitment processes.

“I think it is particularly galling that officers are seeing firefighters and local government workers in England being given a 1.5 per pay rise while they will receive nothing at all. Either the cupboard is bare or it is not. Clearly, not all public services are been treated the same and I doubt whether MPs themselves will be having a pay freeze.”

At yesterday’s National Council meeting, the organisation reacted to the pay announcement on Wednesday and Home Secretary Priti Patel’s claim that the Government ‘recognises the bravery, commitment and professionalism’ of police officers, while offering no improved financial package to members to illustrate that is the case.

Those present overwhelmingly supported a vote of no confidence in the Home Secretary and the PRRB process for police officer pay.

With inflation set to increase to almost four per cent later this year, the pay freeze is yet another real-terms pay cut for police officers in England and Wales and the Federation says it is ‘a huge slap in the face for our members’ who it points out have been attacked and vilified while holding the frontline during the pandemic.

The Federation says the Government cannot pat officers on the back for their heroic efforts with one hand while effectively taking their pay with the other.