Fed chair calls for return to collective bargaining on police pay
17 August 2022
West Midlands Police Federation chair Rich Cooke said the police had been “taken for mugs” over pay and called for a return to collective bargaining for officers.
Rich said he had no faith in the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) even if it was fully independent and suggested there was little point in re-engaging after the Police Federation of England and Wales last year decided to withdraw support and walk away.
He was speaking after analysis showed the 2022/23 funding settlement will once again mean a real-terms pay cut for long serving police officers as rising inflation continues to stoke the cost of living crisis.
He said: “The only way forward as far as I am concerned is a return to collective bargaining under the Police Negotiating Board/Police Arbitration Tribunal system.
“The PRRB denies us the right to get round the table and negotiate our pay as, for example, our colleagues in Scotland still do.
“The PRRB is a rigged system and we have been abused and taken for mugs. That’s why we were right to walk away last year and why we should not go back until there has been clear movement.”
Rich said the next Prime Minister should show a greater commitment towards policing and address the pay issue with urgency.
He said: “If this Government ever wants to be the party of law and order again it must start with a genuine reset by committing to collective bargaining.
“As they approach their leadership election, the Prime Ministerial candidates should channel their stated hero Lady Thatcher who clearly did support the police in words and action.
“She gave us that very system only for it to be disgracefully abolished by David Cameron and Theresa May.”
The Government was quick to issue an upbeat statement stating after announcing a flat rate £1,900 pay rise for police officers which officials said would mean an average uplift of five per cent across the board.
But after closer examination, the Police Federation said the settlement actually amounted to a real terms, divisive pay cut across ranks.
Based on Police Federation analysis, from October this year it is estimated that there will be a 30.3 per cent real terms pay cut for constables at the bottom pay point of the pay scale and an 18.5 per cent real terms pay cut for constables at the top pay point of the pay scale.
For sergeants at the top point of the pay scale, the estimated real terms pay drop will be 18.9 per cent.
For inspectors at the top of the pay scale, the real terms pay drop will be 19.5 per cent, and for chief inspectors at the top point of the pay scale the real terms pay drop will be 19.7 per cent.
