Federation chair calls for fair deal on officer pay
22 March 2022
West Midlands Police Federation chair Rich Cooke is backing calls for a fair pay deal for members this year and urged the Government to start properly rewarding officers for their hard work and dedication.
Rich spoke out after Federation national secretary Alex Duncan wrote to Chancellor Rishi Sunak warning that any pay increase below the rate of inflation would be another insult to members and urging him to properly address police pay in his Spring Statement tomorrow.
He said: “Fuel, energy, food prices and now interest rates are going up and some of our members are already struggling to make ends meet, with the worst of the increases yet to land.
“Police officers do an incredibly tough job, often in very challenging circumstances, and they deserve to be properly rewarded for their hard work and dedication.
“People don't join the police service to get rich but our members rightly expect to be able to pay their rent or mortgages and fill theirs car up without having to worry about being able to afford it.
“We have effectively taken a pay cut in recent years while our workload has increased and frankly enough is enough.
“Our officers work extremely hard, they have risen to the challenges of policing the pandemic and deserve much better.”
In his letter to the Chancellor, Alex said police officers had faced increasing workloads and a real-terms pay cut of 20 per cent since 2010 and that there was now little difference between the hourly wage of a new starter and the national living wage.
He said many Police Federation members were feeling the impact of the rising cost of living on their household budgets.
And he warned that evidence suggested this was having a crippling effect on morale across the police service.
Alex highlighted the recent Police Federation pay and morale survey which found 92 per cent of members felt they were not fairly paid for the stresses and strains of their job, and 67 per cent said that they would not recommend joining the police to others.
He wrote: “We’re asking that you use the Spring Statement to guarantee a real-terms pay increase for our members this year.
“With morale so low this matters hugely for the ability of police forces to recruit and retain the skilled officers they need over the coming years.
“The Prime Minister was elected on a promise to recruit additional officers. Without further action on pay, experienced officers will leave inexperienced recruits replacing them at best and, at worst, your Government’s recruitment target to recruit an additional 20,000 officers over three years will be missed entirely.
“It matters what kind of officers we’re able to recruit – we want the brightest and best to want to join the police – in service of their communities.
“But this won’t be possible if potential new joiners believe police pay doesn’t fairly reflect the demands of the job.”
Alex said the Police Federation welcomed the announcement that the public sector pay freeze was coming to end but warned any pay increase below the rate of inflation would be an insult to members.
He wrote: “A decade of real-terms pay cuts has done damage to our police forces. Guaranteeing a real-terms pay increase for our members would show you’re finally treating officers with the respect that the British public demand and that they deserve.”
