Legal action was the only option left when it comes to police pay

THE Federation has been pushed into a corner after ten years of insufficient pay rises, and legal action is on the only option left, Zoë Wakefield, Hampshire Police Federation Chair has said.

The Police Federation of England and Wales last month filed an application for Judicial Review, alongside Chief Police Officers’ Staff Association and the Police Superintendents’ Association, calling for a truly independent pay mechanism for police officer pay.

Zoë said: “This is the right step to take. The Government has not given us the pay rises we deserve over the last decade, and because the PRRB isn’t independent, we’ve been pushed into this position and we don’t have any choice really but to now seek legal action.”

The Police Federation of England and Wales pulled out of the PRRB last year, stating that it was not fit for purpose.

It has since launched a wide scale Pay Our Police campaign, which aims to highlight to the public and politicians how much police officers do, the sacrifices they make, and the unfairness of their pay compared to other public services.

Zoë added: “What matters most to officers is pay and annual leave. So this is really important to our members and is a step in the right direction.”

The grounds for the review state that the current pay mechanism is unfair, in that the Government ultimately decides what police officers receive. It called the PRRB a “white elephant”, and said that repeated attempts to address injustices in the system have been met with silence by the Government. The Federation said it was left with no alternative but to let the judiciary assess the system.

For more information, go to: https://www.polfed.org/news/latest-news/2022/application-for-judicial-review/