Federation Chair: Lack of pay rise is a “slap in the face” for officers

THE lack of pay rise for police officers this year is a “slap in the face”, Hampshire Police Federation has said.

Police officers declared they had “no confidence” in Home Secretary Priti Patel last month after a pay freeze was announced for officers earning over £24,000.

John Apter, Police Federation of England and Wales Chair, wrote to the Home Secretary, calling on her to “stop taking police officers for granted” and to “treat them with respect”. He called on her to reverse the zero percent pay award decision and give police officers a meaningful pay increase. She has not yet responded.

Zoë Wakefied, Hampshire Police Federation Chair, said police officers are being punished because they are not allowed to strike.

She was speaking before the Home Secretary is likely to address this year’s Police Superintendents Conference and ahead of her speaking at the Tory Party Conference this Autumn.

Zoë said she would hope that the Home Secretary would use her platforms to “explain her comment from the Police Federation Conference when she said at our conference that ‘she has our backs’.”

She said: “What did she actually mean by that and what is she going to do to show us that she has our backs and is supportive of us? At the moment it doesn’t appear that she is.

“We don’t want to get into a competition between us and other public sector colleagues. But how can others get a pay rise and when we haven’t? Surely pay rises should be across the board. Excluding the NHS, obviously. It really feels like because we can’t fight back as strongly as others, because we can’t strike, that we’ve been punished because of that.”

Zoe concluded: “It feels personal. When you talk about what officers have been through throughout the pandemic, it just feels like a slap in the face.”