Fears sounded over the future of Police Officer pay

POLICE officers in South Yorkshire are among the hardest working cops in the country and they deserve to be rewarded, the force’s Federation has said.

Steve Kent, Federation Chair, was speaking after officers received news of a 2.5% pay boost, which will see constables receiving an extra £1,100 per year from 1 September.

He said: “It’s become very tough in South Yorkshire; we’re expected to do a hell of a lot more with less as a force, and as I always say with the numbers we’ve got in our force and as our performance shows – we are one of the top forces in the country.”

But the pay boost has been overshadowed by fears of a future pay freeze. Earlier this month Chancellor Rishi Sunak warned that public sector workers would have to accept far greater pay “restraint” in future. And a public sector wage freeze is being considered to pay for a government borrowing boom during the coronavirus pandemic, it emerged in May.

Steve said: “The Government has broadly adopted the PRRB recommendations which is a good sign because that’s what it’s there for and it’s fair and it’s transparent. My hope is that this is a sign of things to come and that we get similar pay rise every year continuously now and in the future.

“But the concern is that this is just going to be a one-off and then we return back to zero again in the future, which for me would be unacceptable. If we start returning back to zero or 1 per cent pay rises then it’s just going to be a continuation of the last decade.

“When you think of all the thousands of pounds officers have lost from their salaries as it is, that would crush police officers’ morale. The job has had such a long period of destruction to its pay. We need now to have some sort of investment in policing because how are we going to attract talent without it?”