Budget Doesn’t Add Up

THE Government needs to invest in policing for the long-term – and reward police officers appropriately for the hard work they carry out, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

In his autumn budget announcement, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the pay freeze for the public sector would be lifted in 2022, but it is unclear how much of a pay increase police officers will receive.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said that it was not just about one year’s pay increase, but that police budgets needed to be boosted full stop.

He said: “We understand that there’s going to be a funding shortfall in two to three years’ time, and we need to be aware of that. As well as making sure that police pay is sorted properly, there needs to be a turnaround of police budgets full stop – we need to keep that investment going.

“I’m concerned that we’ll get a derisory pay offer of something like 1.5%, which is frankly not enough. The percentage needs to reflect that we didn’t get a pay rise last year, as well as taking inflation into account.”

The police funding settlement for 2021 was £15.8B, and the Chancellor has announced a £4.2B increase, meaning this would take police funding to £16.5B in 2024-2025, a growth rate of 1.9% per year on average.

But the Police Federation of England and Wales has said this amount will not add up to enough to give police officers a “sustainable and fair pay rise”.

National Vice Chair Ché Donald said: “We expect Government to recognise that police officers put themselves in harm’s way day in day out, have restrictions placed on their lives and as such, it is only right that they have a fair and independent process, to consider their pay, free of political interference.

“If Government will not commit to make these changes, then we will seek the necessary changes through all possible avenues, and that work has already begun.”