2017 police pay rise request “not unreasonable”

THE Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation has backed the call for a 2.8% pay rise for all police officers as the pay and conditions of Bobbies have “slipped further and further back.”

Zuleika Payne said the pay rise request was “not unreasonable when you consider the overall fall in Police officer pay ” and added that it was “galling and most unpalatable” that MPs have been awarded “disproportionately higher pay increases” while police pay has stagnated.

The Police Federation of England and Wales and the Superintendents’ Association have once again asked for a pay increase of 2.8% for all police officers.

The Government have capped public sector pay increases at 1% but the two staff associations said that Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) “must be free to draw their own conclusions based on the evidence presented.”

Zuleika said: “What we have seen – as well as pay freezes and 1% rises – is increases in our pension contribution, increases in our National Insurance contributions and of course the cost of living has increased – take home pay has fallen drastically. In real terms, the austerity measures have meant that over the last 8 years, our pay has fallen by 14.6%. This is wholly unacceptable.”

Zuleika also commentated on chief officers wanting to introduce bonus payments for certain roles in policing. In South Yorkshire, the force wants to give detectives bonus payments and those working in custody a bonus payment.

“It could be seen as incredibly divisive,” she continued. “Everybody within policing – police officers and support staff alike, PCSOs, Special Constables, all make a contribution. Those roles are there because they are vital to the way the organisation functions.

“So to start identifying specific roles which attract bonus payment could certainly serve to be divisive, and it would affect morale. Everybody within the police organisation is important, that’s why the role is there, that’s why it exists and that’s why they perform it.

“So far we’ve had discussions on this nationally, and as the New Year unfolds and we enter into consultation with the Chief Constable, then certainly the Federation will be very vociferous and articulate in the way this matter is dealt with, and the sentiments of our members will most certainly be presented.”