Officers Struggle As Cost Of Living Goes ‘Through The Roof’

IT IS “absolutely scandalous” that officers are struggling to make ends meet financially while they’re risking their lives to protect the public, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

Rising fuel and food bills, double-digit inflation, and worries about paying the mortgage or rent is hitting officers hard, according to Federation Chair Steve Kent.

He said: “We’re getting people coming to us who are struggling to make ends meet. Even though we’re not the biggest force geographically, we’ve still got officers who live at one side of the county and because of the Peak District it takes them a long time to get to work. And they’ve been struggling to afford fuel.

“Before, it was a drip in terms of officers coming to us in financial difficulty, but what I’m concerned about is: is that drip going to turn into a stream? We’re going into winter and bills are going through the roof already.

“We know this is not just a problem in policing, this is a problem across the board. But it comes on the back of 12 years of horrendous pay progression for police officers. So where officers should be significantly financially better off at the moment, maybe better equipped to deal with the financial crisis, they’re not.

“They’re on their backsides, and it’s absolutely scandalous that – especially our younger-in-service officers – are struggling to make ends meet when they’re going out and risking their lives and their health to protect the public.”

Steve said officers in crisis must approach their Federation Rep, who can signpost them to help, saying: “There’s myriad things we can do.”

He added that No1 CopperPot Credit Union and Serve & Protect were holding financial seminars around the force, giving valuable assistance and advice.

In addition, the Federation was in talks with the force about what it could do to help.

Steve explained: “I’m pleased that the Chief Constable is keen to try to assist with the financial situation, and we are constantly in dialogue with the force about what it can do to make little differences to officers out there, in terms of the cost of living and the cost of things like parking.”