Officers Taking Second Jobs To Make Ends Meet

Thousands of police officers are now working second jobs simply to cover their living costs, according to figures from the Police Federation of England and Wales.

More than 4,000 officers secured approval for secondary employment in 2024 – double the number recorded in 2019, data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveals.

South Yorkshire was one of nine force that refused to provide data or claimed it took too long to collect.

And South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said the idea that officers were so badly paid that they needed to take on extra work was “farcical”.

He said: “It’s farcical that people would even consider having a second job to make ends meet. But we are hearing about it increasingly.

“There’s also a lot of officers who rely on overtime, which is a dangerous position to be in because overtime isn’t a right and it isn’t something that you can necessarily guarantee.

“So officers relying on it to make ends meet, month to month, that might not always be available to them. So that’s worrying for officers’ financial wellbeing as well as a second job.

“And this is a problem, people think police pays good when you ask members of the public. But when you look at it compared to inflation and cost of living, we’re almost being cut for police pay now for the last 20 years.

“It is starting to become a critical thing. And it is seriously concerning. And again, it will drive the narrative in the future about police pay, but by then it might be too late.”

The PFEW has described this trend as a “damning indictment” of how far police pay has fallen.

Brian Booth, PFEW Acting Deputy National Chair, said officers were “overworked, underpaid and under threat” and that that no one should finish a demanding shift protecting the public only to head straight to another job in order to afford basic bills.

He added: “The impact on their family life or rest and recovery time is scary to think about…We need pay restoration now, and we need Chief Constables to get off the fence on pay and support their officers.”

Since 2010, police pay has fallen by 21% in real terms. New recruits start on £29,000 a year, and after six years’ service are earning up to £10,000 less than teachers or nurses with equivalent experience. With inflation and rising interest rates pushing living costs ever higher, many officers feel they have no choice but to seek additional income.