POLICE officers in South Yorkshire are among the hardest working cops in the country and they deserve to be rewarded, the force\u2019s Federation has said.<\/p>\n
Steve Kent, Federation Chair, was speaking after officers received news of a 2.5% pay boost, which will see constables receiving an extra \u00a31,100 per year from 1 September.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt\u2019s become very tough in South Yorkshire; we\u2019re expected to do a hell of a lot more with less as a force, and as I always say with the numbers we\u2019ve got in our force and as our performance shows – we are one of the top forces in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u201crestraint\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
Steve said: \u201cThe Government has broadly adopted the PRRB recommendations which is a good sign because that\u2019s what it\u2019s there for and it\u2019s fair and it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut 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\u2019s just going to be a continuation of the last decade.<\/p>\n
“When you think of all the thousands of pounds officers have lost from their salaries as it is, that would crush police officers\u2019 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?\u201d<\/p>\n