\u201cWHAT we really want to hear from the Government is that we\u2019re going to get an inflation-busting pay rise to make up for previous years when we\u2019ve gone without.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the reaction of South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent to the news that the public sector pay freeze would be lifted next year.<\/p>\n
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the pay freeze imposed last year would end in April 2022, but the amount of the pay rise is unknown and it may not keep up with inflation, which is currently 3.1% and is predicted to go above 4% by December. On average, police pay has fallen in real terms by 12.4% since 2010.<\/p>\n
Steve said: \u201cWe welcome the announcement that there will be a pay increase for police officers in 2022, but our members are wondering how much it will be, considering that for the vast majority of the past decade we haven\u2019t received a pay rise.<\/p>\n
This pay increase has to have substance behind it.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice officers haven\u2019t been recognised throughout the COVID crisis in the way that other public services rightly have. Nobody would deny that the NHS should be rewarded for the hard work it\u2019s done, but we\u2019ve been at the frontline of all this as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been neglected for way too long. Police pay is down in real terms when you look at inflation, so it really needs to be bumped up quite substantially.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the current pay freeze was announced in July, the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) withdrew its support and engagement with the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB), saying it was \u201cnot fit for purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n
Steve said that, despite next year\u2019s planned pay increase, the Government still needed to rethink the police pay mechanism.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe PFEW pulled out of a flawed system. We really do need to look at a fair remuneration board that doesn\u2019t have shackles around its ankles \u2013\u00a0there needs to be a commitment from Government to allow it to make decisions and for them to be automatically honoured, rather than the current situation where it\u2019s almost like the decision has already been made before it goes to them. That just can\u2019t be right.\u201d<\/p>\n
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