THERE needs to be a \u201cdrastic re-evaluation of police pay\u201d, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said, as officers struggle financially and resort to pay-day loans as the cost of living gets higher.<\/p>\n
Steve Kent, Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said that more officers were approaching the Federation for support around rising housing costs, energy and fuel bills, and rent or mortgage payments.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cMany South Yorkshire officers are struggling to afford fuel, especially since some live on one side of the county and work on the other and because of the Peak District it takes them a long time to get to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers are contacting us saying they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re going to do. It started off as a drip, and now it\u2019s turned into a stream of officers coming to us weekly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cost-of-living crisis was hitting police officers particularly hard as they\u2019d endured years of pay freezes or below-inflation pay deals, Steve said.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThere needs to be a drastic re-evaluation of police pay. We are one of the poorest paid police forces in the whole of the G7. We cannot attract the best people we want when the salary is so low.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe step in the right direction, even though it wasn\u2019t enough, was that the Government honoured what the Police Remuneration Review Body said this year. But there needs to be consistent change in terms of police pay and conditions, otherwise it\u2019s not going to be an attractive job.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd this is up in the north where the cost of living is significantly lower in terms of housing than it is down south. I only dread to think what colleagues across the country are feeling about this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got officers going to food banks and using pay-day loans. We signpost people to CopperPot, who can help them. And the Chief Constable is actively looking at ways to reduce the cost of officers\u2019 day-to-day living. So we are, collaboratively with the force, trying to tackle this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
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