FURTHER cuts to South Yorkshire Police will be fought \u201ctooth and nail\u201d by the local branch board, Steve Kent, Federation Chairman has said.<\/p>\n
Steve was talking after news broke that forces could lose a further 10,000 police officers to pay for\u00a0 a pensions shortfall.<\/p>\n
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Since 2010 the government has cut police funding by 19%, but forces have been now told that they must fund a \u00a3420m pensions shortfall – which could leave constabularies with 1970\u2019s workforce numbers.<\/p>\n
Steve was unable to comment on specifics of the situation at South Yorkshire Police, as no plans have been announced yet, but he said if the force have to pay for this, \u201cit will impact on future plans\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cFor me this is a clear illustration of the short-sightedness in relation to the introduction of the new pension scheme. If I recall they were warned at the time from the Federation, and others, that pension membership rates could drop as a result. This is coupled with the poor pay for new recruits that has led to a number of officers I know personally who have dropped out of this scheme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe knock-on effect of that is that the funds needed now are shrinking and that\u2019s probably one of the reasons for this cost shortfall.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis should not now be funded by the forces with stretched budgets, and definitely not by a pension contribution increase by officers. The government needs to accept responsibility for the mistake that they\u2019ve made and they need to repair the damage themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The public is aware of how stretched South Yorkshire has become, and that the force is at \u201crock bottom\u201d, Steve said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cAny future cuts would be fought tooth and nail by myself and the Police Federation of England and Wales. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to lose any more officers necessarily as a result of this, I just think it\u2019s going to take a bit of fighting from us just to make sure, to raise awareness nationally and to make sure that the public are on our side.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the tide is changing. I think the public are seeing the sort of situation we\u2019re in now and are in support of us. We are fighting in our members\u2019 corner and we\u2019re not going to accept any more cuts. We want more cops, not more cuts. Simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n