South Yorkshire Police Federation has welcomed the new Prime Minister\u2019s commitment to look at police numbers, but argued for more investment and a better pay deal.<\/p>\n
On 1 September, Prime Minister Andy Burnham set out his priorities in a speech to the House of Commons, in which he paid his condolences to the families of Cleveland officers PC Tom Clough and PC Matt Blades, and acknowledged that there needed to be a discussion about investment in policing and police numbers.<\/p>\n
But South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: \u201cPolicing needs more backing from our new Prime Minister. He\u2019s got a clean slate to come out and live up to his promises. We have had 16 years with very little financial support, after the catastrophic cuts in 2010 that we still haven’t recovered from.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn South Yorkshire, we have 3,000 officers, but we need at least 3,400 \u2013 we need the resources to do our job properly. The funding formula needs to be looked at, because forces like ours get the raw end of the deal. And that also means fair pay for police, because we are some of the poorest-paid police officers in the western world, which is not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve said he knew of many experienced officers who were considering leaving the police, especially when the pension changes meant they may have to work longer. He said: \u201cPeople are starting to reconsider their positions. So we need to get a pay deal to take us back to what we should be at \u2013 which means a 19% raise.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo do that, we need to work with the Government, but we also need to reinvigorate the industrial rights conversation \u2013 our members are crying out for us to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n