Cambridgeshire Police Federation chair Liz Groom says the “devil will be in the detail” following the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget announcement of an end to the public sector pay freeze.
Liz today called on Rishi Sunak to guarantee that police officers will be given a substantial pay rise next year.
She said: “We welcome the announcement of an end to the public sector pay freeze but the devil will be in the detail.
“We’ve seen our wages fall in real terms over the last decade and anything less than an above inflation rise will, in effect, be another pay cut.
“It’s time that the Chancellor backed up his words with deeds and gave officers a pay rise to reflect their work over the last 20 months policing the pandemic and the dangers they face in policing our communities.”
The Federation’s national vice-chair, Ché Donald, echoed the comments, calling on the Government to level up police pay so inflation is taken into account, and to make sure they receive a fair wage for an increasingly difficult job.
“Police officers were shoddily treated by this Government and rewarded for their dedication and professionalism during the pandemic with a zero per cent increase, which was a real terms pay cut,” said Ché.
“While we welcome the Chancellor’s decision to end the unfair pay freeze for some public sector workers, this must result in an increase of more than the four per cent inflation figure he predicted for 2022, if it is to make a positive difference.
“As well as a real term pay increase, we urgently need a fair pay mechanism which is independent of Government interference and delivers a binding outcome to restore trust and faith in the police pay process as anything less is just populist political fanfare.”