The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), with the Chief Police Officers’ Staff Association (CPOSA) and the Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA), has filed an application for Judicial Review calling for a truly independent pay mechanism for police officer pay.
PFEW national vice-chair Ché Donald said: “The common theme with this Government is it does not value its police service, it does not recognise the financial hardships police officers are facing daily and has suppressed police pay to the point that there is very little difference between the national living wage and the hourly wage of a new starter.
“The current pay mechanism is just a white elephant, where Government ultimately decides what police officers cannot receive by way of fair remuneration. Our repeated attempts to address this fairly have been met with silence, after all, why would the Government want to change a system designed by them, run by them and with the final decision resting with them?
“This leaves us with no other alternative but to let someone else decide the merits of fairness, the judiciary.”
He added: “As police officers, we are not being unreasonable in asking for a pay mechanism that acts independently. As public servants, MPs are happy to accept the recommendation of their own independent pay body as binding, all we ask is that they do the same with ours, or perhaps extend the remit of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).”