GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
A group of police officers taking a well-earned break
A barricaded London-street during the police strikes of 1918-1919
Striking police officers in a rally with a banner
of National Union of Police and Prison Officers during the industrial action of 1918-1919
preventing crime, keeping order, and protecting the vulnerable. Currently, policing is in crisis in our country and the Government must step up. No matter how many times the Government says that it is infusing money into policing, we are not seeing the longer- term funding settlements that would allow Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners to plan properly. We are certainly not seeing extra cash making it into the bank accounts of police officers, who are the only ones protecting our communities against crime. They also do not have the option of taking the last resort while other groups of workers can and do take industrial action by withholding labour or striking. Officer numbers are now increasing
because of the Government’s Police Uplift Programme, which aims to recruit 20,000 officers over three years. However, retention and attrition rates are reversing the situation with some new recruits leaving within months of starting their policing careers because of the pay squeeze. Low morale is also causing longer-serving officers to quit. Our recent survey of 57,451 police officers
found that 93 per cent strongly agreed that police are undervalued by the Government, 65 per cent thought that the current starting salary for police officers would negatively influence potential new recruits from wanting to join the service, and 69 per cent thought about leaving the service in the past 12 months.
In a national poll of 2,000 members of the public conducted across eight locations in England and Wales, it transpired that as many as 75 per cent think police deserve a pay rise in line with inflation. The poll also found that 74 per cent agreed that police deserve a pay rise that adequately compensates them for the risk associated with their work, 79 per cent agreed that dangerous jobs, like police work, deserve the pay to reflect the risk, and 72 per cent supported the Government giving a pay rise to the police at the next opportunity.
It is time the Government realised that people will not forgive broken promises and letting down of the service, which protects them day in and day out.
35 | POLICE | AUGUST 2022
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