COPPED ENOUGH


CALLING FOR REAL REFORM


As the police pay award decision looms, urgent calls grow for a real-terms pay rise to tackle a decade of erosion, retain experienced officers, and safeguard public safety - amid rising assaults, mental health crises, and a recruitment system strained by chronic underfunding and political inaction, writes Acting National Chair Tiffany Lynch


We are now possibly just weeks away from finding out what the pay award for police officers across England and Wales will be from 1 September. In advance of this, we have been


taking every opportunity to push out the message to media and politicians of the need for a real terms uplift to address the decade of pay erosion. Without fair pay and conditions, we are making clear that officers will continue to leave the service in droves, and this can only be to the detriment of public safety. Successive governments have looked


04 | POLICE | JUNE | 2025


at recruitment, retention and police pay too simplistically, saying there are always people wanting to join the police; but who do these new recruits learn from? Who guides and supports them; who helps them gain experience; and who passes on knowledge and understanding? That is why retention of experienced officers is crucial, and we only keep those officers if the pay is fair.


Earlier last month, we launched the ‘Copped Enough’ campaign and the message to government couldn’t be any clearer:


• Police officers are 21 per cent worse off in real terms than they were in 2010.


• A third of officers struggle to afford food, rent, or heating.


• 32 officers are violently assaulted every day — and the number is rising.


• Mental health crises are soaring, with policing now the profession with


the highest mental health-related sickness rates.


On 20 May, we drew attention to the now infamous speech by Theresa May 10 years ago when she was Home Secretary,


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