Public sector pay freeze a “slap in the face” for hardworking officers

30 November 2020

The public sector pay freeze has come as a “slap in the face” to the hardworking police officers who have been keeping people safe during the Covid-19 pandemic, Essex Police Federation has said.

Chair Laura Heggie was speaking after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that doctors and nurses would get a pay rise in 2021, while police officers would miss out. “I cannot justify an across the board pay increase for all public sector workers,” he told the House of Commons.

Laura said: “We’ve got police officers that are having to go to food banks. I get that there’s a lot of people in really bad situations this year, but how could that be right that someone on a full-time pay is in a position where they have to go to a food bank to have a handout?

“I’ll always argue that police officers should continue to get a pay rise because of the job that we do. It is not a well-paid job anymore, especially when you’re first starting out, compared to a lot of other jobs when you then cater in the unsociable hours, the expectations and the risks that we face.”

Laura said she understood that the Chancellor had to balance the books, and that it had been a difficult year. But she added: “This comes as a slap to police officers because they have continued – like the NHS who have been heroes throughout the pandemic – but officers are still continuing to put themselves at risk, having to come to work every single day and police this pandemic as well. They’re facing that exposure to Covid and then taking it home to their families, and I think a pay rise it would have recognised that extra support and commitment that the police forces have shown throughout the year in the same way doctors and nurses have been recognised.”

Officers are frustrated and dismayed by the decision, Laura said, many of whom are already on the breadline.

She added: “I sit on the Essex Benevolent Fund and we’re seeing more and more requests from officers that are coming into really hard times and you look at their reasons behind why they’re asking for assistance and some of this is through no fault of their own. Their partners might have either been made redundant or have lost their jobs as a result of Covid throughout the year and all of that has that knock-on impact.

“Officers are having to look at other ways they can try and supplement their pay which, for some officers, may mean them considering getting a second job or having a business interest just in order to make ends meet. We will always be saying to officers’ rest days should be for exactly that, to rest, because their work days are demanding and they shouldn’t be having to work a second job just to get by.”