PFEW Acting National Secretary John Partington:
"Late last week the Police Remuneration Review Body announced it had submitted its 2025 report and recommendations to Government. The ball is now in the Home Office and the Treasury's court because this is a moment of reckoning for the Government. This is where it proves—through action, not words—whether it truly values police officers.
"A generation of police officers have been hit by real-terms pay cuts, soaring workloads, and relentless pressure. They’ve kept showing up, protecting the public in the face of rising demand and decreasing support. The result? Morale is at rock bottom and experienced officers are leaving the job in droves. Policing is in crisis, Government choices created it and chief constables continue to ignore that pay is at the heart of that crisis.
"What the police take home - pay that no longer supports a household, trauma that lasts a lifetime - is criminal. Briefing coming out of Government in the last few days suggests the impending spending review will commit to real terms increases in funding for policing, but an increase on the margins won't undo 15 years of damage.
"Police pay has fallen 21 per cent in real terms. Anything less than sustained and significant increase in funding that delivers the pay increase officers deserve will not touch the sides of the crisis policing faces.
"Ministers may say the country can’t afford to pay officers more. We say the country can’t afford not to. Public safety depends on a police force that is properly paid, properly resourced, and properly respected.
"The Government and chief constables own this problem. The PRRB recommendations must be met with a serious, decisive, and long-term response because the recommendations alone won’t fix this crisis.
"They won’t undo 15 years of real-terms pay cuts or restore the trust that’s been lost. Only a bold commitment to proper investment in policing can do that. Anything less is a betrayal of police officers and the public they serve."
Read PFEW's Pay Positioning Report here
