By Phil Jones, chair of Staffordshire Police Federation
As I write this, it seems that the word on everyone’s lips remains ‘pay’. Not only are we fighting for a respectable pay rise for officers this year, but we’re also fully aware that low pay is causing a number of our latest recruits to walk away from the job before they even get started.
I’m extremely disappointed to hear that almost 10 per cent of new officers have left the job in just over two years – with pay unsurprisingly believed to have played a key role in this.
And once again, our current officers are falling victim to the pressures of policing too. Pressures on the force continue to increase, but this is yet to be reflected in any sort of pay rise from the Government. How MPs can then justifiably prepare to receive a 2.7 per cent pay rise is beyond me.
Please believe me when I say how much I know this is impacting the morale and wellbeing of our members. As your representatives, we stand with the national Federation, urging the Chancellor to address officer pay.
Ultimately, we recognise that policing is under-resourced and officers and staff are underpaid when you consider the vital roles they carry out, and this needs to be urgently addressed by the Government – not just for the sake of our current members, but those who are training to join the police and additionally, those youngsters who aspire to protect the public on the frontline one day.
It is definitely true what our Fed rep Matt Smith has said in a recent profile piece: policing is the best job, yet the toughest.
How things have changed in the past 30 years though. On International Women’s Day last month, we celebrated all our brilliant female members, past and present. Such inspiring stories told across all forces highlighted just how far the service has come but, as our equality lead Claire Bond said, we still have a long way to go.
As your Federation chair, I’m extremely passionate about supporting all members and welcome feedback from everyone, which can help improve the service we can offer moving forward.
Our commitment to our members remains and I pledge that we will keep fighting on your behalf. As always, keep safe and I hope you manage to find time to spend with your families over the Easter weekend.
