Officers ‘missing meals’ to save money as cost of living crisis bites

In the survey of more than 3,000 serving police officers and support staff, it found that on all indicators around financial wellbeing, the police family is in a worse position than it was six months ago.

‘Financial concerns’ have increased from 74 per cent to 86 per cent in just six months; ‘missing meals’ – a key indicator of household poverty – has increased to 27 per cent from 22 per cent.

Nearly one in ten (eight per cent) say they have used a food bank to support themselves and their family, according to the police service financial experts.

To help make ends meet, 60 per cent of officers are doing more overtime, 26 per cent have a second job, 40 per cent are selling their possessions and 37 per cent are thinking about leaving the police service.

Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: “It cannot be right that police officers, the people who society turn to when they are most in need, are themselves turning to food banks, getting into unsustainable debt and choosing not to eat so they can pay their bills.

“We now know that 86 per cent of Met officers and staff are worried about their finances. We also know we are struggling to recruit enough new officers in London’s competitive employment market and I’m certain that pay is a key factor.

“I have called for a pay rise for police officers that is in line with inflation. I urge the Government to accept any recommendation from the independent pay review body in full and without delay.

“Frontline officers have seen their salaries fall by around 17 per cent in real terms over a decade.

“This report lays bare the very real impact that is having in the context of the cost of living crisis and the urgent need to address it.”

The report also found that one in six (17 per cent) of police officers and support staff have missed financial obligations in the past year, up from 11 per cent, and more than one in five (22 per cent) report unsecured debt.

Annette Petchey, chief executive officer at Metfriendly, said: “To know that more than a quarter of serving police officers and support staff simply cannot afford to eat is unforgivable.

“The police play a critical role in keeping us safe, yet they are putting themselves and potentially others at risk by having to play financial roulette and making difficult choices between paying bills and feeding their family or themselves.

“However, this isn’t just about public sector pay and the very short-term impact, it is about understanding the financial pressures that are unique to the police force.

“From having to travel out of public transport hours; to an earning system built around overtime (in a day and age where life was very different to today); to an expectation of a shorter overall working life due to the pressure of the job.

“These findings horrify us and we are investigating measures that will help the UK’s police family live a more financially stable life.”

In March this year, independent research by a non-partisan organisation, Social Market Foundation (SMF), found that real terms police pay has fallen almost 20 per cent behind inflation between 2000 and 2022.

Police Federation of England Wales national chair Steve Hartshorn says the Government “must realise that by ignoring police officers, it is ignoring the safety of members of the public”.

“Police officers also have bills and rent to pay,” he said. “The Government cannot maintain the view that officers will somehow continue to manage putting their lives at risk every day when they cannot afford to live.

“To mirror the words of the Government, police officer pay must be ‘fair’, at the moment it is far from that.”

Mr Hartshorn said there is little doubt that, for decades, police officers in England and Wales have been the “poor relation of the emergency services for successive governments”.

“More recently, it was in 2021 when the Government subjected police officers to a pay freeze making them the only group of emergency service workers to not receive a pay rise,” he said.

“This is at the same time as requiring police officers to enforce government-imposed restrictions on members of the public while they are also facing increasing levels of assaults.

“The suggestion [in media reports] of a derisory six per cent in the current climate, when independent research has shown that officers have suffered an almost 20 per cent pay cut over the last decade, is jarring.”

According to the latest data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), core inflation (CPI), which excludes energy and food prices, rose by 6.8 per cent in the 12 months to April 2023, up from 6.2 per cent in March this year and making it the highest rate since March 1992. Whereas core CPIH, which is CPI including owner occupiers’ housing costs, excluding energy and food prices, increased from 6.2 per cent in April 2023 to 6.5 per cent in May this year, making it the highest rate since November 1991, when it was also 6.5 per cent.

The Police Family Finance Index, undertaken for the first time in 2022, includes insight into the financial pressure experienced by respondents:

• “I am unable to pay nursery fees in full for children under three and I have not eaten on a couple of occasions as the priority is to feed my children”;
• “Because of the position I hold I would get in serious trouble and potentially lose my job, if I don’t pay outstanding balances on financial commitments. As a result on a number of occasions I have had to prioritise paying debt over eating”;
• “Bills come first as long as the bills are paid and the children eat, that’s what matters. Choosing not to eat during shift to save money. This enables me to have more money for fuel bills”;
• “End of the month with no money left and credit cards maxing out forced me to skip meals at work so I could leave food at home for the family”; and
• “Due to financial commitments and our incomes not covering our outgoings (three kids, mortgage, food bills) I have come out of the pension and have accumulated a lot of debts (so has my partner who is also a police officer). We recently had to sell our house in order to deal with our financials which was heartbreaking. We did not have a choice as we had to go to a food pantry on a weekly basis and relied on friends and family doing our food shopping. Due to not being eligible, we were not able to access a food bank”.