Police officers ‘fully justified in feeling betrayed’ by pay offer
The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) has reacted angrily to the release of Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures that show a substantial annual wage increase for most workers across the UK.
The new figures, which also highlighted a record high in the number of UK job vacancies, showed growth in average total pay (including bonuses) was 8.8 per cent, while it was 7.4 per cent for regular pay (excluding bonuses) in the period between April to June 2021.
The increase was described as evidence the “world of work continues to rebound robustly” by ONS deputy statistician Jonathan Athow. However, police officers have received a zero per cent pay offer, despite the many challengers and dangers they faced while working through the pandemic.
Ché Donald, national vice-chair of the PFEW, said: “My colleagues will be dismayed by the news that some sectors are clearly receiving sky high wage rises while police officers receive nothing. They will be fully justified in feeling further betrayed by the unfairness of this news.
“Police officers who were on the front line of the pandemic have already seen firefighters and local government workers in England given a 1.5 per cent increase.
“The ONS have now said the UK employment situation has been rebounding ‘robustly,’ and this new data will be viewed as further evidence all sectors were not treated equally by this government.
“It is yet another example of why we have lost confidence in a government which deliberately took full advantage of our unique status as public servants without the same employment rights as other members of society.”
