Call for better pay for South Yorkshire police officers for 'superhuman jobs they do on a day to day basis'

A pay and morale survey carried out by the Police Federation found that 96 per cent of South Yorkshire officers who took part do not currently feel respected by the Government, with 39 per cent worrying about their finances every day.

Some 73 per cent of local respondents said they feel worse off financially than they were five years ago and 10 per cent reported never or almost never having enough money to cover all their essentials.

And 74 per cent of respondents from South Yorkshire Police said that over the last 12 months, their workload has been too high or much too high.

Last year police officers across England and Wales did not receive a pay rise.

MORE: South Yorkshire Police Federation warns officers 'have never been under so much strain'

The Police Federation claims that over the past 10 years police officer pay has fallen in real terms by 18 per cent.

Of the 490 officers who took part in the survey, 79 per cent said they are dissatisfied with their overall remuneration.

Meanwhile 74 per cent of officers who responded said they would not recommend joining the police to others and 11 per cent said they intend to leave the police service either within the next two years or as soon as possible.

The Federation is calling on MPs to support its campaign for a pay increase and a fair and independent mechanism to decide on police officer pay rises.

Steve Kent, chairman of the South Yorkshire branch of the Police Federation, said: “Our officers and staff are feeling pretty fed up at the moment and this is largely down to the national issues in relation to policing, the Government’s treatment of police and the police being ignored with regards to pay increases.

“The police are often ignored when other public sectors are being given pay rises. We saw this last year when the NHS and others in public service rightly got a pay rise due to their wonderful work during Covid. However the police who have been at the frontline as this as much as anyone and in areas plugging the gaps of other services received nothing.

“And this is alongside the backdrop of pay cuts since 2010 the likes of which are unparalleled in the public sector.

“With the dangers our officers face, constant assaults, constant unfair generalisations in the national media and frankly levels of trauma our officers deal with every single day, it is totally obvious why a lot of officers have totally had enough.

“They are fed up and in the last year they were utterly exhausted. We don't do the job for the credit and the pat and on the backs but our officers deserve more respect than they get.”

He added: “Both the force and ourselves in the Federation are doing our best to help our officers by investing more in mental well-being initiatives and there is some real progress and recognition this area needs addressing. But we need to see more investment in policing over and above repairing the damage done to policing in the last decade. And our officers deserve to be paid fairly for the superhuman jobs they do on a day to day basis.”