Northamptonshire chief constable says officers deserve better pay

Northamptonshire Police's chief constable Nick Adderley said his officers deserve better pay for the "exemplary" way they do a dangerous and complex job

Police officers "are not rewarded in the way they deserve" for the dangerous and complex job they do, according to a chief constable.

Northamptonshire Police's Nick Adderley was speaking after the publication of a nationwide Police Federation survey.

The survey showed almost 80% cent of those officers who responded in Northamptonshire were unhappy with their pay.

The government said a 2021 pay freeze would end next month.

Almost 30,000 officers across the country, including 460 in Northamptonshire, took part in the Police Federation's Pay and Morale Survey 2021.

The results were published at the end of last year, with the Northamptonshire branch of the Federation issuing its own reaction at the end of February.

'A dismal time in policing'

Sgt Sam Dobbs said the figures on morale within the force "are devastating to us all"

Sam Dobbs, chairman of the Northamptonshire Police Federation which represents rank and file officers, said the publication of the survey heralded "a dismal day for policing during a dismal time in policing".

He said the survey "is as damning, worrying and catastrophic as any time we've seen in decades of policing".

In Northamptonshire:

• 79% of officers were dissatisfied with their remuneration

• 74% said they were worse off than five years ago

• 48% said their personal morale was low and 69% said morale within the force was low

• 94% did not feel respected by the government

Mr Adderley told BBC Radio Northampton that despite question marks around morale the "level of service police officers are giving to the public across Northamptonshire is exemplary".

But he said: "I've been really clear that police officers are not rewarded in the way they deserve.

"I've been quite vocal and will continue to be vocal.

"We owe police officers a great debt of gratitude. The reality is pay is not keeping up with day-to-day living expenses, never mind recognition of the very dangerous job and the very demanding job that we ask officers to do."

Mr Adderley added that any pay increase would have to be funded by central government.

"I can't take it from existing budgets," he said. "That's not fair."

The chief constable also said one major issue was the need for officers to stay in policing and gain further experience.

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The survey showed two-thirds of frontline officers had less than two years service, while 88% had less than five years service.

Mr Dobbs said "the pressure on these young in-service officers, and incrementally on the force, set against demand, is immense".

Mr Adderley said if officers did not stay in policing for "at least five years, we never get the return on investment and the public don't get the service they deserve, because it takes two or three years to be competent, but the reality is that [it is after] five, six, seven years that you really start to understand the job".

Northamptonshire Police officers told the Police Federation they are unhappy with their level of pay and that morale is low

In 2021, the pay of police officers across the country earning more than £24,000 was frozen.

The Home Office said the freeze was necessary to protect jobs as public finances have "been significantly impacted by the pandemic".

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has since announced the pay freeze will end in April 2022.

As part of the Budget announcement last October, Mr Sunak said the uncertainty of Covid-19 meant "we had to take the difficult decision to pause public sector pay".

"And now, with the economy firmly back on track, it's right that nurses, teachers and all the other public sector workers who played their part during the pandemic see their wages rise," he said.