Cleveland Police Federation to open food bank for officers

The food bank will offer "easy, unsupervised access" to what officers need, Mr Williams-Reader said

A police force's staff body has said it will open a food bank to support "neglected" police officers struggling to pay bills.

Cleveland Police Federation (CPF) will start operating a site in the coming days, with donation points opening at the force's four police stations.

A federation survey found one in ten officers never or almost never had enough money to cover essentials.

CPF chairman Stephen Williams-Reader said it was "a hard pill to swallow".

"Our officers are putting their lives on the line every day to protect the public, but those same officers are struggling to pay bills and feed their families," he said.

"We wanted to acknowledge the problem and help them out ourselves."

Mr Williams-Reader said seeing officers struggling was "a hard pill to swallow"

The federation also plans to set up a clothing collection point that will include school uniforms.

Mr Williams-Reader said the schemes meant staff could get "easy, unsupervised access to get what they need without facing any embarrassment".

He said the government was "continuing to neglect the protectors with a pay deal that's well below inflation".

The Home Office said it recognised the impact of the cost of living and had "accepted in full the Police Remuneration Review Body's recommendation to award a consolidated increase of £1,900 to all ranks".