‘Words escape me’ - police chief on national pay freeze
ONE of the county’s most senior police officers has criticised the government’s planned pay freeze for most police this year.
The pay freeze, announced by Home Secretary Priti Patel, means all officers on £24,000 or more will miss out on a pay rise.
Deputy Chief Constable Rob Nixon said: “Words escape me. Another pay freeze for police officers.
“The commitment and hard work of Leicestershire Police colleagues during the past year has been remarkable.
“They run to danger frequently, absorb increasing complexity and deserve to be treated fairly in return.”
Labour is calling on Ms Patel to “consider her position” following the decision to rule out pay increases for the majority of officers.
The Police Federation of England and Wales said recently that it no longer has confidence in Ms Patel, branding the pay freeze the final straw.
But federation chairman John Apter said there was still time for the Home Secretary to regain the support of the 130,000 rank-and-file officers his organisation represents doing a U-turn and increasing their wages.
Pay freezes were announced last week for the majority of public sector workers, including for police and teachers, but NHS staff will get a 3 per cent rise, which is to be paid out of existing health budgets, the government confirmed.
In neighbouring Northamptonby shire, Chief Constable Nick Adderley branded the pay freeze as “wholly unacceptable” and an “insult”.
In a statement on his Twitter account, he said: “Over the past 18 months I have seen officers punched, stabbed, shot, persecuted and ridiculed while attempting to implement confusing, rushed and ambiguous legislation, in order to protect the public and, rightly, the NHS, only to be ignored when it comes to a pay settlement.
“The announcement of a 0 per cent pay increase for police officers is, quite frankly, an insult and wholly unacceptable.”