The Police Federation of England & Wales has announced it no longer has confidence in home secretary Priti Patel and has withdrawn support and engagement from the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB).
At a Federation national council meeting on Thursday (22 July), the current police officer pay mechanism was described as “not fit for purpose”.
The Federation said that Patel’s words on Wednesday that the government “recognises the bravery, commitment and professionalism’ of police officers”, were meaningless because no improved financial package to its members had been offered to back them up. “Warm words are no longer enough”, it said.
At the extraordinary meeting of the Federation’s national council, comprising the chair and secretary of each of the 43 force branches, a vote of no confidence in Patel was carried.
The Federation represents about 130,000 police officers in England and Wales. Its national chair, John Apter, said: “I can say quite categorically: we have no confidence in the current home secretary. I cannot look my colleagues in the eye and do nothing.”
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He added: “We often hear the home secretary praise police officers, but our members are so angry with this government. They have been on the frontline of this pandemic for 18 months and will now see other public services given pay increases while they receive nothing.
“At the beginning of this pandemic they endured PPE shortages and were not even prioritised for the vaccination. They continue to be politicised and this pay announcement is the final straw.”
According to the Federation there is “enormous anger within policing, with officers across England and Wales saying the government takes them for granted and treats them with contempt”.
It added that Patel’s pay announcement this week “essentially amounted to a pay cut” because of inflation increasing to 4% this year and was an insult to police officers.
On Tuesday 20 July Patel revealed in a written statement that the government had accepted the PRRB’s recommendations in full. The minimum rates for police constable degree apprentice starting pay and pay point 0 of the constable scale should be uplifted by £250, and that all officers with a basic salary above these levels but below £24,000 (on a full-time equivalent basis) should receive a consolidated pay award of £250. The new pay levels would come into effect on 1 September 2021.
The pay award was in accordance with principles set out in 2020’s Spending Review, which stated there would be a pause to headline pay rises for most public sector workforces in 2021-22. This, said the government, was designed to ensure fairness between public and private sector wage growth, because the “private sector was significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic in the form of reduced hours, suppressed earnings growth and increased redundancies, whilst the public sector was largely shielded from these effects”.
The statement said this approach would protect public sector jobs and investment in public services, and prioritise the lowest paid with those earning less than £24,000 (full-time equivalent) receiving a minimum £250 increase.
Apter said the PRRB was not truly independent and had its hands constantly tied by the government who continually interfered.
He said: “The PRRB itself recognises its lack of independence. We can no longer accept this and have no confidence in this system which is why we are walking away.”
On Friday 23 July, he told LBC that it was “not too late to do what the health secretary did, which is do a U-turn and make the announcement for the NHS staff”.
The shadow home secretary, Labour’s Nick Thomas-Symonds, said he had written to Patel saying her position was “untenable” after the vote of no confidence.
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A Home Office spokesperson said: “The home secretary has demonstrated her commitment time and time again to supporting the brave police officers who keep us safe, giving them the resources and powers they need to fight crime and protect the public.”
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