Cumbria Police Federation chief warns cost of living putting officers at risk of financial crisis

A police federation chair has warned officers are facing problems due to the cost of living crisis and pay.

Cumbria's Police Federation chair Paul Williams said without a rise in pay, living standards for officers would tumble.

Mr Williams released a Christmas and New Year message calling for a rise in wages along with inflation in order to take the strain off of officers.

He said: "There have been and remains so many challenges in policing with cost of living and pay being very much on the agenda.

"So called pay rises are still very much pay cuts with cost of living becoming crippling and serious financial crisis for our members being a very real risk.

"We are way behind inflation and have been for some time yet we find ourselves being worked harder, held more accountable and Government expectation to do more with less, for less.

"Uplift is being sold as an increase in police officer numbers when really it is a sticky plaster on numbers that were initially cut which has left its own issues in managing recruitment, training and abstractions which has placed an incredible burden on existing staff.

"We are thankfully soon to see light at the end of the tunnel but this has left its scars and on top of this attrition has been coming in rates that I have never witnessed before which is concerning."

Mr Williams said he believed Cumbria would benefit from changes in how the structure of policing in the county would work.

He said: "Internally there has recently been a huge restructure of policing in Cumbria which has instigated a look at how we manage deployment, shifts, leave and operational support.

"A lot of this has been done quick time but there are some very positive developments.

"None of this has come without teething problems as any restructure would but reviews are being conducted and there are mechanisms for feedback which have been used and work well.

"In the past few years policing has moved at a very fast pace and it is hard to keep up."

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