Police officers are using foodbanks as cost of living rises says Met Police Chief

Sir Mark Rowley said he was 'very concerned' about reports of officers needing to use foodbanks. Credit: PA Stills

Some of London's police officers are having to use foodbanks as they struggle to make ends meet.

The Metropolitan Police Chief, Sir Mark Rowley said frontline officers have faced a real term pay cut of 14% over the last decade.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4, he said: "I have seen data about police officers using food banks, which is really concerning. Those issues are of great concern to me."

The latest national survey by the Police Federation found 83% of officers were dissatisfied with their pay.

9 in 10 officers felt that they were ‘worse off’ financially than they were five years ago, while 69% said they worried about the state of their finances every day or almost every day.

Sir Mark Rowley said his officers need more support:

“They do an amazing job. We’ve got officers who cause us problems and we are bearing down on that. But I’ve got tens of thousands of men and women who really care about London and they are so committed to the mission of helping people and taking on dangerous offenders.

“I need to do everything possible to set them up to succeed. Part of that is them feeling they can make ends meet. All the data says some of them are finding that hard.”

Sir Mark’s warning comes as the Government faces a wave of industrial action across public services – from rail to the NHS – with unions demanding pay rises matching the rising cost of living.

It is illegal for UK police to strike.

In response, the Home Office said: "Policing is a career like no other and we need officers to keep communities safe and cut crime. We recognise the impact of the cost of living, which is why we accepted in full the Police Remuneration Review Body’s recommendation to award a consolidated increase of £1,900 to all ranks of police officers."