Police officers will leave "in droves" due to poor pay, the Civil Nuclear Police Federation has warned.
The Government is reportedly planning a below-inflation 3.5% pay rise for police officers and other public sector workers. Meanwhile, official submissions to the Police Remuneration Review Body - including those from the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) - warned the Government that policing would be under threat if it continued to ignore calls for a fair pay increase.
Police officers' pay has fallen by almost 17% in real terms since 2010, a third of officers have fewer than five years' experience, and a rising number are leaving for other sectors.
Gary Thwaite, Chief Executive of the Civil Nuclear Police Federation, said: "The fact the NPCC has come out and said this is good to hear. If senior officers recognise this problem, then policing is united, and the Government needs to acknowledge and address their concerns.
"Low pay is a serious problem that's been growing for a long time. This is the result of 10 to 15 years of below-inflation pay deals for police officers. If you look at a new officer's salary of £23-24,000, I don't think that's changed in 10 years. The recent sharp increase in inflation and the cost of living crisis means that policing is falling behind. It's highlighted the fact that police salaries haven't kept up with normal wages."
Gary said it was "really concerning" that officers were leaving the service to find better-paid and less stressful work. He said: "Across the country, officers are leaving in droves. It's not just new officers; it's experienced officers leaving, too. We protect civil nuclear sites, and there are a lot of good jobs and careers at those sites - we're seeing a lot of officers show interest in joining, as those jobs are well paid."
During a winter of large public-service strikes, police officers are not allowed to strike, and Gary thinks this means they're not being listened to. He said: "No police officer wants to strike; policing is their vocation. However, there seems to be a direct correlation between the sectors that can strike, and the pay rises they've received in the past. When the industrial rights were removed from police officers in 1919, the Government was supposed to recognise that fact with fair compensation, and they just haven't."
Policing was on a "downward spiral", Gary added: "Officers policed right through Covid, they couldn't work from home. There was no real recognition for that, they didn't get priority for vaccinations, they had to deal with a lot.
"The Government needs to value policing if it wants a police service that will retain experienced officers. It's a competitive jobs market and officers will go elsewhere. It's quite a dangerous situation, and I think that's why the NPPC have spoken out as well."