THE chairman of Cumbria's Police Federation has told the Government to 'get a grip' and give officers a pay rise.

Paul Williams has warned police officers will leave if they are not treated with 'respect and fairness'.

He claimed an ongoing pay freeze had left officers with a real-terms pay cut of 20 per cent - and it was 'crippling' policing.

“More than a decade since this Government announced police pay freezes due to austerity, cutting our numbers in response to increasing demand and dismissing our warnings on the dangers of these actions, here we all are much worse off," he said.

“Since then we have continued policing in an ever more complex environment through a national pandemic and now at the foot of a recession with a 20 per cent real-terms pay cut that is crippling our members.

"This is in turn crippling policing at a time when this country has never needed it more.

“We hear how the Government states it is committed to law and order and how they are increasing officer numbers when in reality they are trying to replace numbers they themselves cut.

“This is like trying to put a sticking plaster over a gushing wound."

Mr Williams said without 'fair and meaningful' pay, officer will 'give up and leave'.

"We are already struggling to retain it is a real crisis that cannot be dismissed yet with up and coming announcements on what a potential pay rise may look like I expect very little out of anything despite the action we have taken so far," he said.

He said it was 'ironic' that officers would be policing strike action from other over professions over pay when they themselves would be 'underpaid and overworked'.

He added: “My message to this Government is for the country’s sake get a grip and start treating us with respect and fairness. 

“The very fabric of law and order is now in tatters with motivation for the job continuing to decline as we are continuously placed at the bottom of the pile yet expected to put our lives on the line to keep the public safe.”

Spelling out its proposals for officers' pay earlier this year, the Home Office said: "We must ensure that the affordability of a pay award is taken into consideration so that police forces are able to maximise the number of additional officers that they can recruit and ensure the ambition to recruit 20,000 officers by March 2023 is met."