Cressida Dick claims pay award could damage officer morale and calls for more resources for policing

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, has said policing needs more resources and support, not pressure to reform, and branded the government’s pay award to officers as a “punch on the nose”.

The government ignored an independent pay body’s award of a 3% rise to officers, insteadgiving them 2% in July.

Dick told the Police Superintendents’ Association conference in Leicester that the decision had been the wrong one. It is the second year in a row that the government has given officers less than the independent pay review review body recommended.

“That feels like 1% to our officers and I am extremely disappointed by that outcome,” Dick told delegates.

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The Met commissioner, who leads Britain’s biggest police force, said she feared the decision would damage morale and make it more difficult to recruit and retain officers. “I feel this is a punch on the nose,” she said.

Dick added: “I am sorry to say I do think that decision will have affected morale. I don’t want the government to wait until we are struggling like the prison service with chronic understaffing.”

On Tuesday a National Audit Office report attacked the Home Office’s handling of policing and said the service, plagued by cuts and rising complex demands, was under strain.

The prime minister, Theresa May, oversaw cuts to budgets and officer numbers while she was home secretary from 2010 to 2016.

But Dick rejected the mantra that reform was necessary: “This is not a service that needs reform, this is a service that needs support and needs resources. We do need resources, of course we do, and the NAO report shows this.”

Dick said it was an unprecedented time for policing because of the demands it faced. She said this was due to several factors, including having to do the work of the health service and social care sector in dealing with those facing mental health issues.

“We have something of a drift into taking up the slack of other public services that are struggling to deliver,” said Dick.

The number of Met officers has fallen below 30,000 and Dick said recruitment is proving difficult. The force has announced a scheme to allow recently retired officers to return, while also allowing those about to retire to stay on, sothat the force does not shed more experience.

Home secretary Sajid Javid denied that May had overturned the pay award, and said that it was a collective government decision. “You’re trying to get that balance between affordability, what is recommended and fairness to tax payers,” he said.

Javid said more money had been found for the police, but recognised that they did need more: “There has been an increase in resources in the last three years but I don’t think it’s enough given the challenges, the complexities and the crimes that you are facing.”

Javid’s address was watched by an audience of police officers including his brother, a superintendent in the West Midlands Police force.

Javid also said that technology companies such as Google had “weeks” to come up with ideas on how to tackle online child sexual abuse orrisk facing new legislation. “If they don’t do it themselves, we are going to legislate,” he said.

Asked how long the technology companies have, Javid said: “In my mind a few weeks to come up with some ideas … It’s a matter of just weeks.”

He said the government was already preparing legislation on other aspects of cyberspace: “It’s not very difficult for me to make sure we capture this if we have to.”