Almost 10,000 police officers have taken on second jobs in the past year, according to a pay and morale survey, amid warnings officers’ pay fell 18% in real terms.

The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), which conducted the survey of 27,000 police officers, said the results made for “grim reading”.

The survey showed that about 7.8% of officers had taken second jobs this year, equivalent to about 9,500 officers, compared with 6.3% last year, or about 7,700. There were 122,404 officers as at 31 March, according to the Home Office.

Police officers can take on additional employment outside their working hours with approval from their force.

It has previously been reported that officers have worked in a variety of roles including taxi driving, photography, plumbing, gardening and beauty therapy.

Last month, the government announced that police officers would be awarded a pay rise of 2% in 2018-19 – but the PFEW labelled the increase “derisory” and said pay had been cut 18% in real terms since 2009-10.

John Apter, chair of the PFEW, said: “Our members are clearly suffering from even worse financial pressures than last year, with some appearing to be in dire straits.

“Our members are under immense pressure to deliver, with dwindling resources and rising crime – particularly violent crime – leading to a demand for our services that has never been higher. All they want is to be adequately paid for the job that they do.

“We know officers are struggling and some have had to resort to food vouchers and other welfare schemes. This clearly cannot be right or acceptable that those employed to keep the public safe cannot make ends meet or put food on tables for their families.”

The survey found that nearly half (44.8%) of those polled said they worried about the state of their personal finances either every day or almost every day.

More than one in nine (11.8%) said they either never or almost never had enough money to cover all of their essentials, while 3.8% had taken out a payday loan at least once in the past year.