LOCAL MP STANDS UP FOR POLICE OFFICERS OVER PAY

Tony Baldry call on pay to be backdated

North Oxfordshire MP, Tony Baldry, has called on the Home Secretary to backdate the pay award for Police Officers.

Police Officers have called on the Home Secretary , Jacqui Smith MP, to resign after ignored the independent arbitration panel's advice that the pay award for officers should be backdated to 1 September.

In a letter to the Home Secretary, Tony Baldry MP said:

"This is a matter of particular concern to my constituency because what tends to happen, if there is a shortage of police officers elsewhere in the Thames Valley, is that they get taken away from areas such as Banbury.  It does seem incredibly mean-minded to then fail to implement that pay award for some three months. 

"All that this has done is to generate an enormous amount off ill will – and it is the sort of ill will and frustration that eats into the morale and fabric of the Police Service, and undermines efficiency in a way that is wholly disproportionate to the amount of money that the Home Office and the Government are saving.

"People locally are particularly hacked off when they feel Police Officers are not being treated fairly at a time when they know that the Home Office managed to waste £33 million on the accommodation centre  for asylum seekers at Bicester, with absolutely nothing to show for that money whatsoever."

The complete text of the letter is below.

Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, MP

Secretary of State for the Home Department

Home Office

2 Marsham Street

London SW1P 4DF

12 December 2007

Dear Home Secretary,

Police Pay

Over the years, there have been serious issues with retention of police officers in the Thames Valley.

This is a matter of particular concern to my constituency because what tends to happen, if there is a shortage of police officers elsewhere in the Thames Valley, is that they get taken away from areas such as Banbury.

So like I suspect many Parliamentary colleagues, I am amazed that the Home Office didn’t feel able to accept the result of an independent arbitration that a 2.5% pay increase backdated to 1st September would be appropriate.

If that is the result of an independent arbitration, then that is the result of an independent arbitration  and it does seem incredibly mean-minded to then fail to implement that pay award for some three months.  All that that has done is to generate an enormous amount off ill will – and it is the sort of ill will and frustration that eats into the morale and fabric of the Police Service, and undermines efficiency in a way that is wholly disproportionate to the amount of money that the Home Office and the Government are saving.  I have to say, in a constituency like mine, people are particularly hacked off when they feel Police Officers are not being treated fairly at a time when they know that the Home Office managed to waste £33 million on the accommodation centre  for asylum seekers at Bicester, with absolutely nothing to show for that money whatsoever.

Yours ever,

Tony Baldry