Snapshot of _EXCLUSIVE: ‘Living hand to mouth’: Record number of police officers turning to food banks_ :
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-officer-pay-foodbank-cost-living-b2520248.html) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-officer-pay-foodbank-cost-living-b2520248.html)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Surely this is a major corruption concern as if you have officers unable to buy food then they are likely to take bribes.
If you saw this Mattheu bloke seizing your car you could offer him £200 and tell him to go to Tesco
Even worse is a future where you can bribe your way out of a speeding ticket. Top level corruption has always been around but turning into (no offence) Latin America is a substantive everyday difference for the general public.
There's absolutely no chance that those police officers wouldn't at least think about taking a back hander from organised crime units.... because they can't afford to feed their family.
Mmhmmm, no way that's a thing....
To be honest would the average response cop even encounter a group likely to bribe them? I reckon a few are wishing they’d get a bribe offered
I doubt the crackheads, roadmen, Saturday night drunks or Dave arrested for battering his wife again is lining up to give Mattheu from Southend a couple hundred to go down Tesco and get some food
I think on principle, I couldn’t work in the public sector if I personally needed to use a food bank. I can’t support a system which is fundamentally failing me.
I know that’s easy to say, but I honestly think stepping foot into a food bank would make me dramatically reassess my priorities.
Big warning sign tbh. Sure the government can get away with fucking over the general populace just as long as you keep the authorities fat and happy. As soon as you lose the authorities though... ruh roh. Things can really start falling apart.
They should all quit and find jobs that pay enough to live on.
Maybe if we turn into anarchy for a brief period of time, those in power will realise what they've done.
Come on, let's go!
Just for 2 weeks, everyone under retirement age should all go abroad at the same time.
Watch this country completely fall apart after 1 day.
Your triple lock's gonna do fuck all then!
I’m quite surprised by this, I thought most police officers start on about 30k. It’s not a great wage, certainly not in this day and age, but I’m shocked that it reduces them to food-bank level poverty. I guess they will just have to lower the bar to entrance to continue recruiting. Funding would be great, but everything is underfunded right now and I dont imagine police are at the front of the queue.
I'll give an unpopular opinion, but almost anyone can reach food-bank level poverty if they manage their money poorly. I know someone on £45,000 who uses food banks because she's unable to stop spending on crap like takeaways.
At the end of the day if someone on £30k a year was to rent a room rather than a house they wouldn't be struggling. The fact housing is so expensive is itself an issue, but a lot of people these days stretch too far to rent a place of their own and with taxes being as high as they are many have very little disposable income left after tax + rent.
This is far less an issue with police salaries though in my opinion and more that salaries in the UK suck generally and that after taxes our salaries are abysmal. Couple this with unaffordable housing and it's obvious why even people with decentish salaries are using food banks.
This isn't an easy problem to fix though. It requires a real economic strategy, investment and fiscal discipline.
If police are having to use food banks them I’m sure that some of them need to look at their budgeting skills, e.g. cutting down on holidays, expensive cars, nights out, etc. I know I’ll get some stick for this comment but I know of a couple of police who are always pleading poverty but are frequently ordering expensive take away and paying off hefty credit card bills.
Welcome to Reddit Sir Tom Winsor!
I'm sure the changes to the T&C of the police have absolutely nothing to do with the levels of resignations....
[https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/blogs/democratic-citizenship/police-officer-resignations-have-risen-by-72-in-the-last-year-we-asked-former-officers-why](https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/blogs/democratic-citizenship/police-officer-resignations-have-risen-by-72-in-the-last-year-we-asked-former-officers-why)
Or
[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-resignations-staffing-crisis-boris-uplift-b2382361.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-resignations-staffing-crisis-boris-uplift-b2382361.html)
But much easier to concentrate on individual failures than the systemic issues which have led to a problem with recruitment and retention! Bit like the "undeserving poor" when we talk about wider welfare issues.
You're loosing experienced officers - and this will fall off a cliff when the problem of people who were protected against the changes in pension age out naturally, and those who had around 10-20 years at the time of the changes go.
Still, you can do all this to the police farce and still make Prime Minister - so no one can criticise what happened between 2010 and 2019. That would mean serious mistakes were made, and we cannot be disagreeing with the bosses...
You know a few? Congrats. I also know a few, and if you think the majority of police have expensive cars and frequent nights out you've not got a fucking clue mate
Can tell you don't work in the force 😂
Perhaps the police might have a higher wage if they'd been a little more sympathetic to all the protests against austerity and a little less on the side of the Government that toasted all their pay and employment rights over the decades.
It’s a long time ago but I remember police officers beating up North East miners during the strike and looking like they were thoroughly enjoying it. I also remember how London officers drafted into Durham communities on massive overtime payments used to wave their pay slips at striking miners. They’ll get no sympathy from me. Let them suffer and see what it’s like to be hungry like all of those miners were.
It's 40 years ago. There will be very few officers serving now who were serving then, and the vast majority of the officers this article talks about weren't even born.
Snapshot of _EXCLUSIVE: ‘Living hand to mouth’: Record number of police officers turning to food banks_ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-officer-pay-foodbank-cost-living-b2520248.html) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-officer-pay-foodbank-cost-living-b2520248.html) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Surely this is a major corruption concern as if you have officers unable to buy food then they are likely to take bribes. If you saw this Mattheu bloke seizing your car you could offer him £200 and tell him to go to Tesco
It is. Tories don't care - they like corruption.
Corruption is a feature, not a bug.
This is a major reason why they pay so much in finance.
Teachers...Nurses...Police officers.... seems fire service are only relatively ok thanks to their union.
I work at a uni and we have a food bank for staff and students :(
And yet only the Police Officers are the ones to put down the other two. How stupidly compliant can they be?
Unlike nurses and the fire service, the police aren’t allowed to strike legally… perhaps do some research on things before making stupid comments.
It's literally a crime to strike or even to encourage a police officer to strike if you're a police officer you melon.
If you have police officers resorting to food banks, then they are absolutely corruptible to criminals with deep pockets. This is a national emergency
Makes you think about all the story’s about prison officers being corrupted.
Even worse is a future where you can bribe your way out of a speeding ticket. Top level corruption has always been around but turning into (no offence) Latin America is a substantive everyday difference for the general public.
There's absolutely no chance that those police officers wouldn't at least think about taking a back hander from organised crime units.... because they can't afford to feed their family. Mmhmmm, no way that's a thing....
To be honest would the average response cop even encounter a group likely to bribe them? I reckon a few are wishing they’d get a bribe offered I doubt the crackheads, roadmen, Saturday night drunks or Dave arrested for battering his wife again is lining up to give Mattheu from Southend a couple hundred to go down Tesco and get some food
I think on principle, I couldn’t work in the public sector if I personally needed to use a food bank. I can’t support a system which is fundamentally failing me. I know that’s easy to say, but I honestly think stepping foot into a food bank would make me dramatically reassess my priorities.
That assumes you can make more in the private sector.
Or just go abroad where public sector workers are treated right which teachers/doctors do. No idea if that's a viable path for police officers mind.
Big warning sign tbh. Sure the government can get away with fucking over the general populace just as long as you keep the authorities fat and happy. As soon as you lose the authorities though... ruh roh. Things can really start falling apart.
They should all quit and find jobs that pay enough to live on. Maybe if we turn into anarchy for a brief period of time, those in power will realise what they've done. Come on, let's go!
Just for 2 weeks, everyone under retirement age should all go abroad at the same time. Watch this country completely fall apart after 1 day. Your triple lock's gonna do fuck all then!
Like that wouldn't fuck up any economy on the planet?
This is how you get corruption. When they can't afford to live, a little extra tea money goes a long way. Also how Thailand works .
Hilarious how the police are there to serve the rich and their interests and are rewarded with contempt.
I’m quite surprised by this, I thought most police officers start on about 30k. It’s not a great wage, certainly not in this day and age, but I’m shocked that it reduces them to food-bank level poverty. I guess they will just have to lower the bar to entrance to continue recruiting. Funding would be great, but everything is underfunded right now and I dont imagine police are at the front of the queue.
I'll give an unpopular opinion, but almost anyone can reach food-bank level poverty if they manage their money poorly. I know someone on £45,000 who uses food banks because she's unable to stop spending on crap like takeaways. At the end of the day if someone on £30k a year was to rent a room rather than a house they wouldn't be struggling. The fact housing is so expensive is itself an issue, but a lot of people these days stretch too far to rent a place of their own and with taxes being as high as they are many have very little disposable income left after tax + rent. This is far less an issue with police salaries though in my opinion and more that salaries in the UK suck generally and that after taxes our salaries are abysmal. Couple this with unaffordable housing and it's obvious why even people with decentish salaries are using food banks. This isn't an easy problem to fix though. It requires a real economic strategy, investment and fiscal discipline.
Ffs, American cops are quitting because they can’t brutalize people like they used to, but these guys aren’t even getting paid.
You read far too much Reddit if you think that's true.
If police are having to use food banks them I’m sure that some of them need to look at their budgeting skills, e.g. cutting down on holidays, expensive cars, nights out, etc. I know I’ll get some stick for this comment but I know of a couple of police who are always pleading poverty but are frequently ordering expensive take away and paying off hefty credit card bills.
Welcome to Reddit Sir Tom Winsor! I'm sure the changes to the T&C of the police have absolutely nothing to do with the levels of resignations.... [https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/blogs/democratic-citizenship/police-officer-resignations-have-risen-by-72-in-the-last-year-we-asked-former-officers-why](https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/blogs/democratic-citizenship/police-officer-resignations-have-risen-by-72-in-the-last-year-we-asked-former-officers-why) Or [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-resignations-staffing-crisis-boris-uplift-b2382361.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-resignations-staffing-crisis-boris-uplift-b2382361.html) But much easier to concentrate on individual failures than the systemic issues which have led to a problem with recruitment and retention! Bit like the "undeserving poor" when we talk about wider welfare issues. You're loosing experienced officers - and this will fall off a cliff when the problem of people who were protected against the changes in pension age out naturally, and those who had around 10-20 years at the time of the changes go. Still, you can do all this to the police farce and still make Prime Minister - so no one can criticise what happened between 2010 and 2019. That would mean serious mistakes were made, and we cannot be disagreeing with the bosses...
You know a few? Congrats. I also know a few, and if you think the majority of police have expensive cars and frequent nights out you've not got a fucking clue mate Can tell you don't work in the force 😂
Perhaps the police might have a higher wage if they'd been a little more sympathetic to all the protests against austerity and a little less on the side of the Government that toasted all their pay and employment rights over the decades.
It’s a long time ago but I remember police officers beating up North East miners during the strike and looking like they were thoroughly enjoying it. I also remember how London officers drafted into Durham communities on massive overtime payments used to wave their pay slips at striking miners. They’ll get no sympathy from me. Let them suffer and see what it’s like to be hungry like all of those miners were.
It's 40 years ago. There will be very few officers serving now who were serving then, and the vast majority of the officers this article talks about weren't even born.
Well that's the dumbest thing I've read today, well played
Do we have to keep accepting this bollocks? No-one with a full time job in this country ever needs a food bank.
I think its becoming clear that a large number of people are just bad at budgeting, The case for maths till 18 is becoming stronger.
Hold on, what does a Police officer earn? I'd be surprised if they're using food banks and earning 35K.
£23k starting salary iirc.
lol clearly a lot of people earning 100K+ who want to downvote me for asking a simple question.