THE Government has come under scrutiny from a Hampshire police boss, who claims they are "taking money from the people who have sacrificed the most".

Last month, Chancellor Rishi Sunak imposed a pay freeze on at least 1.3 million public sector workers, but said that frontline NHS staff and lower paid workers will be receiving pay rises.

The Chancellor has been met with fury from Hampshire Police Federation Chair Zoë Wakefield, who said police officers in the count are "exhausted".

Although those earning less than £24,000 will receive a rise of at least £250, the announcement comes on the back of years of austerity pay freezes.

The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) said the move puts police pay around 18 per cent below where it should be.

Zoë Wakefield said: “Does the Chancellor realise how much of a pay cut we have had during the austerity years and how much our members have had to put up with and face during the pandemic?

“The amount of officers who have self-isolated away from their families because they’ve got vulnerable members at home that they didn’t want to risk taking the infection home to, they’ve made lots of personal sacrifices and they’ve continued to work throughout the whole pandemic. That just seems to have been completely ignored and forgotten.

“A lot of our young in service members are on a very low wage and some of them are now wondering whether or not they’re going to be able to continue as a police officer, because they were counting on their pay to gradually go up. They’re questioning whether they will be able to stay.

“We understand that the country is in this financial crisis and they need to find some money from somewhere else, but taking it from the people that have sacrificed the most and been at the most risk during the pandemic, in my opinion, isn’t the right place to target.”

Zoë added that police officers were aware that they had kept their jobs in a year where many others had lost theirs, but officers were now exhausted.

She added: “This year was the first year that we had a fair pay rise and for us to then not face any future pay rises now for however long, it just isn’t fair.

“We will be expected to continue to go out and put ourselves at risk. You only have to look at what’s happened to the likes of Andrew Harper and Matt Ratana to see what a dangerous job it is. I don’t think we’re fairly paid for the risk that we face.

“Yes, some officers have earned overtime, but officers are exhausted. Officers don’t want to work any more overtime now because they would prefer the time at home with their families. They just want to be fairly paid to work their core hours.”