Police federation chair delivers mocking 'Santa' quip about pay in New Year's message

Zoe Wakefield, chair of Hampshire Police Federation, has been vocal throughout 2022 about officers facing a ‘real terms pay cut of 25-30 per cent over the past decade’. And despite it being the season of goodwill, Ms Wakefield was in no mood for celebrations when it came to the topic of pay.

READ NOW: Missing man found

She said: ‘Looking forward to 2023, we welcome a new chief constable in February and say our farewells to Olivia Pinkney. We will hopefully see changes to the student entry route into Hampshire, making it more accessible to more of the community.

‘I would love to say that we will see police officers appropriately remunerated for the demanding, challenging, high risk job that they do, but I don’t think even Santa can fix that one.’

The chair said it had been ‘another challenging year for policing’.